Independent Foreclosure Review Engagement Letters

Independent Foreclosure Review Engagement Letters

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has posted the following on its website (http://www.occ.gov/topics/consumer-protection/foreclosure-prevention/independent-review-foreclosure-letters.html).

Independent Foreclosure Review Engagement Letters

Below are links to engagement letters submitted by the independent consultants, retained by servicers regulated by the OCC, who will be conducting foreclosure reviews pursuant to the requirements of the April 13, 2011 consent orders.  The engagement letters describe how the independent consultants will conduct their file reviews and claims processes to identify borrowers who suffered financial injury as a result of servicer deficiencies identified in the OCC’s consent orders.

Limited proprietary and personal information has been redacted from the engagement letters.  Examples of information that has been redacted include, but are not limited to: names, titles and biographies of individuals; proprietary systems information; references to specific bank policy; fees and costs associated with the engagement; and specific descriptions of past work performed by the independent consultants.

Since the acceptance of the engagement letters in September of this year, the independent consultants have further refined and made adjustments to the processes, procedures, and methodologies outlined in the engagement letters in consultation with OCC supervision staff.  Therefore, in many cases the review processes being implemented may differ in some respects from those described in the engagement letters because of subsequent coordination with the OCC.  In particular, there were a number of changes made to integrated claims process to ensure a single, uniform process among the servicers.

Pursuant to 12 C.F.R. § 4.12(c), the disclosure of the engagement letters at the OCC’s election has no precedential significance.

Cease & Desist Orders for: Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, MetLife, PNC, SunTrust, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo Bank

Cease & Desist Orders for: Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, MetLife, PNC, SunTrust, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo Bank

By Daniel Edstrom
DTC Systems, Inc.

The latest round of Cease and Desist orders issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are against some of the largest “too big to fail” banks.  Notably missing so far is Deutsche Bank National Trust Company along with Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas and of course OneWest Bank.

The gist of these Cease and Desist orders is that certain “deficiencies” were found and the banks are operating with “unsafe or unsound” practices in residential mortgage servicing and in the Bank’s initiation and handling of foreclosure proceedings.

We hail the OCC for these efforts, but the problem is following up.  How are the banks going to immediately comply with this order?  They would have to stop processing nearly every single foreclosure they are working on today.

Continue reading “Cease & Desist Orders for: Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, MetLife, PNC, SunTrust, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo Bank”