Capital and Main-

Last May, I wrote in Capital & Main about Ocwen, the non-bank mortgage servicing company that abused California homeowners by failing to honor signed agreements, illegally imposing fees and violating state regulations. In fact, when asked, a top-level Ocwen representative had never heard of the state’s groundbreaking consumer protection law, the Homeowner Bill of Rights (HBOR). The Ocwen rep said the company had no training for HBOR and no process established to conform to it.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Ocwen ignores its responsibilities to state regulators, the same way it ignores rules for dealing with homeowners. The California Department of Business Oversight alleges that Ocwen failed to deliver the agency documents showing Ocwen’s compliance with HBOR, despite 10 separate requests over 18 months, a subpoena and even a judicial order.

After imposing two comically low fines of $1,000 each, Commissioner of Business Oversight Jan Lynn Owen made a formal notice of intent to suspend Ocwen’s business license in California for one year. That would mean the company would have to immediately sell the servicing rights to more than 378,000 homes, with a principal balance of $95 billion. Nearly one in six loans Ocwen services are in California.

[CAPITAL AND MAIN]

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