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…

We audited Alpine First Preston Joint Venture II, LLC, a contracted asset 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 to market and sell U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) owned properties located in Illinois. Our audit objective was to determine whether Alpine complied with its contract with…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois’ Eastern Division, conducted a joint review of the former president and founder of MDR Mortgage Corporation. MDR Mortgage provided annual verifications to HUD in 2006, 2007, and 2008, certifying that none of its…

We audited Mortgage Services III, LLC, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender, as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2016 annual audit plan.  We selected Mortgage Services for review based on an analysis of data in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Data Warehouse system  for single-family lenders with home offices in Region 5’s jurisdiction. …

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), referred alleged violations to HUD’s Office of Program Enforcement for action under the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act based on two audits of DHI Mortgage Company Ltd.  (DHIM) that found it did not follow HUD requirements when it underwrote Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans with prohibited restrictive addenda to the purchase…

We audited NOVA Financial & Investment Corporation based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Quality Assurance Division detailing a separate lender that originated Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans that contained ineligible downpayment assistance gifts.  The HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) analysis identified NOVA as a lender with the highest origination volume in the…

HUD OIG conducted a civil investigation of an alleged loan origination fraud scheme involving a cash-out refinance loan that was insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  FHA provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders to creditworthy borrowers.  Borrowers must occupy the properties as their primary residence for at least 1 year.  Borrowers certify to their intent to occupy the property when…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited Allen Mortgage, Limited Liability Company, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) nonsupervised lender. We selected Allen Mortgage for audit based on its high default and claim rate for the FHA-insured loans sponsored in Region 5. Our objectives were to determine whether (1) Allen Mortgage complied with HUD’s regulations, procedures, and instructions in…

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 reviewed alleged violations of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) real estate-owned (REO) owner-occupancy program requirements by the subject (name withheld for privacy reasons). We concluded that the subject failed to comply with the HUD REO program requirement that an individual who purchases a REO home during its initial offering period must be the owner-occupant of the purchased home for one full year. In April 2011…

We reviewed Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan settlement documents from two branches of DHI Mortgage Company, LTD (DHI Mortgage), in Arizona. During a previous audit of loan origination by the same branches (audit report number 2009-LA-1018), there was information indicating that the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Act) might have been violated; however, we were unable to report on the issue at the time. Our review…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), completed a review of loan origination practices of Anchor Mortgage Corporation (Anchor), Chicago, IL. Our objective was to identify violations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements and the related losses incurred by HUD. Based on our review, HUD sued the lender and its owner under the False Claims Act. In August 2010, the court…

We audited Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan processes at two DHI Mortgage Company, LTD (DHI Mortgage), branches in Scottsdale, AZ, to determine whether DHI Mortgage originated, approved, and closed FHA-insured single-family loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We recently conducted an audit of DHI Mortgage’s Tucson and Scottsdale branches and identified significant…

We audited FHA-insured loan processes at two DHI Mortgage Company, LTD (DHI Mortgage) branches in Tucson and Scottsdale, Arizona, to determine whether DHI Mortgage originated, approved, and closed FHA-insured single-family loans in accordance with HUD requirements. We chose DHI Mortgage because the Scottsdale, Arizona, branch had a default rate that was double the default rate for FHA-insured loans for the state of Arizona, and then expanded…