A few years ago, Encore Capital, the parent of debt buyer Midland Funding, LLC started spreading money around overseas, mostly notably with the acquisition of Cabot, a debt-buyer in the United Kingdom. It’s most recent quarterly call with investors (transcript available here, signup required) paints an interesting picture of its ever-expanding global reach. The call… Read More »Encore Capital: Growing Foreign Profits
In June 2015, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued several consent orders dealing with misconduct by large banks. Two were new, against Bank of American and Wells Fargo for newly discovered misconduct. The remainder dealt with the failure by large banks, including Wells Fargo to abide by the terms of existing Consent… Read More »OCC Consent Orders With Bank of America, Wells Fargo, HSBC and Other Banks on Debt Collection, Foreclosure & Robosigning
Ocwen, which has an outsized presence in Maryland and which is the largest subprime mortgage servicer in the United States, has settled allegations by New York’s financial regulator, but still faces trouble in California. It is also in serious financial trouble: its stock closed at $7.71 on January 21, which is down from $16.01 a month ago, and down from $49.13 a year ago.
The Problem
As his press release explains, New York’s Benjamin Lawsky, the Superintendent of Financial Services, alleged that Ocwen had a “serious conflict of interests” and had engaged in a variety of servicing misconduct including
Read More »Troubles Mount for Ocwen in Maryland and Around the Country Due to Mounting Regulatory Actions and Private Lawsuits, and Ocwen Stock Plummets(a) robo-signing, (b) inaccurate affidavits and failure to properly validate document execution processes, (c) missing documentation, (d) wrongful foreclosure, (e) failure to properly maintain books and records, and (f) initiation of foreclosure actions without proper legal standing.
Ocwen is a mortgage servicing company: it’s paid to collect payments from consumers in Maryland and elsewhere, deal with escrow accounts, and sort out any problems that arise. Servicers do not necessarily own the mortgage itself, only the “servicing rights”. The CFPB’s guidance for examining mortgage servicers explains “[t]his is because some entities have expertise in payment processing and other servicing responsibilities, while others seek to invest in the underlying mortgages.” Mortgage servicers are supposed to help the mortgage repayment process run smoothly and to deal with problems – such as mistakes in escrow or missed payments. According to Ocwen’s slogan “Helping homeowners is what we do!”
Homeowners Sue
However, lawsuits filed in Maryland and around the country accuse Ocwen of everything from blatant fraud to utter incompetence, all to the detriment of the homeowners it claims to be helping. A lawsuit filed in Florida recently accuses Ocwen of needlessly forcing homeowners into foreclosure by turning minor problems into major ones. NPR reports the story of one couple who were charged massive fees after an error regarding property taxes:
Read More »Ocwen Servicing Abuses in Maryland and Elsewhere: Foreclosures Spark Lawsky Investigation and LawsuitsThis must-see fantastic video about forced arbitration, also available on YouTube, tells you pretty much everything you need to know about forced arbitration and why and how it is undermining access to justice in the United States. As of the date of writing this blog entry (12/1/2014), the video has less than 7,000 views on… Read More »Lost in Fine Print: The Must See Movie About Forced Arbitration
Fine print boilerplate is everywhere, but what can be done to stop it? Theresa Amato writes in The Nation that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should take four steps to promote fairness in consumer contracts:
Two debt brokers (businesses which buy junk debt, then sell it to other junk debt buyers) were sued by the FTC earlier this year for posting on the internet private personal financial information about individual consumers for public view, as part of their attempts to market portfolios of junk debt to JDBs.
Read More »Debt Brokers Published Consumer Financial Information on Public Website
CFPB has fined U.S. Bank over its sale of two identity & credit protection add-on products they offered credit card customers. “Privacy Guard” and “Identity Secure” were paid services sold to credit card customers between 2003 and 2012. Sold as add-ons for credit protection, CFPB found that some customers didn’t get the protections they were… Read More »U.S. Bank Fined Over Identity & Credit Protection Add-Ons
Many people do not even know that there are guidelines on consumer protection from the United Nations, here.
