We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Program based on our annual audit plan and our strategic goal to improve the integrity of HUD’s single-family insurance programs. This is the second of two reports that we issued on HUD’s oversight of the Program. Our objective was to determine whether HUD controls prevented borrowers from renting their properties to…

We audited HUD's Region 3 Offices of Multifamily Housing to determine whether HUD ensured that rents and excess income for Section 236 properties were properly identified and remitted to HUD. We performed this audit based on our audit plan and problems identified during an external audit of a Section 236 property located in Washington, DC. HUD's Region 3 Offices of Multifamily Housing generally ensured that Section 236 properties established…

We audited Prysma Lending Group, LLC, a nonsupervised lender, located in Danbury, CT, in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal of improving the integrity of the single-family insurance program. We selected Prysma for audit because its 3.28 percent default rate for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single-family loans with beginning amortization dates between…

In conjunction with our external audit of Innotion Enterprises, Inc. (Audit Report #2012-LA-1010), we reviewed termite inspection passthrough costs that it submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for payment as part of its real estate-owned (REO) Management and Marketing III (M&M III) program field service manager contract. We selected Innotion’s Las Vegas, NV, branch based on the size and scope of its…

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…

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…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) to determine whether it ensured that independent auditors followed Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 99 audit requirements. REAC did not always ensure that independent auditors followed SAS 99 requirements. It did not identify deficiencies in 10 of the 11 deficient engagements we reviewed. For the…

We completed a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Native American Programs’ (ONAP) annual audit reporting process primarily in response to complaints that ONAP did not take appropriate enforcement action for two grantees that failed to submit required annual audits. Our objective was to determine whether ONAP provided adequate oversight of its grantees nationwide to ensure grantee compliance with…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) completed its nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Ally Financial, Incorporated, Bank of America, CitiMortgage, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo Bank). We performed these reviews due to reported allegations made in the fall of 2010 that national mortgage…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the Flint Housing Commission’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Fund competitive grants. We selected the Commission based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to the housing agencies in Region 5’s jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the Commission administered its grants in accordance with…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audited the Saginaw Housing Commission’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2012 annual audit plan. We selected the Commission based upon our previous audits of its use of Federal funds and a request from HUD management to perform a comprehensive review of its programs. Our objective…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audited the Stark Metropolitan Housing Authority’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Public Housing Capital Fund stimulus formula grant as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2012 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon risk factors related to the housing agencies in Region 5’s Region 5 includes the States of Illinois,…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the Utah Housing Corporation in response to a hotline complaint. The complaint contained allegations that the Corporation commingled funds from the FHA first mortgages and the downpayment assistance second mortgages and serviced the second mortgages before the FHA first mortgages by using the first mortgage payments to pay the second mortgage. The…

We conducted a limited review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Shea Mortgage, Inc. We selected the lender based on the results of an auditability survey, which determined that Shea Mortgage allowed prohibited restrictive covenants to be filed against FHA-insured properties. The objective of our review was to determine the extent to which Shea Mortgage failed to prevent the recording of prohibited restrictive…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting a review of CitiMortgage, Inc. CitiMortgage is a direct subsidiary of Citibank, N.A., and Citibank is an indirect subsidiary of Citigroup. CitiMortgage is based in O’Fallon, MO. The review began due to a qui tam filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of Section 8 housing assistance payments made to Lynn Leggins, a landlord, for a tenant with whom he lived. The objective of our review was to determine whether Mr. Leggins received housing assistance payments that he was not eligible to receive. HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program provides rental subsidies through…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a civil fraud review of an alleged foreclosure rescue scheme operated by Terrill L. Meisinger of Seal Beach, CA. The alleged scheme involved more than 100 properties in three States that were financed through Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and conventional loans and allegedly defrauded distressed homeowners, renters, and lenders. Based on…

We audited the Allegheny County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program because (1) the Authority received more than $27.3 million in Housing Choice Voucher funding in fiscal year 2011, (2) an article in the October 22, 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described housing quality standards problems with a housing unit participating in the Authority’s program, and (3) we had never audited the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program.…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audited HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund program and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) Capital Fund program monitoring procedures because it was included in our annual audit plan and was prompted by a prior external audit (OIG audit report 2011-LA-1802, issued May 5, 2011). Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s Capital…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Wichita, KS, Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program. We selected the Authority for review because it received more than $12 million in Section 8 funding in both 2011 and 2010. Also, it is one of the largest housing authorities in Kansas and had not been reviewed by HUD OIG. Our audit objective was to determine whether the…