Wow, it gets worse and worse for Wells Fargo… Wells Fargo branches across the country deliberately targeted “undocumented immigrants” to open savings and checking accounts in order to meet aggressive sales goals, according to court documents. In sworn declarations obtained by Burlingame plaintiff’s attorney Joseph Cotchett, former employees describe a scheme in which Spanish-speaking colleagues …
Month: April 2017
Single-Payer Health Care Bill Advances in California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) – Introduced as a hedge against President Donald Trump’s promise to gut former President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law, a California bill establishing universal state-run health care was approved by a state Senate committee Wednesday. After more than two hours of debate, the Senate Health Committee cleared the Golden State’s latest …
U.S. Bank fined $15 million for bankruptcy filing violations
In the wake of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a growing group of state regulators accusing Ocwen Financial of widespread mortgage servicing issues, several of the big credit ratings agencies announced that each is taking some form of negative action on the nonbank. Over the last few days, S&P Global Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service, …
U.S. Bank fined $15 million for bankruptcy filing violations
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced Tuesday that it is ordering U.S. Bank National Association to pay a civil penalty of $15 million for what it calls “bankruptcy filing violations” that occurred between 2009 and 2014. According to the OCC, an investigation found that between 2009 and 2014, U.S. Bank “engaged in …
Maryland also banned Ocwen from operating in the state.
Maryland’s action, taken by the state’s Commissioner of Financial Regulation, is, in the words of a HousingWire tipster, a “doozy.” Maryland’s cease-and-desist order, which can be read in full here, presents a laundry list of Ocwen’s supposed failings, including the company’s “failure to cooperate” with examiners from the Multi-State Mortgage Committee, Ocwen’s alleged unlicensed servicing …
N.J. Town Pulls Public Funds From Wells Fargo
The city of East Orange in northern New Jersey has pulled public funds from Wells Fargo & Co. after lawmakers accused the bank of engaging in predatory-lending practices and exacerbating the city’s foreclosure crisis. City officials said Wells Fargo holds 13% of the 439 mortgages currently in foreclosure in East Orange. City councilman Chris James …
Navient will acquire approximately $6.9 billion in education loan assets from JPMorgan Chase
WILMINGTON, Del., April 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Navient (Nasdaq:NAVI), a leading asset management and business processing services firm announced today it has reached an agreement to purchase JPMorgan Chase’s (NYSE:JPM) approximately $6.9 billion education loan portfolio. “We welcome our new customers, and we commit to delivering best-in-class support to ensure a seamless transition,” said …
Trump signs memorandum on Dodd-Frank’s orderly liquidation authority
Unlike a broader past executive order designed to roll back the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, the landmark legislation passed in wake of the financial crisis, Friday’s executive memorandum focused on the orderly liquidation authority part of Dodd-Frank. From the USA Today piece: Direct the Treasury Secretary not to use orderly liquidation authority to bail …
How many whistle-blowers did the Feds ignore? In the Wells Fargo case about 700.
There were multiple red flags and missed signals at the OCC for years, the bank’s main regulator, the report said. Most tellingly, bank examiners assigned to review Wells Fargo were aware of approximately 700 whistle-blower complaints related to “gaming of incentive plans” when they met with senior managers of the San Francisco-based bank in January 2010, …
Florida AG also alleges widespread servicing failures at Ocwen, sues the bank
The state of Florida also sued Ocwen, which is based in West Palm Beach, along with the company’s subsidiaries Ocwen Loan Servicing and Ocwen Mortgage Servicing, for “mortgage servicing misconduct.” According to the complaint filed by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and Florida Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Drew Breakspear, Ocwen “harmed Floridians by filing …