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Commitments and Contingencies | 3 Months Ended
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Mar. 31, 2014
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingencies | Note 21 — Commitments and Contingencies Litigation Contingencies We are subject to various pending legal proceedings, including those subject to loss sharing and indemnification provisions of our various acquisitions. In our opinion, the resolution of those proceedings will not have a material effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Regulatory Contingencies We are subject to a number of pending federal and state regulatory investigations, examinations, inquiries, requests for information and/or other actions. On December 5, 2012, we entered into a Consent Order with the NY DFS in which we agreed to the appointment of a Monitor to oversee our compliance with an Agreement on Servicing Practices. The Monitor began its work in 2013, and we continue to cooperate with the Monitor. We devote substantial resources to regulatory compliance, and we incur, and expect to continue to incur, significant ongoing costs with respect to compliance in connection with the Agreement on Servicing Practices and the work of the Monitor. In early February 2014, the NY DFS requested that Ocwen put an indefinite hold on an acquisition from Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Wells Fargo) of MSRs and related servicing advances relating to a portfolio of approximately 184,000 loans with a UPB of approximately $39.0 billion. The NY DFS expressed an interest in evaluating further our ability to handle more servicing. We have agreed to place the transaction on indefinite hold. We are cooperating with the NY DFS on this matter. We cannot currently estimate the outcome of the NY DFS evaluation. Actions by the NY DFS, if any, could have a material impact on Ocwen’s ongoing business and financial condition. On December 19, 2013, we reached an agreement, which was subject to court approval, involving the CFPB and various state attorneys general and other state agencies that regulate the mortgage servicing industry (Regulators). On February 26, 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered a Consent Order memorializing the settlement. The settlement has four key elements:
• | A commitment by Ocwen to service loans in accordance with specified servicing guidelines and to be subject to oversight by an independent national monitor for three years. Ocwen is presently subject to substantially the same guidelines and oversight with respect to the portion of its servicing portfolio acquired from ResCap in early 2013.
• | A payment of $127.3 million, which includes a fixed amount for administrative expenses, to a consumer relief fund to be disbursed by an independent administrator to eligible borrowers. Pursuant to indemnification and loss sharing provisions of applicable acquisition documents, approximately half of this consumer relief fund payment is to be funded by the former owners of certain servicing portfolios previously acquired by Ocwen and integrated into Ocwen’s servicing platform. Ocwen established a reserve of $66.9 million with respect to its portion of the payment into the consumer relief fund. This reserve is expected to cover all of Ocwen’s portion of the consumer relief fund payment.
• | A commitment by Ocwen to continue its principal forgiveness modification programs to delinquent and underwater borrowers, including underwater borrowers at imminent risk of default, in an aggregate amount of at least $2 billion over three years. These and all of Ocwen’s other loan modifications are designed to be sustainable for homeowners while providing a net present value for loan investors that is superior to that of foreclosure. Principal forgiveness as part of a loan modification is determined on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the applicable servicing agreement. Principal forgiveness does not involve an expense to Ocwen other than the operating expense incurred in arranging the modification, which is part of Ocwen’s role as loan servicer.
• | Ocwen and the former owners of certain of the acquired servicing portfolios will receive from the Regulators comprehensive releases, subject to certain exceptions, from liability with respect to residential mortgage servicing, modification and foreclosure practices.
On April 28, 2014, we received a letter from the staff of the New York Regional Office of the SEC (the “Staff”) informing us that it was conducting an investigation relating to Ocwen and making a request for voluntary production of documents and information relating to the April 22, 2014 surrender of certain options to purchase our common stock by Mr. Erbey, our Executive Chairman, including the 2007 Equity Incentive Plan and the related option grant and surrender documents. We intend to cooperate with the Staff in this matter. One or more of the foregoing regulatory actions or our failure to comply with the commitments we have made with respect to such regulatory actions or other regulatory actions in the future against us of a similar or different nature could cause us to incur fines, penalties, settlement costs, damages, legal fees or other charges in material amounts or could impose additional requirements or restrictions on our activities. Any of these occurrences could increase our operating expenses and reduce our revenues, hamper our ability to grow or otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. In addition to these matters, Ocwen receives periodic inquires, both formal and informal in nature, from various federal and state agencies, including those made as part of regulatory oversight of our mortgage servicing, origination and collection activities. Such ongoing inquiries, including those into servicer foreclosure processes, could result in additional actions by state or federal governmental bodies, regulators or the courts with respect to our mortgage servicing, origination and collection activities and could result in an extension of foreclosure timelines, which may be applicable generally to the servicing industry or to us in particular. In addition, a number of our match funded advance facilities contain provisions that limit the eligibility of advances to be financed based on the length of time that advances are outstanding, and two of our match funded advance facilities have provisions that limit new borrowings if average foreclosure timelines extend beyond a certain time period, either of which, if such provisions applied, could adversely affect liquidity by reducing our average effective advance rate. Increases in the amount of advances and the length of time to recover advances, fines or increases in operating expenses, and decreases in the advance rate and availability of financing for advances could result in increased borrowings, reduced cash and higher interest expense which could negatively impact our liquidity and profitability. Loan Repurchase Obligations and Related Contingencies We have exposure to representation, warranty and indemnification obligations because of our lending, sales and securitization activities and our acquisitions to the extent we assume one or more of these obligations and in connection with our servicing practices. At March 31, 2014, we had provided or assumed representation and warranty obligations in connection with $87.9 billion of UPB, covering both forward and reverse mortgage loans. At March 31, 2014, we had outstanding representation and warranty repurchase demands of $138.7 million UPB (701 loans). We review each demand and monitor through resolution, primarily through rescission, loan repurchase or make-whole payment. The following table presents the changes in our liability for indemnification obligations for the three months ended March 31, 2014, including representation and warranty obligations and compensatory fees for foreclosures that may ultimately exceed investor timelines:
Balance at December 31, 2013 | $ | 192,716 |
Provision for representation and warranty obligations | 7,266 |
New production reserves | 182 |
Obligations assumed in connection with MSR and servicing business acquisitions | — |
Charge-offs and other (1) | (30,929 | )
Balance at March 31, 2014 | $ | 169,235 |
(1) | Includes principal and interest losses realized in connection with repurchased loans, make-whole, indemnification and fee payments and settlements net of recoveries, if any.
We believe that it is reasonably possible that losses beyond amounts currently recorded for potential representation and warranty obligations and related claims described above could occur, and such losses could have an adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows. However, based on currently available information, we are unable to estimate a range of reasonably possible losses above amounts that have been recorded at March 31, 2014. In several recent court actions, mortgage loan sellers against whom repurchase claims have been asserted based on alleged breaches of representations and warranties are defending on various grounds including the expiration of statutes of limitation, lack of notice and opportunity to cure and vitiation of the obligation to repurchase as a result of foreclosure or charge off of the loan. Ocwen is not a party to any of the actions, but we are the servicer for certain securitizations involved in such actions. Ocwen has entered into tolling agreements with respect to its role as servicer for a very small number of securitizations and may enter into additional tolling agreements in the future. Should Ocwen be made a party to these or similar actions, we may need to defend allegations that we failed to service loans in accordance with applicable agreements and that such failures prejudiced the rights of repurchase claimants against loan sellers. We believe that any such allegations would be without merit and, if necessary, would vigorously defend against them. If, however, we were required to compensate claimants for losses related to seller breaches of representations and warranties in respect of loans we service, then our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

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