OCWEN LOAN SERVICING & ALTISOURCE

OCWEN / ALTISOURCE COMPLAINT:

Submitted:      January 2015

Reported By:     lone ranger 1957 in Oregon

Report Link:   CLICK HERE

I filed Bankruptcy chapter 13th 12-29-14. Foreclosure date was 12-30-14. I contacted Ocwen 12-30 early morning before foreclosure sale and told Ocwen bank. rep regarding filing and gave him all info regarding filing location and no; he stated that he had uploaded all the info and that foreclosure would be stopped and not to worry? Afterwards he asked me for more information so I could submit paperwork to initiate modification process, Well I just got served with a sheriffs sale on my home?!!.. It sates property sold to satisfy a judgment against me. Purchaser was deutsche Bank national trust. I called Altisource today and rep. told me Ocwen now owns the property? Also that I have until June 29th to purchase property back. I can stay on property until then and that I also have an option of receiving monies to relocate and get paid for it and not have to pay back any monies??Something sounds fishy here but heck I can’t afford an attorney and me and my wife are both retired .Can anybody please refer me to some help here, please. Thank you

END CONSULTING ADVICE:

Dear lone ranger and other violated Ocwen borrowers,

Ocwen has been all over the news recently with the ousting of their CEO William Erbey as well as with their $150 million settlement that prompted admitted and discovered wrongdoing on so many level it is difficult to specify all violations in this post for escrow fraud, wrongful foreclosure, FDCPA violations…and on and on! 

Here’s a link to the full story on Ocwen’s settlement to include wrongful foreclosure: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/22/us-ocwen-financial-settlement-idUSKBN0K00CX20141222

After reading your complaint, I realized that there are some truly unanswered questions that should be addressed immediately such as:

(1) Was the house sold at auction or just repossessed by Deutsche Bank?

(2) Did the foreclosure attorney and/or Ocwen receive notice from the courts the day that you filed when you listed Ocwen as your creditor?

(3) Why is Ocwen/Deutsche Bank offering you a buyback option if your house was truly sold as wouldn’t that warrant a new real estate transaction with a qualifying loan – or – it is simply to get you to pay the monies owed?

(4) At what amount are you purchasing your home back for and is it for the entire

mortgage amount or a true market value?

I agree with you that this situation is fishy at best and it appears by your posting that your consumer (wrongful foreclosure) AND constitutional (bankruptcy stay) rights have been violated on every level. Believe it or not, there are many avenues for homeowners just like you lone ranger and I would recommend fighting for your rights outside of and you can start with the CFPB at http://www.consumerfinance.gov. You can actually post a complaint against Ocwen for false foreclosure through the CFPB that requires an immediate response from Ocwen within 15 days; that is well within your buyback range and I would suggest fighting to the finish.

I routinely look for posts to answer in hopes that it will not only bring optimism to those homeowners and borrowers in distress but also some basic information to assist in fighting the banks that are "too big to fail" but yet don't appreciate the bailout that we provided in their time of need.  The debt collectors like PHH, SPS, SLS, Green Tree, Ocwen and Nationstar are simply just piranhas but they can be beat at their own game too just like the big banks can be defeated.  You CAN win this fight!!!

It is not too late to fight for your rights but you will have to first get familiar with your consumer rights.  You can learn more about your consumer rights and the responsibilities of Ocwen as a mortgage servicer by visiting the CFPB's website and becoming educated about the rights afforded you under the FDCPA, Dodd-Frank and RESPA via the CFPB. Here is a link to the current rules that went effect in 2014 and stronger rules are forthcoming in 2015: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-rules-establish-strong-protections-for-homeowners-facing-foreclosure/

Thank you as I commend you for taking the first step in asserting your consumer and constitutional rights by complaining about the situation in an effort to shed light on the abuse and encourage change. With that said, many overlook the key aspect of the fight, which is putting the violations and abuse in writing in the form of a proper QWR and attaching proof of your consumer and constitutional rights that have been violated. 

I would be more than happy to educate anyone interested on how to fight for your rights as my firm routinely seeks out complaints online so that we can educate as to how to fight back on our weekday show called "The Daily Complaint” where we review a complaint and how to tackle it successfully.

We reviewed your complaint on the show if you would like to listen, visit www.TheDailyComplaint.com

In the event you have further questions, you can contact me via email, web or phone (full contact information is below) as I would be more than happy to answer your questions, call Ocwen with you and/or point you in the right direction.

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's END

Respectfully,

Dana Shafman

Managing Member

END Consulting

(888) 234-7006 Ext 101

Dana@ConsultingEND.com

www.TheDailyComplaint.com

Ocwen facing ‘legal actions’ after admitting internal problems

Ocwen facing ‘legal actions’ after admitting internal problems

NEW YORK POST

By Kevin Dugan

January 8, 2015 | 10:53pm

http://nypost.com/2015/01/08/ocwen-facing-legal-actions-after-admitting-internal-problems/

Ocwen may be getting rid of Chairman Bill Erbey, but not its problems.

The embattled mortgage servicer could face an onslaught of “legal actions” from state and federal regulators this year after the company admitted to a slew of internal problems that led to the downfall of its founder and chairman, according to a research report.

The legal pressure could come from as many as 49 state regulators, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and the monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement, Deutsche Bank analyst Ying Shen wrote in a Wednesday report.

Ocwen is the largest non-bank US mortgage servicer, with about $430 billion in loans, according to Shen.

The Deutsche Bank report follows the company’s settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services last month, when it agreed to $150 million in fines and restitution, the installment of a new monitor and that founder Erbey would step down from Ocwen and four other interrelated companies.

The settlement was a dramatic conclusion to a two-year investigation led by DFS Superintendent Ben Lawsky into unfair business practices, which included backdating letters to distressed mortgage holders, self-dealing within the related companies and pushing homeowners into foreclosure.

Erbey, 68, is expected to step down on Jan. 16.

Ocwen shares fell 1.1 percent, to $13.25, Thursday.Tom Dresslar, a spokesperson for the California Department of Business Oversight told Forbes on Tuesday.

Ocwen To Pay $150 Million Toward Homeowner Aid For Abuse (Wall Street Journal)

Erbey’s Exit Ends Heady Era at Ocwen

William Erbey to Step Down as Executive Chairman, to Be Replaced by Barry Wish

http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-financial-regulator-announces-settlement-with-ocwen-1419257065 via @WSJ

The executive chairman of embattled mortgage-servicing firm Ocwen Financial Corp. has agreed to step down and pay $150 million toward homeowner aid after a lengthy probe of the company’s treatment of homeowners.

New York’s top financial regulator said in Monday’s settlement that it found deficiencies at Ocwen including wrongful foreclosure. 

Ocwen Financial Corp. will have to move past a punishing regulatory settlement without the driving force of Executive Chairman William C. Erbey.  Many investors aren’t sticking around to find out to find out if it will succeed.

The company’s shares plunged 27% Monday on the news that Mr. Erbey resigned as part of the embattled mortgage-servicing company’s $150 million settlement with New York’s top financial regulator. In the agreement, the firm also agreed to appoint two new independent directors. An outside monitor, appointed by the regulator, will oversee and track the company’s dealings with homeowners for up to three years.  

But the exit of Mr. Erbey, a low-key billionaire who built Ocwen into a stock-market darling, marks the most dramatic change for the firm.  Mr. Erbey “was the main architect of the corporate structure we see today,” wrote Kevin Barker, an analyst with Compass Point Research and Trading, in a note to clients. He added that Mr. Erbey’s resignation will likely cause some to “question whether they will continue to support the company.”

But the company won’t be in entirely new hands: Mr. Erbey will be replaced as chairman by Barry Wish, a current Ocwen director who has worked with Mr. Erbey for three decades.  Mr. Erbey, who has been chairman of Ocwen since 1996, also is resigning from positions as the chairman of the board of four related companies. Shares of those companies all declined Monday, with Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA losing more than one-third of its value.

The 65-year-old Mr. Erbey cut his teeth in the home-lending business at General Electric Capital Corp., where he was president of the firm’s mortgage insurance unit until 1983. He became chief executive at Ocwen in 1988.  Ocwen’s stock soared after the financial crisis as the company started acquiring business from big banks exiting the mortgage-servicing business.

“Banks want to focus on their core business,” not “highly delinquent loans to a customer base which is not core to them,” Mr. Erbey explained in an interview earlier this year with The Wall Street Journal.

“I am deeply proud of all that we have accomplished,” Mr. Erbey said on a conference call with investors Monday evening, adding that he is leaving “with the utmost confidence that Ocwen is in capable hands.”

Mr. Erbey’s strategy drew praise after the crisis as Ocwen was able to modify more loans than many competitors. It used data, psychology and an approach that minimized costs through using offshore call centers in places including India and Uruguay. It also incorporated units in places that lowered taxes for Ocwen. Mr. Erbey himself moved to St. Croix to lower the company’s taxes.

Orin Kramer, an investor who runs hedge fund Boston Provident LP, said he has known Mr. Erbey for more than 20 years and that “he works something like 90 hours a week because he’s completely committed to his businesses,” says Mr. Kramer. He said Mr. Erbey doesn’t golf or own a boat, and stays in modest hotels when he visits New York.

Last year, Mr. Erbey earned a total of $2.94 million and in 2012 he earned $19.6 million as executive chairman of Ocwen, according to the company’s regulatory filings. He has been the highest paid member of management even though he hasn’t been CEO since 2010.

Benjamin Lawsky , the New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent, started to raise questions with Ocwen’s rapid growth in late 2012, demanding that a monitor be put in place to oversee the company’s mortgage operations.

The following October, Ocwen’s stock peaked. Since then, shares have fallen more than 70%, erasing billions of dollars in market value as the company came under increasing scrutiny from Mr. Lawsky and federal regulators. In December 2013, the company reached a $2.1 billion settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 49 states over alleged homeowner abuses. In February, Mr. Lawsky halted a deal for the company to collect payments on $39 billion of loans from Wells Fargo & Co., citing concerns about Ocwen’s growth.

In Monday’s agreement with Mr. Lawsky’s office, the company acknowledged that it didn’t properly deal with distressed homeowners, may have saddled them with excessive charges from affiliated companies and failed to maintain adequate systems for servicing hundreds of billions of dollars in mortgages.

Bose George, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, who has covered Ocwen and known Mr. Erbey for years, said Mr. Erbey was the creative source for the company’s growth. “But his flaw was on the operational side. It was the operational issues that derailed them,” he said.

Mr. Wish, a former investment banker, was the chairman of the board at Ocwen from 1988 to 1996, and he was the founder of the Oxford Financial Group, which was the corporate predecessor of Ocwen, according to Ocwen’s regulatory filings.

In a phone call with analysts on Monday afternoon, Ocwen CEO Ronald Faris said the company will withdraw from the business of servicing mortgages backed by the U.S. government. He said that Ocwen would be selling off that servicing portfolio and instead would focus just on so-called nonagency mortgages. He said that shift and the sales would free up about $1.7 billion in capital that would be reinvested or returned to Ocwen’s shareholders.

Going forward, Ocwen will build its currently small business in originating new mortgages and engage in transactions in which it will acquire some residential mortgage-backed securities and repackage the underlying mortgages in new securities, which Mr. Faris said would be profitable.

Despite the problems it has faced, Ocwen has conducted more loan modifications under the Treasury Department’s program for helping distressed borrowers than any other servicer. According to the Treasury’s data, Ocwen has modified more than 300,000 loans as of the end of the third quarter, including principal reductions and other modifications, as well as short sales, keeping many of those homeowners in their homes.

Write to Alan Zibel at alan.zibel@wsj.com and James Sterngold at james.sterngold@wsj.com

We are here and happy to help…

Happy Holidays!

END Consulting

Toll Free (888) 234-7006

Direct (602) 396-5822

Fax (888) 234-7096

Docs@ConsultingEND.com

www.ConsultingEND.com

www.TheDailyComplaint.com

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s END!

Helpful Consumer Protection links…

CFPB Rules Establish Strong Protections for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-rules-establish-strong-protections-for-homeowners-facing-foreclosure/

CFPB Proposes Expanded Foreclosure Protections

http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/cfpb-proposes-expanded-foreclosure-protections/

Debt Collection Consumer Rights (FDCPA)

https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/business-ethics-and-social-responsibility-3/consumer-rights-36/basic-consumer-rights-185-1149/