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Summary: Are you being sued by Ocwen Financial Corportation for a past due debt? Know how to defend yourself and win in court.
Ocwen is the largest, non-bank, mortgage service in the United States. Many people have mortgages from Ocwen, and until 2014 they were known as being quite reliable. After 2014, many borrowers who had mortgages serviced by Ocwen were given mortgage relief. This was as a result of a national settlement that occurred in December of 2013.
Under this settlement, some borrowers received principal reductions or cash payments. If you were one of these buyers, you may have needed Ocwen's mailing address. There are also other various reasons why you might need Ocwen's Mailing Address.
About the Ocwen Financial Corporation
Started in 2002, Ocwen Financial Corporation is a provider of residential and commercial mortgage loan services. They also offer special servicing, and asset management services. They are primarily known as a debt collector and collect monthly principal and interest from homeowners. However, Ocwen has over 258 complaints closed in the last 3 years and 6 complaints closed in the last 12 months to the Better Business Bureau.
There are a few main complaints that have been reported when it comes to Ocwen customers. These include:
Ocwen Mortgage Loans are serviced in India. By outsourcing their service, it can make it difficult to speak to someone knowledgeable on the subject, instead of a standard response. This can also make it difficult to fully communicate properly.
When working with Ocwen Home Loans, they are known for losing paperwork. This can be extremely frustrating.
When it comes to filling out Ocwen's materials, it can be extremely confusing. They are very long and difficult to understand.
Even after the national mortgage settlement, Ocwen has continued to violate the law. This happens when servicing mortgage loans, and there is evidence from many lawsuits against them.
You may also have a notice on your mortgage statement and want to contact Ocwen. If you are struggling to do so, you may get a response such as:
“For qualified written requests, notices of errors, and requests for information please write to the following address and include your full name and loan number:
Research P.O. Box 24736
West Palm Beach, FL 33416-4736”
In this case, you will need to respond to the address above. On their website, it states that you can submit a claim online. It is important to understand the risk involved in this. Oftentimes Ocwen will argue that a web form or web submitted notice of error or request for information is invalid. Although they gave you this option in the first place, they may not be able to process it.
Results of the Ocwen National Mortgage Settlement
When it came down to an investigation into Ocwen's foreclosure activities, it was found that there was a huge number of extensive loan servicing misconduct. Within this, including the following, but was not limited to:
Robosigning: Foreclosure documents were signed by people who were not aware of whether or not this information was correct or true.
Charging improper fees
Providing false or misleading reasons for denying loan modifications
Failing to honor loan modifications for in-process loans, agreed to by prior servicers
To ensure that Ocwen was accountable for these servicing violations, 49 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) came together to settle with Ocwen Financial Corp. This also occurred with its subsidiary, Ocwen Loan Servicing.
This settlement required Ocwen to provide various forms of relief to different borrowers.
Cash Payouts
Ocwen provided cash payouts to borrowers that lost their homes in foreclosure. The settlement required Ocwen to pay $125 million. This was only for certain borrowers who went through a foreclosure between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012.
To receive a cash payment, you must have had Ocwen or one of the companies purchased by Ocwen (Litton Loan Servicing LP and Homeward Residential Holdings LLC, as well as American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc., as the loan servicer at the time of your foreclosure.
There were also certain criteria that borrowers had to meet to qualify for the payout. Finally, each successful claimant received an equal portion of the $125 million, which was around $1,150 per claimant.
Loan Modifications
The settlement also ordered Ocwen to provide a large monetary reduction. This came in the form of $2 billion in principal reductions to eligible underwater borrowers. These people needed to be at risk of foreclosure.
To accomplish this task, Ocwen offered write-down loan modifications to eligible borrowers. “Write-down” loan modification reduces the principal balance on the loan. When it came to a lower principal balance, it then resulted in lower monthly payments.
The required modifications under this settlement have been completed, but if you are struggling with your mortgage payments under Ocwen, you may be able to qualify. Typically this will mean qualifying for a loan modification under a different program, such as a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac Flex Modification. You may also qualify for a proprietary modification, although it will most likely not be through Ocwen.
The settlement that required Ocwen to comply with the standards for servicing loans was developed as part of the national mortgage settlement. This also involved Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Although Ocwen had an obligation to comply with the national mortgage settlement standards, this expired in 2017. These standards were a part of the federal laws put into effect in early January 2014.
Because Ocwen is known for being difficult to deal with, you should stick to writing letters in the mail. This will allow you to send requests for information letters by certified mail and ensure that they end up being received.
What is SoloSuit?
SoloSuit makes it easy to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.
How it works: SoloSuit is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your answer. Upon completion, you can either print the completed forms and mail in the hard copies to the courts or you can pay SoloSuit to file it for you and to have an attorney review the document.
Respond with SoloSuit
"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James
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