Complaint Review: Ocwen Federal Bank FSB

I received 2001 and 2002 forms, but they are so far off with thier figures it's a joke. I have requested a revision and a accurate statement but they just Blow it off. They have my escrow account so messed up that this caused them to believe that a foreclosure was needed in 2001 and made it believeable. They failed to pay my property Taxes and used my regular House payments to cover escrow.Now this made me behind in payments. I mean the whole amount and then tried to pass all the late fees and penalities on to me! Even though they were instructed by HUD to remedey this nothing has been done.Because they were not told to do it by a certain date and time they assume... well you know.

We have just been contacted by a Tiffany Gong from Moss Codillas today. They told me there were alternatives to foreclosure(forbearance(the last one they tried gave up all of our rights and they could foreclose without notification), sale( in whose favor would that be I wonder), payment arrangements, I bet they would be fair...ohh thats right we did that before and on the last payment they refused it, I quote"I hate to burst your bubble but its too late" and if we didn't sign they would "bury us in fees" and tried to foreclose) and we are scheduled for sheriffs sale June 24 2003(someone must have adjourned it...we did). As if we didn't know this already. They also asked why we fell behind...I told them Ocwen refused payments and I had the proof, signed by Ocwen themselves. We told them that Mark Undren, their own attorney had our attorneys information and he had contact with our attorney. Apparently they are unaware of anything...they did not know we had legal representation, they did not know we never had a forebearance agreement( why would we? the last time they tried to foreclose the case was dismissed without predjudice in our favor). They told me to give them the info so they could contact my attorney...I should just let our attorney "do his job". I said Ocwen/Udren(the attorney Moss hired) already has our attorney info. Perhaps they should "do their job" and research before calling, mailing and leaving messages on peoples machines(harassment?). They say they are trying to help,(becoming haughty when I repeated my questions and laughed and could not understand my dismay and after they created more forclosure and attorney costs). People are only as good as their word...and their word has never been any good...Perhaps the left hand should find out what the right hand is doing...Ohh and were not sure why they told me this but Jennifer Ferguson, the person who mishandled us(to say the least), the last foreclosure attempt and the one who helped start this one, was now fired...maybe that was to make us trust them...It is to laugh. They want us to make a bulk payment in good faith and then they would take us out of foreclosure...First remove us from foreclosure to show your good faith...then we'll talk! By the way we still have not received a response in Writing!from Ameriquest stating, as they said on the phone, that Ameriquest does not own us and are not foreclosing( they are on the docs)...no one knows anything...how convenient.

Hey Boob er Bob,

For someone who has just moved Ohio to the United States Minor Outlying Islands, I wouldn't be too high and mighty.

You have obviously been put up to this by someone, perhaps Ocwen? Why else would you even bother to read all of this? If you are an employee, maybe you can finally send me those legal documents called my mortgage papers I should have gotten 7 years ago when HUD SOLD my mortgage to them. How on earth can I tell what I'm in violation of if I don't have them?

My original lender claims they no longer hold the mortgage. HUD said once it was sold, they have nothing to do with it because Ocwen OWNS it. But Ocwen only claims to be a servicer. Who are they servicing except themselves to money they aren't owed?

If Ocwen is such an upstanding company, then why are my payments sent to L.A., their offices are in Orlando, but my monthly statement is postmarked Indianapolis?

Hey Boob er Bob,

For someone who has just moved Ohio to the United States Minor Outlying Islands, I wouldn't be too high and mighty.

You have obviously been put up to this by someone, perhaps Ocwen? Why else would you even bother to read all of this? If you are an employee, maybe you can finally send me those legal documents called my mortgage papers I should have gotten 7 years ago when HUD SOLD my mortgage to them. How on earth can I tell what I'm in violation of if I don't have them?

My original lender claims they no longer hold the mortgage. HUD said once it was sold, they have nothing to do with it because Ocwen OWNS it. But Ocwen only claims to be a servicer. Who are they servicing except themselves to money they aren't owed?

If Ocwen is such an upstanding company, then why are my payments sent to L.A., their offices are in Orlando, but my monthly statement is postmarked Indianapolis?

Hey Boob er Bob,

For someone who has just moved Ohio to the United States Minor Outlying Islands, I wouldn't be too high and mighty.

You have obviously been put up to this by someone, perhaps Ocwen? Why else would you even bother to read all of this? If you are an employee, maybe you can finally send me those legal documents called my mortgage papers I should have gotten 7 years ago when HUD SOLD my mortgage to them. How on earth can I tell what I'm in violation of if I don't have them?

My original lender claims they no longer hold the mortgage. HUD said once it was sold, they have nothing to do with it because Ocwen OWNS it. But Ocwen only claims to be a servicer. Who are they servicing except themselves to money they aren't owed?

If Ocwen is such an upstanding company, then why are my payments sent to L.A., their offices are in Orlando, but my monthly statement is postmarked Indianapolis?

Uninformed and misguided aren't you...Bob? What a shame you have no idea what your talking about. And what a mouth for such a small minded little man. It would seem to me that we the victims who have the proof do not need to answer to someone whose mouth is in gear before his brain...Oh by the way...your village called...they're missing their idiot!

Perhaps you have never had a mortgage or have never been taken advantage of. If so, count yourself lucky but don't be so self-righteous as to say we are "whiners". Apparently you have not done your homework before letting your opinion fly. We do have proof. It is such a shame you have chosen to give such an unfair opinion when you are obviously uninformed, or perhaps you are just an idiot and that might expain it.

Bobby, you say get a clue? I've got a clue. You imply that these people have poor credit scores and allow themselves to be screwed. What about the majority of the victims whose credit scores weren't all that bad but they were lead to believe they were by those blasted sub-prime lending vultures? Not to mention that once they have them hooked and believing their credit scores aren't so hot, it only takes a couple of months before they have trashed their credit scores beyond belief...in some cases, even if they have made all of their payments on time. Wake up! The fact of the matter is, is that they DO hold payments until it's time to tack on late fees and they DO forge documents and they DO rake people right over the coals!

Sure there are those who have gotten mortgages with these lenders and fallen behind on their payments...and that pleases them to no end I'm sure as they will just make it a point to use those cases as an example for their big defense when they are called upon by the law to explain their dastardly deeds (which I'm sure happens often). Oh, and ummmmmm let's not forget that in most cases, people are contacted by these bloodsuckers not the other way around. The big catch line when they call or write people is, "Let us help you restore your good credit by consolodating all of your bills into one easy payment." Yeah right!!!! And what about those totally innocent and unfortunate individuals who, without warning, have had their mortgages sold to these sub-prime lenders (oops! I'm sorry, sub-human losers). After reading all of the posts on this site it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.

These companies are are like vultures swarming a rotting corpse in the desert PERIOD! END OF DISCUSSION!

This sounds like a bunch of crybaby whining from people who don't know how or are incapable of managing their finances. If you let your credit scores sink, and then want to get money from a mortgage lender, it isn't "predatory lending" for them to charge you more interest or fees. You are a high risk investment for them if you have shown a history of not paying your bills, so by all rights, you SHOULD pay higher interest rates and fees. Typical poor bastards, nothing is YOUR fault and everybody should come to your rescue. GET A CLUE.

And, by the way, if you allow yourself to get "screwed" by a mortgage company, it's your own fault. Everything is there in writing in a series of legal documents. If you feel you were wronged, you should have everything in writing to get things righted.

Don't be such a bunch of emptyheaded victim whiners.

As stated before Ameriquest sold our loan in April 2000 to Ocwen Federal Bank yet they/ Ameriquest are the foreclosing Mortgage co. on our court documents (twice now). According to employee, Carla Coggins, Ameriquest does not own nor do they have any interest in our loan, but refuse to respond in writing to us. Most recently in January 2003 we wrote to Ameriquest in length about this situation. We have received no response. We also tried e-mail, and still no response. Either Ocwen is using Ameriquest without their knowledge or Ameriquest is using Ocwen to do their dirty work for them. Well guys which is it??? Maybe Rip off can get an Honest answer.

Ryan,

Your comments were both thoughtful and enlightening. I appreciate the time you spent crafting your reply. I truly hope that you did not learn all these facts by being held up by these mobsters!

The more I read these posts, the more I feel that
folks would be better served by seeking protection under extortion or racketeering laws rather than the usual venues. Although I have yet to see any posts from anyone saying that this "Mortgage Mafia" has threatened to break their legs, threatening to put them out in the street is pretty darn close. Their constant threats of foreclosure and demands for money with no decrease on the principal seems like outright theft!This whole mess is a national scandal; how can ANY court see this and not see it for the scam that it is!?! TERRORISM is supposed to be illegal in this country; Americans should not be forced to tolerate this home-grown form of it!

Of course, as you said, these companies are doing the whole country such a great favor dealing with sub-prime accounts. So they think we're stupid enough to believe. By making every mortgage they service appear to be in default all the time with these bogus fees,they effectively prevent anyone from refinancing with a more reputable lender. Everyone will always stay sub-prime because there's no way out of their maze. Built-in job security! And the right to demand and steal more. It's a never ending cycle.

My heart goes out to all of you dealing with these monsters by whatever name they use. Ryan is absolutely right; TRACK THE MONEY! What persons or corporations own these money pits? Someone has to be making big bucks and if it tracks back to any politician or group of politicians there will be a great noise in the halls of government. I am sure that those guys would be impeached, defrocked, excommunicated, ostricized, exiled to a small desert island and greeted by the devil at the gates of hell! (Feel free to add your own forms of punishment to this list, but watch your language)

There are brave words bandied about concerning America's mission to free (insert name of country here; there are so many these days that we are going to save; pick one)from tyranny. Mr. Bush, your own people have tyrants right here in River City! Help them for the love of God!

Excellent response!

By-the-way... How many of you fellow Ocwen victims still haven't received your 2002 IRS 1099 forms? I believe Federal law requires them to provide it by January 31. If nothing else, they're at least consistant scumbags! Law... what's that?

Your questions are very good and the answer to all of them can be best summed up in one word: money. Follow the money and everything that goes on in this industry starts to make much more sense.

The mortgage servicing industry is not heavily regulated, if at all, which leaves it rife for abuses like the customers of Ocwen, Fairbanks, Home Side Lending, etc., have described here. These companies are very aware of this fact and use it to their advantage to operate with relative impugnity. And until recently, governments have left the industry to police itself as many politicians have really had no vested interest in legislating in this area.

Take a look at the Federal Election Commission's website sometime and you will find that the banking and mortgage industries, as well as their employees, are among the heaviest contributors to political campaigns nationwide. Yes, our country is, in fact, the best democracy money can buy.

Additionally, mortgage servicing companies like Ocwen and Fairbanks were started through political connections the corporate brass had with the politicians that were involved with the Resolution Trust Corp.; the quasi-government corporation set up by the Feds to clean up the S&L mess back in the late 80s and early 90s. Thus, these politicians really had no incentive to introduce regulation, thereby shafting their friends and benefactors.

Also, you will notice that these companies primarily operate in the so-called "sub-prime" end of the market, where borrowers are more likely to have bad credit, low income and are relatively unsophisticated in respect to complex financial matters to begin with.

You will often hear these companies claim to be doing this segment of the market a "service" because they are taking a risk on these borrowers that no other lender would, etc. Thus, when customers begin to complain about the shady practices of their mortgage servicer, their complaints are usually dismissed as coming from incompetent deadbeats who don't pay their bills in the first place and just want everything for free.

Moreover, these companies unabashedly canonize themselves for providing their services as part of serving the greater public good. The sad part is, many of those that could help stop this problem have bought into these excuses and you will still come across some people who refuse to believe such a problem could exist.

Don't believe it for yourself though. This is nothing but mere subterfuge for the fact that poor people, and those with bad credit, are easily exploited because, until recently, they simply didn't have the resources to fight back. The only incompetent people here are the corporate executives who have let their greed delude themselves into thinking that they can keep this scam going on indefinitely without any repercussions and some of the customer service reps these companies hire.

Further, there is no money to be made on the servicing side of the business. This is why mortgage lenders happily and indiscriminately sell off the servicing rights to their mortgage loans because they would lose money in keeping up with this end of the business and displease a lot of shareholders, among others, in the process. If mortgage servicing companies acted ethically and lawfully and just collected payments, they would lose money hand over fist and probably be bankrupt inside a year or two.

This is where the bogus attorneys fees, late fees, appraisal fees and foreclosure come in. Although dinging a customer for $25, $50 or $100 in fees here and there seems like a relatively small amount, if you're servicing thousands of mortgage loans, the potential return from this practice is quite lucrative, which is why these companies have become so addicted to them.

Foreclosing on a customer is also quite a lucrative practice for these companies as well. The mechanics behind this practice are a bit more complex than simply tacking on a bogus fee, but the end result is the same. These companies and their attendant attorneys make millions through foreclosure milling and, depending on how these transactions are structured, they are often able to take advantage of tax laws to write off the foreclosures as a loss on their tax returns.

This is just a cursory overview of the larger problem, but I hope this somewhat helps in explaining the matter.

In reply to the above, I HAVE contacted HUD with regard to the abuse of Ocwen and other issues that I have. I have written to the TOP of HUD both via email and snail mail. The written reply that I have received is once HUD sells the paper to OCWEN, HUD is no longer involved. However, HUD did tell me that OCWEN DOES have to honor the agreement that HUD makes with us. Ocwen cannot alter any previous agreement that was made with HUD.

Granted, Ocwen feels they are above the law and will do whatever in the h*** they want to, however this is the reply that I received from HUD. This is just my experience. I hope that Mr. Hanson can get this law suit deemed a class action so we all may receive some relief prior to having to mention it in a will to leave to any grandchildren we may or may not have..in other words, I would like to see some relief in MY lifettime!!!

In reply to the above, I HAVE contacted HUD with regard to the abuse of Ocwen and other issues that I have. I have written to the TOP of HUD both via email and snail mail. The written reply that I have received is once HUD sells the paper to OCWEN, HUD is no longer involved. However, HUD did tell me that OCWEN DOES have to honor the agreement that HUD makes with us. Ocwen cannot alter any previous agreement that was made with HUD.

Granted, Ocwen feels they are above the law and will do whatever in the h*** they want to, however this is the reply that I received from HUD. This is just my experience. I hope that Mr. Hanson can get this law suit deemed a class action so we all may receive some relief prior to having to mention it in a will to leave to any grandchildren we may or may not have..in other words, I would like to see some relief in MY lifettime!!!

In reply to the above, I HAVE contacted HUD with regard to the abuse of Ocwen and other issues that I have. I have written to the TOP of HUD both via email and snail mail. The written reply that I have received is once HUD sells the paper to OCWEN, HUD is no longer involved. However, HUD did tell me that OCWEN DOES have to honor the agreement that HUD makes with us. Ocwen cannot alter any previous agreement that was made with HUD.

Granted, Ocwen feels they are above the law and will do whatever in the h*** they want to, however this is the reply that I received from HUD. This is just my experience. I hope that Mr. Hanson can get this law suit deemed a class action so we all may receive some relief prior to having to mention it in a will to leave to any grandchildren we may or may not have..in other words, I would like to see some relief in MY lifettime!!!

In reply to the above, I HAVE contacted HUD with regard to the abuse of Ocwen and other issues that I have. I have written to the TOP of HUD both via email and snail mail. The written reply that I have received is once HUD sells the paper to OCWEN, HUD is no longer involved. However, HUD did tell me that OCWEN DOES have to honor the agreement that HUD makes with us. Ocwen cannot alter any previous agreement that was made with HUD.

Granted, Ocwen feels they are above the law and will do whatever in the h*** they want to, however this is the reply that I received from HUD. This is just my experience. I hope that Mr. Hanson can get this law suit deemed a class action so we all may receive some relief prior to having to mention it in a will to leave to any grandchildren we may or may not have..in other words, I would like to see some relief in MY lifettime!!!

I have been reading these Ripoff Reports for awhile and a couple of names keep appearing: OCWEN and Fairbanks Capital. Both of these companies seem to exist for the sole purpose of milking their "customers" (cash cows?) for every possible cent in late fees and other nonsense charges and then forcing them into foreclosure.

The question I keep asking myself is WHY? What are these companies gaining besides a bad reputation? Most lending institutions would prefer to work with a homeowner rather than go through the process of foreclosure and auctioning or reselling of the property. Has anyone checked into what happens to these homes AFTER these companies gain control of them? Are they tearing down the homes and selling the land at an inflated price to have shopping malls built there? Or, are they reselling the homes at a much higher price than they were originally sold for, so they can simply refinance them and put some other poor soul through misery. Or, are they foreclosing only on the lower interest HUD homes in order to refinance them at higher rates?

What is the deal??!! I believe there is more to this picture than meets the eye; the fact that each person involved only sees one piece of the puzzle (theirs)makes the bigger picture unclear. If either of these companies are forcing out only folks with lower interest rates, such as HUD loans or folks that financed several years ago at lower rates, I believe that this is WAY more than just bad customer service; it is a conspiracy! And illegal, I'm sure. It sounds as though these companies are deliberately doing business in a manner to ensure default (Holding payments and REFUSING payments) Again, WHY????

I have no experience with either company (whew!), so am not privy to details. But there is too much evidence right here on this site to be dismissed as a few disgruntled customers. Does ANYONE out there know what is happening to these homes?? Has anyone made an effort to contact HUD or any other Federal agency concerning this? If so, what was the outcome? If these companies continue to get away with this and profit by it, we may ALL find ourselves facing foreclosure someday no matter who holds our mortgage. This mess is SCARY!We really need to see the larger picture in this case!

Its January of 2003 and they did it again! This time we have proof of mailing and the President of the company signed for the payments. We even payed December of 2000 in advance. They only cashed one payment.

Now figure this they cashed the one dated for October but not the November or December even though they were in the same envelope. Now comes January we were served foreclosure papers in the middle of the street, at night by some strange man who blocked the road so we could not leave our home.

Our mortgage is with Ocwen and has been since April of 2000 but the papers have Ameriquest as the mortgage carrier on the court docs. Well its back to square one again.

We have our lawyer but this time they are using a different firm (Mark J. udren & Assc.) and didn't notify us of any foreclosure prior to the foreclosure papers being delivered.

We knew something was wrong again because they stopped sending statements and didn't cash the payments. We will try once again to get a payoff because we have a buyer for our home. Wish us luck and a judge who isn't wearing blinders and say a prayer for us.