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…

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), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, in the civil investigation of Freedom Mortgage Corporation.  Freedom has its principal place of business in Mount Laurel, NJ, and became an FHA-approved direct endorsement lender in 1993.  As a direct endorsement lender, Freedom…

We completed a review of Provident Bank’s servicing of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages and its implementation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Loss Mitigation program. We selected Provident Bank based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment of single-family lenders. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Provident Bank properly serviced FHA-insured mortgages and…

HUD OIG assisted the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, in the civil investigation of MetLife Bank, N.A.  MetLife had its principal place of business in Convent Station, NJ.  MetLife became an approved direct endorsement lender under HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program on April 5, 2007.  The direct endorsement program authorizes private-sector mortgage…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Mortgage Now Inc., a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved nonsupervised direct endorsement lender approved to originate, underwrite, and submit mortgages for insurance. We selected Mortgage Now based on its compare ratio of 223 percent for a 2-year FHA performance period. Its average compare ratio for the loans originated in our…

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 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…

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 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 Infinity Home Mortgage Company, Inc. (Infinity Home Mortgage), a nonsupervised lender approved to originate Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family mortgage loans. We selected Infinity Home Mortgage because its default rate for the State of Pennsylvania was significantly higher than the average default rate for the State. Our objective was to determine whether Infinity Home Mortgage complied with U.S. Department of Housing…

We completed an audit of Ark Mortgage, Incorporated (Ark Mortgage), a nonsupervised direct endorsement lender located in North Brunswick, New Jersey. The audit objectives were to determine whether Ark Mortgage officials (1) originated insured loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development/Federal Housing Administration (HUD/FHA) requirements and (2) developed and implemented a quality control plan that complied with…

We completed an audit of Jersey Mortgage Company (Jersey Mortgage), a nonsupervised lender located in Cranford, New Jersey. The audit objectives were to determine whether Jersey Mortgage (1) approved Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans in accordance with the requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/FHA, which include adherence to prudent lending practices, and (2) developed and implemented a…

We audited the City of Camden's (City) asset control area (ACA) program following a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Single Family Asset Management for a review of the City's compliance with its ACA agreement with HUD. Our objective was to determine whether the City complied with specific requirements in the ACA agreement pertaining to the resale of properties it acquired from HUD…

We completed an audit of Mortgage Access Corporation, doing business as Weichert Financial Services, a nonsupervised lender located in Morris Plains, New Jersey. The audit objectives were to determine whether Mortgage Access Corporation (1) approved insured loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements, and (2) developed and implemented a quality control plan…

NEWARK, N.J. – An Essex County, New Jersey, man will be arraigned today on charges that he engaged in a conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud that resulted in potential losses in excess of $1 million, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. Cabral Simpson, 43, of Belleville, New Jersey, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Leda Dunn Wettre in Newark federal court. He is charged by indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and…