National Mortgage Settlement Compliance Progress Report Released

On May 14, 2014, the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight released its Compliance in Progress report summarizing the six compliance reports filed with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. These reports are required by the February 9, 2012 national mortgage settlement reached between the attorneys general of 49 states and the District of Columbia (every state except Oklahoma), the federal government and five banks and mortgage servicers – Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citibank, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo. The settlement created new servicing standards, provided loan modification relief to distressed homeowners and provided for payments to the states to support the prevention of foreclosure and civil money penalties to the federal government. The Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight also was created to monitor the progress of compliance with the settlement.

The report contains the results from tests conducted to review the servicers’ compliance with the national mortgage settlement for the fourth quarter of 2013 (Oct. 1, 2013 – Dec. 31, 2013). Five servicers – Ocwen (successor by assignment to GMAC/Ally), Bank of America, Citibank, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo – passed all of the tests for compliance with the settlement. Green Tree (also successor by assignment to GMAC/Ally), however, failed eight of the 29 metrics tested. This is the first quarter that Green Tree has been subject to these tests. The Office of Mortgage Settlement also announced that it began testing for four additional metrics (beyond the 29 required by the settlement) in the fourth quarter of 2013 relating to the loan modification process, single point of contact and billing accuracy, and results for these tests will be announced in the next compliance report. More information, including the report, is available here.

For more information, contact Kristina Del Vecchio at kristina@josephandcohen.com.