Ocwen Financial Corporation Comments on Settlement With State of Florida Office of the Attorney General and Office of Financi...
October 15 2020 - 8:55AM
Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) (“Ocwen” or the “Company”),
a leading non-bank mortgage servicer and originator, today issued
the following statement in conjunction with the resolution of the
lawsuit filed in 2017 against the Company by the State of Florida
Office of the Attorney General and State of Florida Office of
Financial Regulation regarding certain legacy servicing activities.
“Ocwen believes that it has sound legal and factual defenses to
all of the State of Florida’s claims but concluded that it is in
the best interest of its stakeholders to resolve this matter
without admitting liability in order to avoid the further
distraction and expense of litigation. With the resolution of this
lawsuit, the Company has resolved the last state matter arising
from the legacy actions taken in April 2017. We believe Ocwen’s
servicing practices have and continue to result in substantial
benefits to consumers. Since the financial crisis, we have helped
more than 1.5 million U.S. homeowners in need of assistance avoid
foreclosure, forgiven approximately $19 billion in mortgage debt
and, most recently, provided forbearance relief to more than
170,000 homeowners who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We
look forward to continuing to work proactively and productively
with our home-state regulators to create positive outcomes for the
customers we serve.”
The settlement includes a combined total payment to the State of
Florida of $5,160,000, and an additional $1 million payable in two
years in the event specific loan modification-related obligations
are not satisfied during that time. In addition, the Company has
agreed to certain late fee waivers, a targeted loan modification
program for certain eligible Florida borrowers, and certain
non-monetary reporting and handling obligations. The settlement
will result in an incremental accrual to the Company’s recorded
liability as reported at June 30, 2020 that Ocwen believes is not
material to its financial condition.
About Ocwen Financial Corporation
Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) is a leading non-bank
mortgage servicer and originator providing solutions through its
primary brands, PHH Mortgage and Liberty Reverse Mortgage. PHH
Mortgage is one of the largest servicers in the country, focused on
delivering a variety of servicing and lending programs. Liberty is
one of the nation’s largest reverse mortgage lenders dedicated to
education and providing loans that help customers meet their
personal and financial needs. We are headquartered in West Palm
Beach, Florida, with offices in the United States and the U.S.
Virgin Islands and operations in India and the Philippines, and
have been serving our customers since 1988. For additional
information, please visit our website (www.ocwen.com).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. These forward-looking statements may be identified by a
reference to a future period or by the use of forward-looking
terminology. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by
words such as “expect”, “believe”, “foresee”, “anticipate”,
“intend”, “estimate”, “goal”, “strategy”, “plan” “target” and
“project” or conditional verbs such as “will”, “may”, “should”,
“could” or “would” or the negative of these terms, although not all
forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking
statements by their nature address matters that are, to different
degrees, uncertain. We are in the midst of a period of capital
markets volatility and experiencing significant changes within the
mortgage lending and servicing ecosystem which have magnified such
uncertainties. Readers should bear these factors in mind when
considering such statements and should not place undue reliance on
such statements.
Forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions,
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially. In the past, actual results have differed from those
suggested by forward looking statements and this may happen again.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements
include, but are not limited to, uncertainty relating to the future
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including with respect to the
response of the U.S. government, state governments, the Federal
National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan
Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac, and together with Fannie Mae,
the GSEs), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie
Mae) and regulators, as well as the potential for ongoing
disruption in the financial markets and in commercial activity
generally, increased unemployment, and other financial difficulties
facing our borrowers; impacts on our operations resulting from
employee illness, social distancing measures and our shift to
greater utilization of remote work arrangements; the adequacy of
our financial resources, including our sources of liquidity and
ability to sell, fund and recover servicing advances, forward and
reverse whole loans, and HECM and forward loan buyouts and put
backs, as well as repay, renew and extend borrowings, borrow
additional amounts as and when required, meet our MSR or other
asset investment objectives and comply with our debt agreements,
including the financial and other covenants contained in them;
increased servicing costs based on increased borrower delinquency
levels or other factors; our ability to collect anticipated tax
refunds, including on the timeframe expected; the future of our
long-term relationship and remaining servicing agreements with New
Residential Investment Corp. (NRZ); our ability to execute an
orderly and timely transfer of responsibilities in connection with
the previously disclosed termination by NRZ of the PHH Mortgage
Corporation (PMC) subservicing agreement, including our ability to
respond to any concerns raised by regulators, lenders and other
contractual counterparties in connection with such transfer; our
ability to timely adjust our cost structure and operations as the
loan transfer process is being completed in response to the
previously disclosed termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing
agreement; our ability to continue to improve our financial
performance through cost re-engineering efforts and other actions;
our ability to continue to grow our origination business and
increase our origination volumes in a competitive market and
uncertain interest rate environment; uncertainty related to claims,
litigation, cease and desist orders and investigations brought by
government agencies and private parties regarding our servicing,
foreclosure, modification, origination and other practices,
including uncertainty related to past, present or future
investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders and settlements
with state regulators, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(CFPB), State Attorneys General, the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice or the Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and actions brought under the
False Claims Act regarding incentive and other payments made by
governmental entities; adverse effects on our business as a result
of regulatory investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders
or settlements and related responses by key counterparties,
including lenders, the GSEs and Ginnie Mae; our ability to comply
with the terms of our settlements with regulatory agencies, as well
as general regulatory requirements, and the costs of doing so;
increased regulatory scrutiny and media attention; any adverse
developments in existing legal proceedings or the initiation of new
legal proceedings; our ability to interpret correctly and comply
with liquidity, net worth and other financial and other
requirements of regulators, the GSEs and Ginnie Mae, as well as
those set forth in our debt and other agreements; our ability to
comply with our servicing agreements, including our ability to
comply with our agreements with, and the requirements of, the GSEs
and Ginnie Mae and maintain our seller/servicer and other statuses
with them; our ability to fund future draws on existing loans in
our reverse mortgage portfolio; our servicer and credit ratings as
well as other actions from various rating agencies, including the
impact of prior or future downgrades of our servicer and credit
ratings; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed in
Ocwen’s reports and filings with the SEC, including its annual
report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and its
current and quarterly reports since such date. Anyone wishing to
understand Ocwen’s business should review its SEC filings. Our
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made
and, we disclaim any obligation to update or revise forward-looking
statements whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Investors: |
Media: |
June Campbell |
Dico Akseraylian |
T: (856) 917-3190 |
T: (856) 917-0066 |
E:
shareholderrelations@ocwen.com |
E: mediarelations@ocwen.com |
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