Challenges by hedge funds to Ocwen Financial Corp.’s handling of distressed loans it serviced have been answered with a satisfactory report from an independent consultant.
In January 2015, investors in 42 Ocwen-serviced residential mortgage-backed securities issued a notice of non-performance to the RMBS trustee, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Ocwen had acquired mortgage servicing rights on the securitized loans from OneWest, and the investors, Ocwen claimed, were really just objecting to loan modifications.
At the time,
the Atlanta-based servicer fired back with its own letter denying alleged contractual breaches.
Wells Fargo engaged
Duff & Phelps LLP to conduct an independent analysis of Ocwen’s servicing of the loans in response to the notice, which was issued on behalf of the RMBS investors by Gibbs & Bruns LLP.
The review
of Ocwen’s servicing operations, accounting, loan modifications, borrower compliance, and operations and governing practices reportedly took place over 12 months.
Thousands of servicing files were reportedly analyzed
— including data points, invoices and a comprehensive review of Ocwen’s systems and records.
On Wednesday, Ocwen announced that Duff & Phelps’ independent analysis determined that none of the allegations in the notice were supported by evidence.
“We are pleased with the results of Duff & Phelps’ year-long independent review,” Ocwen President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Faris said in the statement. “We continue to focus on servicing loans in the best interest of loan investors and on being a leader in helping homeowners.”
