We audited Towne Mortgage Company, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) nonsupervised lender, as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2018 annual audit plan.  We selected Towne Mortgage based on our analysis of risk factors for single-family servicing lenders in Region 5’s jurisdiction.[1]  Our audit objective was to determine whether Towne Mortgage properly implemented its Loss Mitigation program for FHA-insured loans in…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of the financial performance of Section 232 nursing homes based on the size of their program, the inherent risks in the program, the length of time since our last audit, and the inclusion of this review in the annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had sufficient financial information and used this information to adequately…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s single-family note sales program.  This is the third in a series of audits on the note sales program.  The first audit, 2017-KC-0006, reported that HUD did not conduct rulemaking or develop formal procedures for its single-family note sales program.  The second audit, 2017-KC-0010, reported that HUD generally ensured that…

We audited the Federal Housing Administration-insured nursing home, Middlesex Health Care Center in Middletown, CT, because we identified profitability and solvency issues during ongoing work with the Section 232 program.  Additionally, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) identified the project as potentially troubled as of November 2017.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the project was operated…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans from calendar year 2016.  Our audit objective was to determine whether FHA insured loans to borrowers with delinquent Federal debt or who were subject to Federal administrative offset for delinquent child support.FHA insured an estimated 9,507 loans worth $1.9 billion, which were not eligible…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) underwritten by MetLife Home Loans, LLC.  MetLife is an FHA-approved mortgage lender with its principal place of business located in Irving, TX. On June 9, 2017, HUD notified MetLife and the borrower’s son of their potential liability under the…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited CitiMortgage’s processing of partial claims.  Our audit objective was to determine whether CitiMortgage filed for partial claims only after completing the loan modifications and reinstating the loans. CitiMortgage improperly filed for 66 partial claims before completing the loan modifications and reinstating the loans. The Federal Housing…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) process for ensuring that nonpayment orders adequately prevented the payment of claims on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.  The audit was initiated in response to an Office of Inspector General preaudit analysis of HUD data, which determined that nonpayment orders may not always prevent claims from being paid.  Our audit objective was to determine…

We audited general and application controls over selected Federal Housing Administration (FHA) information systems and the credit reform estimation and reestimation process as part of the internal control assessments required for the fiscal year 2017 financial statement audit under the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990.  Our objective was to review the controls for compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed concerns from a complaint within HUD regarding the physical condition of HUD-insured residential care facilities (RCF).  This review is part of an ongoing effort of the Office of Inspector General (OIG).  At least 10 RCFs had received a score below 31 out of a possible 100 on their most recent Real Estate Assessment Center (…

We audited BLM Companies LLC, a contracted field service manager in HUD’s real estate-owned Management and Marketing III program, as part of the activities included in our 2017 annual audit plan and because it was the sole contractor performing property preservation and protection services for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-acquired properties located in Ohio.  Our audit objective was to determine whether BLM…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of safe water requirements for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans nationwide.  We conducted the audit based on news reports that identified lead contamination in public water systems across the country and also because of an audit in which we found that HUD did not have adequate controls to ensure that FHA-insured properties located in Flint,…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s rulemaking process for its single family note sales program.  This is the second in a series of audits on the note sales program.  The previous audit, 2017-KC-0006, reported that HUD did not conduct rulemaking or develop formal procedures for its single-family note sales program.  This audit examines a different aspect of the…

We audited RMS & Associates’ Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination because it was one of the top lenders that originated FHA-insured loans with downpayment assistance from the City of Las Vegas.  A previous U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD OIG), audit (Evergreen Home Loans, 2016-LA-1011) found that Evergreen originated FHA-insured loans in connection with the City of Las…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, District of New Jersey, District of Minnesota, and Southern District of Florida, in the civil investigation of PHH Corporation, PHH Mortgage Corporation (PHHMC), and PHH Home Loans, LLC (PHHHL), collectively referred to as PHH.  PHH was a direct endorsement lender…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in a civil investigation of Residential Home Funding Corp.  Residential Home is a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved mortgage lender having its principal place of business in White Plains, NY. On September 18, 2017,…

We audited SecurityNational Mortgage Company’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination because it was among the top lenders that originated FHA-insured loans with downpayment assistance from the City of Las Vegas.  A previous U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD OIG), audit (Evergreen Home Loans, 2016-LA-1011) found that Evergreen originated FHA-insured loans in connection with…

We audited Venta Financial Group’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination because it was one of the top lenders that originated FHA-insured loans with downpayment assistance from the City of Las Vegas.  A previous U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD OIG) audit (Evergreen Home Loans, 2016-LA-1011) found that Evergreen originated FHA-insured loans in connection with the City of…

We audited MB Financial Bank, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender, as part of our efforts to protect the integrity of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) single-family housing mortgage insurance programs.  We selected MB Financial for review based on an analysis of underwriting and default data maintained by HUD.  Our objective was to determine whether MB Financial…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts in the civil investigation of First American Mortgage Trust.  First American has its principal place of business in Brighton, MA, and does business as NXTLoan.Com Corp., a Delaware corporation.  First American is the parent company of NXTL. On October 18, 2016, First…