Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- Ocwen Financial Corp. mortgage infraction settlement

   A Blog of Legal Times post yesterday related the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 49 states – including tri-state Ohio, Kentucky & Indiana – along with the District of Columbia’s  requiring Atlanta-based Ocwen Financial Corp.  to provide $2 billion in loan modification relief to its customers through principal reductions, plus another $127.3 million in refunds to foreclosure victims in a settlement now reached

   Law.com/National Law Journal author Jenna Greene wrote “CFPB Director Richard Cordray called the deal ‘a landmark’ for the agency, which worked with regulators in every state but Oklahoma to craft the settlement, though the consent judgment is still subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where the complaint was filed. Under the settlement, Ocwen is to offer and facilitate loan modifications for borrowers facing foreclosure rather than simply foreclosing—provided the modifications meet investor, guarantor, insurer and program requirements… Further, Cordray said Ocwen have three years to implement the $2 billion principal reductions for underwater homeowners. If the company doesn’t deliver, it must make up the difference in a cash penalty.

  “As for the $127 million to consumers who lost their homes to foreclosure, that penalty comes directly from Ocwen, with  the CFPB estimating 185,000 consumers may be entitled to payments. Consumers whose loans were being serviced by Ocwen, Homeward Residential Holdings, or Litton Loan Servicing, and who lost their homes to foreclosure between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2012 are eligible.”

Consumer Finance statement