OCC Terminates, Amends Consent Orders With National Banks

On June 17, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that it terminated foreclosure-related consent orders with three national banks, entered into amended consent orders with six other national banks, and decided to escheat at the end of the fiscal year any uncashed payments made under the Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement (IFRPA), which resulted in the distribution of over $2.7 billion in borrower relief.  The OCC entered initial consent orders with these banks on April 13, 2011, stemming from allegations that the banks mismanaged their residential mortgage-servicing portfolios by improperly administering and overseeing mortgage foreclosures.  ​The amended consent orders retained restrictions on mortgage-servicing activities, including requiring OCC consent to acquisitions of mortgage-servicing rights or, in the case of two banks, an absolute prohibition of acquisitions of mortgage-servicing rights.  The OCC also retained authority to veto the banks’ outsourcing of mortgage-servicing rights and the banks’ appointments of senior mortgage-servicing officers.  Both the amended and terminated consent orders included provisions authorizing the OCC to escheat any uncashed checks made to borrowers under the IFRPA to the state of the borrower’s last known address, allowing borrowers or their heirs to claim the funds through state legal proceedings.  The OCC estimates that $280 million will remain in the IFRPA fund at year’s end.