Tuesday, August 9, 2011

FYI: IL Regulator Fines Mortgage Servicer $290k for Improper Foreclosure Affidavit Practices

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR)
recently fined a mortgage servicer $290,000 for alleged improper
foreclosure affidavit practices.

A copy of the Order Assessing Fine is available at:
http://www.idfpr.com/NEWSRLS/2011/PHHOrder06232011.pdf

The IDFPR fined PHH Mortgage Corporation (PHH) $290,000 for signing
foreclosure affidavits that the company allegedly knew would later be
altered by its attorneys, and for allegedly submitting affidavits signed
by a person other than the affiant. The violations were found during an
ongoing special investigation of 20 Illinois licensed mortgage servicing
companies.

Specifically, the IDFPR alleged that in at least 19 files, PHH failed to
re-execute affidavits after they had been altered by the company's
foreclosure attorneys. The IDFPR alleged that PHH knew of and conspired
with this alleged misconduct because the original affidavits were
allegedly incomplete and contained notations such as "will add" when they
were tendered to the law firm of Fisher and Shapiro.

The IDFPR also alleged that 16 affidavits were represented as having all
been signed and attested to by the same PHH employee in his or her
official capacity, but allegedly no less than five distinctly different
signatures were attributed to this same PHH employee.

The IDFPR also alleged that, although PHH had a written policy regarding
the execution of foreclosure affidavits, PHH allegedly failed to ensure
that its employees complied with this written policy and allegedly failed
to conduct necessary internal and external quality control reviews.


Ralph T. Wutscher
McGinnis Tessitore Wutscher LLP
The Loop Center Building
105 W. Madison Street, 18th Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Direct: (312) 551-9320
Fax: (312) 284-4751
Mobile: (312) 493-0874
Email: RWutscher@mtwllp.com


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