The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Washington, DC, in the civil investigation of Quicken Loans, Inc.  The investigation was of Quicken’s origination, underwriting, endorsement, and related certifications of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgage loans between September 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011.  Quicken has…

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…

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, Eastern District of Michigan, in the civil investigation of United Shore Financial Services, LLC.  United Shore is a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved mortgage lender, with its principal place of business located in Troy, MI. United Shore became…

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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG), in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, conducted a review of GTL Investments, Inc., doing business as John Adams Mortgage Company regarding its originations, underwriting, quality control, and endorsement of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. The U.S. Government contended that it had certain…

We audited Coconut Grove Apartments due to concerns expressed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Multifamily Housing Programs regarding the management of the project.  The main concern was that the owner may have diverted project funds for nonproject expenses.  Our audit objective was to determine whether Coconut Grove’s owner operated its Sections 223(f) and 241(a)-insured multifamily rental…

We audited Member First Mortgage, Limited Liability Company, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) nonsupervised servicer as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2015 annual audit plan.  We selected Member First based upon our analysis of risk factors for single-family servicing lenders in Region 5’s jurisdiction.   Our audit objectives were to determine whether (1) Member First complied with the U.S. Department of Housing…

We audited Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates, LTD’s underwriting of a $22.8 million mortgage loan to refinance Lafayette Towers Apartments, a 584-unit highrise multifamily project in Detroit, MI.  We initiated the review based on the early default, assignment, and significant amount of the project.  Our objective was to determine whether Prudential underwrote and processed the loan for Lafayette Towers according to the U.S.…

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…

We audited Lake Village of Fairlane Apartments as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the project based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Detroit Office of Multifamily Housing Programs.  Our objective was to determine whether the project’s owner and former management agents operated the project in accordance with HUD’s requirements and the…

We audited the Lake Village of Auburn Hills multifamily project as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the project based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Detroit Office of Multifamily Housing.  Our objective was to determine whether the project’s owner and former management agents operated the project in accordance with the regulatory agreement…

We audited the Michigan State Housing Development Authority’s multifamily project-based Section 8 program for new-regulation projects as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2013 annual audit plan.  We selected the Authority based on a referral from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) management.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with HUD’s requirements…

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 (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting a review of Flagstar Bank, FSB. The objective of the review was to determine whether Flagstar conducted its operations in the underwriting of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans in accordance with HUD-FHA regulations. Flagstar Bank, FSB, is a supervised direct…

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 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’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) audited Michaelson, Connor, and Boul, Incorporated (MCB), a management and marketing contractor for HUD real estate-owned properties in Michigan. We selected MCB based on the results of our audit of Custom Closing, a HUD-designated closing agent for the State of Michigan (see OIG audit report #2009-CH-1021, issued September 2009). Our objective was…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed 15 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that D & R Mortgage Corporation (D & R) underwrote as an FHA direct endorsement lender. Our review objective was to determine whether D & R underwrote the 15 loans in accordance with FHA requirements. This review is part of Operation Watchdog, an OIG initiative to review the underwriting…

We completed a review of the Retreat at Santa Rita Springs (community), a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured multifamily project under Section 231 of the National Housing Act. Our audit was in response to a request for audit from Representative Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th District of Arizona. The owner defaulted on the $29.9 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-insured mortgage in November 2009, the month…