Request retroactive approval of the fees paid to the identity-of-interest entity totaling $402,975 and any fees incurred outside our audit period, including fiscal year 2017, when submitting the project owner’s or management agent’s certification for identity-of-interest agents in response to recommendation 2A. If the request is not approved retroactively, the owner should repay the project from nonproject funds for the amount that was not approved.

Evaluate the owner’s capability to effectively manage the project and consider whether independent professional management services are needed.

Work with HUD to nullify the restrictions on conveyance that violate HUD policy or indemnify HUD. This action will protect HUD against future losses of $381,823 for the seven loans.

Repay HUD $26,472 for partial claims paid on one FHA loan that contained prohibited restrictive covenants.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to identify prohibited restrictions on conveyance to ensure that it does not originate FHA loans with prohibited restrictive covenants.

Provide training to its employees regarding HUD’s requirements related to prohibited restrictions on conveyance.

Develop and implement controls over owner contributions and owner distributions to ensure compliance with its regulatory agreement and HUD regulations.

Complete HUD-approved training regarding owner contributions and distributions.

Repay its project’s operating account for the ineligible $15,000 disbursement from non-project funds.

Perform an analysis of all security deposits and ensure that the security deposit account is fully funded.

Implement controls to ensure existing procedures are followed to maintain the project’s security deposit funds separately from all other accounts by depositing and disbursing all security deposit funds directly into and from the security deposit account.

Take appropriate steps to establish eligibility for collection termination or compromise for 10 debts totaling $1,210,278,5 including three debts that were closed without required DOJ approval. For debts that have a remaining appropriate means of collection, such as demand letters, administrative offset, or referral to Treasury, HUD should reinstate the debt and resume collections.

Conduct a complete analysis of existing procedures to strengthen controls over debt collection, including HUD’s Treasury Reports of Receivables reporting, resulting in funds to be put to better use of $3,247,078. Controls should include additional procedures for ensuring that DOJ approval is obtained when required, that all appropriate means of collection have been pursued (including referral to Treasury when required), and that all closed debts are tracked and were properly authorized for collection termination or forgiveness. The analysis should also include a review of HUD’s Treasury Reports on Receivables, and any other available records to verify that all closed debts were properly approved for collection termination or forgiveness when required. For any identified debts that were not properly approved, the Departmental Claims Collection Officer should coordinate with applicable program offices to obtain appropriate documentation to approve collection termination or reinstate the debt and resume collections.

Work with HUD to nullify the restrictions on conveyance that violate HUD policy or indemnify HUD. This action will protect HUD against future losses of $418,277 for the eight loans.

Repay HUD $5,482 for partial claims paid on two FHA loans that contained prohibited restrictive covenants.

Develop and implement policies and procedures to identify prohibited restrictions on conveyance to ensure that it does not originate FHA loans with prohibited restrictive covenants.

Provide training to its employees regarding HUD’s requirements related to prohibited restrictions on conveyance.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing require MB Financial to indemnify HUD against potential losses of $178,811 for the four loans that did not comply with underwriting requirements (appendix C). HUD provided us copies of the four executed indemnification agreements in August and September 2017. Therefore, upon issuance of this report, we will enter a management decision into HUD’s Audit Resolution and Corrective Action Tracking System, along with copies of the indemnification agreements, and close this recommendation.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing require MB Financial to provide training to its underwriters on HUD’s underwriting requirements for approving and rejecting loans.

We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Housing require MB Financial to update its policies and procedures to ensure that its staff understands underwriting requirements and the requirement that loans be manually underwritten when a refer decision is received from automated underwriting systems or when a loan is downgraded to a manual underwrite.