OCWEN FINANCIAL CORP :
Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement, Results of Operations and Financial Condition, Financial Statements and Exhibits (form 8-K)
FEB 26, 2020| REPUBLISHED BY LIT: MAR 15, 2021
On February 20, 2020, PHH Mortgage Corporation (PMC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation (Ocwen or we),
received a notice of termination from New Residential Mortgage LLC (NRM), a subsidiary of New Residential Investment Corp. (NRZ),
with respect to the Amended and Restated Flow Subservicing Agreement, dated as of March 29, 2019, by and between NRM, as Servicing Rights Owner, and PMC, as Subservicer (amending and restating the December 28, 2016 agreement between the parties).
The terms of the agreement have been previously disclosed in Ocwen’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As of December 31, 2019, the unpaid principal balance (UPB) of the loans subserviced under the agreement was $42.1 billion, representing approximately 20% of our total serviced UPB.
The notice states that the effective date of termination is June 19, 2020 for 25% of the loans under the agreement (not including loans constituting approximately $6.6 billion in UPB that were added by NRZ under the agreement in 2019) and August 18, 2020 for the remainder of the loans under the agreement.
The actual servicing transfer date(s) will be determined through discussions with NRZ and other stakeholders such as GSEs. In connection with the termination, we estimate that we will receive loan deboarding fees of approximately $6.1 million from NRZ.
NRZ has not provided notice of termination with respect to its other agreements with PMC. Under these agreements, we service loans with a UPB of $76.6 billion, representing approximately 36% of our servicing portfolio UPB, as of December 31, 2019.
The foregoing description of the subservicing agreement referenced above does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1 and incorporated herein by reference.
Item 2.02 Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On February 26, 2020, Ocwen issued a press release announcing results for the fourth quarter and the year ended December 31, 2019 and providing information relating to the matters discussed in Item 1.02 above. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.
The information in this Item 2.02 and the information in the related Exhibit 99.1 attached hereto shall not be deemed to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that Section, nor shall such information be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.
(d) Exhibits
Exhibit
Number Description
10.1† Amended and Restated Flow Mortgage Loan Subservicing Agreement between
New Residential Mortgage LLC and PHH Mortgage Corporation dated March
29, 2019(1)
99.1 Press Release of Ocwen Financial Corporation dated February 26, 2020
announcing financial results for the fourth quarter and the year ended
December 31, 2019
† Certain confidential information contained in this agreement has been omitted
because it (i) is not material and (ii) would be competitively harmful if
publicly disclosed.
(1) Incorporated by reference to the similarly described exhibit included with
the Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30,
2019 filed on August 6, 2019.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Current Report on Form 8-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements may be identified by a reference to a future period or by the use of forward-looking terminology. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “expect”, “believe”, “foresee”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “estimate”, “goal”, “strategy”, “plan” “target” and “project” or conditional verbs such as “will”, “may”, “should”, “could” or “would” or the negative of these terms, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain.
Our business has been undergoing substantial change which has magnified such uncertainties. Readers should bear these factors in mind when considering such statements and should not place undue reliance on such statements.
Forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. In the past, actual results have differed from those suggested by forward looking statements and this may happen again.
In particular, the estimates provided in this Current Report on Form 8-K (including the exhibits) regarding the impact of the termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement and other aspects of our relationship with NRZ are estimates based on currently available information and these estimates may not be accurate.
Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, uncertainty relating to the future of our long-term relationship and remaining servicing agreements with NRZ; our ability to execute an orderly and timely transfer of responsibilities in connection with the termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement;
the reactions of regulators, lenders and other contractual counterparties, rating agencies, stockholders and other stakeholders to the announcement of the termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement; our ability to adjust our cost structure and operations as the loan transfer process is being completed in response to the termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement, including unanticipated costs and the timeline on which we can execute on these actions;
our ability to devote sufficient management attention and financial resources to our growth and other strategic objectives as we work through the loan transfer process and adjust our cost structure and operations; uncertainty related to our ability to execute on continuous cost re-engineering efforts and the other actions we believe are necessary for us to improve our financial performance;
our ability to acquire MSRs or other assets or businesses at adequate risk-adjusted returns and at sufficient volume to achieve our growth goals, including our ability to allocate resources for investment, negotiate and execute purchase documentation and satisfy closing conditions so as to consummate such acquisitions; uncertainty related to our ability to grow our lending business and increase our lending volumes in a competitive market and uncertain interest rate environment;
uncertainty related to claims, litigation, cease and desist orders and investigations brought by government agencies and private parties regarding our servicing, foreclosure, modification, origination and other practices, including uncertainty related to past, present or future investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders and settlements with state regulators, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), State Attorneys General, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice or the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and actions brought under the False Claims Act regarding incentive and other payments made by governmental entities; adverse effects on our business as a result of regulatory investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders or settlements;
reactions to the announcement of such investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders or settlements by key counterparties, including lenders, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac, and together with Fannie Mae, the GSEs) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae); our ability to comply with the terms of our settlements with regulatory agencies and the costs of doing so;
limits on our ability to repurchase our own stock as a result of regulatory settlements and other conditions; increased regulatory scrutiny and media attention;
any adverse developments in existing legal proceedings or the initiation of new legal proceedings; our ability to effectively manage our regulatory and contractual compliance obligations;
our ability to interpret correctly and comply with liquidity, net worth and other financial and other requirements of regulators, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, as well as those set forth in our debt and other agreements; our ability to comply with our servicing agreements, including our ability to comply with our agreements with, and the requirements of, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae and maintain our seller/servicer and other statuses with them;
the adequacy of our financial resources, including our sources of liquidity and ability to sell, fund and recover advances, forward and reverse whole loans, and HECM and forward loan buyouts and put backs, as well as repay, renew and extend borrowings, borrow additional amounts as and when required, meet our MSR or other asset investment objectives and comply with our debt agreements, including the financial and other covenants contained in them;
the impact on Ocwen of our implementation of the CECL methodology for financial instruments (ASU 2016-13 and ASU 2019-04);
our ability to fund future draws on existing loans in our reverse mortgage portfolio;
our servicer and credit ratings as well as other actions from various rating agencies, including the impact of prior or future downgrades of our servicer and credit ratings;
as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed in Ocwen’s reports and filings with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, its current and quarterly reports since such date and, when available, its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019.
Anyone wishing to understand Ocwen’s business should review its SEC filings.
Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, we disclaim any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.