- Ocwen
-
Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) is a provider of residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing and asset management services. Ocwen is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with additional offices in West Palm Beach and Orlando, Florida, and Washington, D.C. It also has operations in Uruguay and India.[1]
Following its acquisition of Litton Loan Servicing from Goldman Sachs in September 2011, Ocwen became the largest subprime mortgage servicer in the U.S.[2] On October 24, 2011, Morgan Stanley announced the sale of Saxon Mortgage Services, Inc. to Ocwen.[3] (The transaction is targeted to close in the first quarter of 2012.)
As of 2010, Ocwen's subprime servicing volume was $56 billion, ranking it fourth in subprime servicing behind American Home Servicing ($78 billion), Bank of America/Countrywide ($82 billion) and Chase Home Finance ($90 billion).[4] In September 2010, Ocwen acquired the U.S. subprime servicing business of Barclays Bank PLC, known as HomEq servicing.[5]
Ocwen is a participant in the U.S. Treasury Department's Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP), which is designed to use loan modifications to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Ocwen early on posted relative success in converting trial loan modifications to permanent ones, in part because it relied on verified income statements from borrowers rather than stated ones.[6] Ocwen modifies principal owed in addition to interest rates in approximately 15% of loan modifications arranged for distressed homeowners.[7] In August 2010, Ocwen enacted a Shared Appreciation Modification (SAM) program that reduces a qualified delinquent borrower's principal to 95% of the home's current market value, but requires the homeowner to later share 25% of the home's appreciation with the investors when the home is eventually sold or refinanced. In 2011, Ocwen reported that it had modified more than 200,000 troubled loans since the mortgage crisis began in the mid-2000s.[8]
In 2009 Ocwen spun off Altisource, a service company specializing in Real Estate Owned (REO) and related business activities. The two companies maintain a close relationship.
In July 2002, Kweku Hanson, a Connecticut attorney, initiated a class-action suit against Ocwen Federal FSB of West Palm Beach, Florida, and he was represented in this by fellow attorney Paul Ngobeni. The 123-page lawsuit in Hanson v. Ocwen Federal Bank outlines a six-year running battle over late charges and fees.[9] He was joined in the suit by 57 individuals who claimed to have been injured by Ocwen. The lawsuit sought $1.5 billion in punitive and exemplary damages but was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. In November 2011, Ocwen had several cases pending, e.g. Sealy Davis v. Ocwen Bank. In this, a former Ocwen Loan Manger, Ron Davis, testified that he was paid to make people fall behind, post payment late and more. [10]
References
- ^ "**Ocwen Financial - residential and commercial mortgage servicing, mortgage BPO and technology**". http://www.ocwenbusiness.com/. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ Prior, Jon (24 October 2011). "Ocwen swings to profit, buys Saxon Mortgage Services". Housingwire. http://www.housingwire.com/2011/10/24/ocwen-swings-to-profit-buys-servicing-rights-from-saxon. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
- ^ "NYSE, New York Stock Exchange > Listings > Listings Directory Ocwen Financial Corporation > SEC Filings". http://secfilings.nyse.com/filing.php?doc=1&attach=ON&ipage=7866601&rid=23. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
- ^ Prior, Jon (4 August 2011). "Ocwen set to become nation's largest subprime servicer". Housingwire. http://www.housingwire.com/2011/08/04/ocwen-set-to-become-nations-largest-subprime-servicer. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ "NYSE, New York Stock Exchange > Listings > Listings Directory Ocwen Financial Corporation". http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/ocn.html. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ Luhby, Tami (17 May 2010). "Borrowers flunking out of trial mortgage modifications". CNNMoney. http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/17/news/economy/HAMP_modifications/. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ Chatzky, Jean (2 February 2010). "Solving the Mortgage Mess By Modifying Loans - and Borrower Behavior". DailyFinance. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/02/company-uses-behavioral-science-to-help-solve-the-mortgage-mess/#. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ Franks, Krista (26 July 2011). "Ocwen Financial Offers New Loan Modification Program". DSNews.com. http://www.dsnews.com/articles/ocwen-financial-offers-new-load-modification-program-2011-07-26. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/ocwensuit.pdf
- ^ http://www.claiborne.webs.com
Categories:- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- United States company stubs
- Financial services companies of the United States
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
