The City did not expend Brownfields and Section 108 funds awarded for the development of the project in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, the City used loan and grant funds for an ineligible project and expended grant funds after the grant deadline. As a result, it expended (1) $3.8 million in loan funds on an ineligible project, (2) $625,000 in grant funds on an ineligible project after the grant expenditure deadline, and (3) an...

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed Ally Financial, Incorporated’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other...

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed Bank of America’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other four reviews....

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed Wells Fargo’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other four reviews. OIG...

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed CitiMortgage’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other four reviews. OIG...

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, Ally Financial, Incorporated, and JPMorgan Chase Bank), we reviewed JPMorgan Chase Bank’s (Chase) foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other four...

We performed an audit of PrimeLending, A PlainsCaptial Company, located in Dallas, TX, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) direct endorsement lender. We selected PrimeLending for audit because of its high default rate in the Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth, TX, offices as compared to the average default rate for all FHA loans in those offices. Our objective was to determine whether PrimeLending complied with U. S. Department of Housing and...

We audited the City of Syracuse, NY, pertaining to its Economic Development Initiative (EDI)-Special Project grants. The audit objective was to determine whether City officials were administering EDI Special Project grants effectively, efficiently, and economically in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether City officials expended EDI funds for eligible activities that were fully supported...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program based on our annual audit plan and our strategic goal to improve the integrity of HUD’s single-family programs. This is the first of two reports that we plan to issue on HUD’s oversight of the program. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s controls effectively ensured that HECM loan borrowers complied...

We audited Mortgage Lending Direct, Inc. (MLD), a nonsupervised lender (see footnote -1)located in Florham Park, NJ, in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) goal of improving the integrity of the single-family insurance program. We selected MLD for audit because its 8.88 percent default rate for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single-family loans with...

We audited the City of Newark, NJ’s Homelessnes Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to review the expenditure of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and contribute to improving HUD’s execution and accoutability of fiscal responsibilites. The audit objective was to determine whether City of Newark officials...

We audited the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan process at MetLife Bank’s (lender) branch in Scottsdale, AZ, to determine whether the lender underwrote FHA-insured loans and implemented a quality control plan in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We selected the lender because it had an FHA default rate of 7.41 percent for loans underwritten in Arizona between April 1, 2009, and...

We audited Luzerne County, PA's administration of its Community Development Block Grant funds that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the County for an audit because we received a complaint alleging that the County may have misappropriated Block Grant funds and because of our mandate to audit Recovery Act activities. Our audit objective was to determine whether the County obligated, expended...

In accordance with our audit plan we audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Philadelphia, PA, Homeownership Center’s quality assurance procedures for monitoring originations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family mortgage loans. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Homeownership Center properly monitored single-family loan originations in its jurisdiction by implementing quality assurance...

We completed an audit of the City of Buffalo, NY (City) pertaining to its administration of its supplemental Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the City based on concerns identified in our completed audit of the City’s CDBG program, Audit Report Number 2011-NY-1010 issued April 15, 2011. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City...

We audited Housing Our Communities’ (subrecipient) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) subgrant from the City of Avondale. The audit was started primarily because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General’s (HUD OIG) audit plan includes objectives to review Housing and Economic Recovery Act grantees and because a previous HUD OIG audit of the City of Mesa found indications that the subrecipient did...

We audited the Women’s Development Center’s administration of its Supportive Housing Program (SHP) with concentration on the transitional housing grants provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Our review was initiated because of a referral from the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Investigation due to concerns about the Center’s compliance with SHP requirements. Our overall objective was to...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) field review appraisal process. This audit was conducted as part of the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year 2011 annual audit plan and was designed to follow up on selected findings in OIG’s Audit Report 2008-LA-0003 on the appraiser review process. Our objective was to determine whether HUD (1) ensured that field review appraisers complied with the appraisal...

In accordance with the Government Corporation Control Act as amended (31 U.S.C. 9105), the Office of Inspector General engaged the independent certified public accounting firm of Clifton Gunderson LLP (CG) to audit the fiscal years 2011 and 2010 financial statements of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The contract required that the audit be performed according to Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS). CG is...