National Mortgage Settlement Monitor Reports Compliance Problems at Many Big Banks - June 20, 2013

Joseph Smith, the monitor for the National Mortgage Settlement agreement, has found that major servicers are failing to fully comply with the mortgage servicing standards.   As detailed a June 19th press release by the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight, recent tests of five of the nation's largest banks found that four  - including Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo -  failed at least one of the 29 metrics used to measure compliance.  The most common problem was failure to notify homeowners of any missing documents in their modification requests within five days of receipt.  Others included providing inaccurate information to borrowers before starting a foreclosure (Bank of America and Citgroup) and improper charges for a type of mortgage insurance (JPMorgan)  The  servicers must implement plans to correct the problems and could be fined if the problems recur within six months.  Background information on the settlement, a summary of the recent finding and the reports  for each servicer can be found on the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight website.