We conducted a review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Sterling National Mortgage Company, Inc. (Sterling), an FHA direct endorsement lender. The review was conducted as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Operation Watchdog initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General performed an audit of Consumer Credit Counseling Services of the Midwest (Consumer Credit), an affiliate of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, Inc. (National Foundation). We selected Consumer Credit based on a citizen’s complaint received by our office. Our objective was to determine whether Consumer Credit complied with HUD’s requirements for...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Lake Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (program). The Authority was selected for audit based upon a congressional request from the Honorable Steven C. LaTourette. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with HUD’s requirements and its program...

We conducted a review of 20 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Pine State Mortgage Corporation (Pine State), an FHA direct endorsement lender. This review was conducted as part of our “Operation Watchdog” initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim rates against the FHA insurance fund for...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Housing Authority of the City of Terre Haute’s (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (program). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to the housing agencies in Region V’s jurisdiction and our audits of the...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Lender Activities and Program Compliance, Quality Assurance Division. We did this review because during a prior audit, we saw instances in which indemnification agreements were not obtained from lenders under certain circumstances. Our objective was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD...

We audited the Boston, MA, Housing Authority (Authority) because it was awarded more than $33 million in Capital Fund Recovery Grant funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) and obligated the majority of the grant shortly before the required obligation deadline. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) obligated the capital fund grant funds it received under the Recovery Act for eligible...

We conducted a review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by First Tennessee Bank, N.A. (First Tennessee), an FHA direct endorsement lender. This review was conducted as part of our Operation Watchdog initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim rates against the FHA insurance fund for...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, We reviewed the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake’s (Authority) Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (formula) Recovery Act Funded grant (grant) based on a risk assessment we completed and the results of a monitoring review performed by the Denver Office of Public Housing. The objective was to determine whether the Authority properly obligated...

We conducted a review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Security Atlantic Mortgage Company, Inc. (Security Atlantic), an FHA direct endorsement lender. This review was conducted as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Operation Watchdog initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the...

We audited the Manchester Housing Authority (Authority) in Manchester, CT, because it obligated the majority of its $520,654 Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (Formula) Recovery Act Funded grant awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) just before the required obligation deadline. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) obligated its grant funds in a timely manner for eligible...

We audited the Housing Authority of Baltimore City’s (Authority) administration of its Public Housing Capital Fund grants that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the Authority for audit because it received a $32.7 million formula grant, which was the largest formula grant awarded in the State of Maryland. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered...

While performing an internal audit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, we noted one HECM loan underwritten by Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation, (Financial Freedom) of Irvine, CA, that was improperly insured as the property had several years of deferred property taxes, which is a violation of the HECM regulations. Neither Financial Freedom’s loan...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Pueblo, CO (Authority), based on out risk assessment considering the amount of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) capital funds it received and expended along with other evaluative factors. The review is consistent with our responsibility to provide oversight of Recovery Act...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited Michaelson, Connor, and Boul, Incorporated (MCB), a management and marketing contractor for HUD real estate-owned properties in Michigan. We selected MCB based on the results of our audit of Custom Closing, a HUD-designated closing agent for the State of Michigan (see OIG audit report #2009-CH-1021, issued September 2009). Our objective was...

We completed an audit of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Single Family Program Development Office’s automated underwriting process. We assessed whether HUD had in place appropriate and effective management controls over its automated underwriting process. The audit was performed as part of the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan and supported the audit plan objective to contribute...

We reviewed 20 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans Alethes, LLC (Alethes), underwrote as a FHA direct endorser. Our review objective was to determine whether Alethes underwrote the 20 loans in accordance with FHA requirements. This review was part of Operation Watchdog, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders, at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner...

We conducted a review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Webster Bank (Webster), an FHA direct endorsement lender. This review was conducted as part of our “Operation Watchdog” initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim rates against the FHA insurance fund for failed loans. The...

We performed an internal audit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program because we found that an increasing number of borrowers had not paid taxes or homeowners insurance premiums as required, thus placing the loan in default. Also, we noted that HUD had granted foreclosure deferrals routinely on defaulted loans, but it had no formal procedures. Our audit objective was to...