Rosas v. PHH Mortgage Corporation and AltaSource Offshore Customer Service

Answer to Complaint

Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge George C Hanks, Jr. MOTION HEARING held on 10/31/2023.

Defendants motion to dismiss Dkt. 14 is DENIED without prejudice to being reasserted as a motion for summary judgment.

Appearances: Jeffrey Scott Kelly. Stephanie Sepulveda. (ERO: yes), filed. (ByronThomas, 4) (Entered: 11/01/2023)

U.S. District Court
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS (Houston)
CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 4:23-cv-01661

RECAP Actions

Notice of Setting/Resetting (FORM, noticing) – Civil

– Zoom hearing Oct. 31, no update on docket as at this time.

Scheduling Conference

DOCKET CONTROL ORDER

U.S. District Court
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS (Houston)
CIVIL DOCKET FOR CASE #: 4:23-cv-01661

RECAP Actions

Gift Deed (2022) to Rosas from Pena

Rating Action Commentary

Fitch Ratings-New York-10 March 2017:

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC’s (Ocwen) U.S. residential mortgage servicer ratings as follows:

–Residential primary servicer rating for Prime product at ‘RPS3-‘, Outlook Stable;
–Residential primary servicer rating for Alt-A product at ‘RPS3-‘; Outlook Stable;
–Residential primary servicer rating for Subprime product at ‘RPS3-‘; Outlook Stable;
–Residential primary servicer rating for HELOC product at ‘RPS3-‘; Outlook Stable;
–Residential primary servicer rating for Closed-end Second Lien product at ‘RPS3-‘; Outlook Stable;
–Residential special servicer rating affirmed at ‘RSS3-‘; Outlook Stable;
–Residential master servicer rating affirmed at ‘RMS3-‘; Outlook Stable.

The servicer ratings and Stable Rating Outlook are based on Ocwen’s continued efforts to work through regulatory settlements, incremental operational improvements for the primary and special servicing operation since Fitch’s prior review, highly integrated technology environment, and concentration of offshore servicing operations for primary and special servicing. The master servicer rating and Stable Outlook also reflect consistent Reg AB and USAP results.

All of the servicer ratings incorporate Ocwen’s financial condition. In June 2016, Fitch affirmed Ocwen’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating at ‘B-‘/Stable. Additional information regarding Ocwen and Ocwen Financial Corporation is available on Fitch’s website at www.fitchratings.com.

Ocwen signed a settlement with the California Department of Business Oversight (CDBO) in February 2017 resolving allegations surrounding its mortgage servicing practices and allowing the company to acquire new servicing business in the state. Ocwen remains under a consent order with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) and the National Mortgage Settlement (NMS).

In its 10K report filed with the SEC in February 2017, Ocwen stated that it has accrued $12.5 million for a potential settlement as a result of its negotiations with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to resolve certain concerns the CFPB has expressed relating to the company’s servicing practices and technology. The CFPB concerns primarily stem from its examination of Ocwen that began in 2014, and could result in a consent order that could entail payment of monetary amounts or injunctive relief, among other consequences.

Ocwen continues to make incremental improvements and enhancements to its primary and special servicing operations. Since the prior review, the company transitioned to a new lock-box vendor, streamlined its investor reporting for PLS deals, updated its servicing transfer processes, and consolidated correspondence management.

Ocwen’s highly integrated systems result in an enhanced technology environment. The company leverages a number of systems from Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (Altisource), including its core servicing system REALServicing, and Equator, a default servicing platform. Since Fitch’s prior review, Ocwen implemented Back In The Black for loss mitigation processing.

Ocwen’s primary and special servicing operation continues its reliance on offshore resources.

Approximately 83% of the residential servicing staff is located offshore, with some servicing functions located almost entirely offshore.

of the global operations are wholly owned and operated by Ocwen.

The most recent Reg AB and USAP reports for the master servicing operation did not contain any instances of material noncompliance. Master servicing has reported no instances of material non-compliance with Reg AB or USAP requirements for the past eight years.

As of Dec. 31, 2016, Ocwen’s primary and special servicing portfolio consisted of 1.36 million loans totaling $203.3 billion, a decrease from 1.6 million loans totaling $245.3 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015

This included more than 972,000 loans totaling $145 billion in non-agency RMBS transactions. Ocwen is currently constrained from acquiring any additional mortgage servicing rights (MSRs) in connection with its consent order with the NYDFS.

Ocwen’s master servicing portfolio consisted of approximately 203,000 loans totaling $24.5 billion as of Dec. 31, 2016, a decrease from over 246,000 loans totaling $30.5 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015.

This included approximately 198,000 loans in 606 PLS transactions.

Fitch rates residential mortgage primary, master, and special servicers on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. Within some of these rating levels, Fitch further differentiates ratings by plus (+) and minus (-) as well as the flat rating. For more information on Fitch’s residential servicer rating program, please see Fitch’s report ‘Rating Criteria for U.S. Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicers’, dated April 23, 2015, which is available on the Fitch Ratings web site at ‘www.fitchratings.com’.

Contact:

Primary Analyst
Thomas Crowe
Senior Director
+1-212-908-0227
Fitch Ratings, Inc.
33 Whitehall Street
New York, NY 10004

Secondary Analyst
Amit Arora
Director
+ 1-212-612-7874

Committee Chairperson
Roelof Slump
Managing Director
+1-212-908-0705

Media Relations: Sandro Scenga, New York, Tel: +1 212-908-0278, Email: sandro.scenga@fitchratings.com.

Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com

Applicable Criteria
Criteria for Rating Loan Servicers (pub. 23 Feb 2017)
Criteria for Rating U.S. and Canadian Residential and Small Balance Commercial Mortgage Servicers (pub. 23 Feb 2017)

Additional Disclosures
Solicitation Status
Endorsement Policy

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PARTICIPATION STATUS
The rated entity (and/or its agents) or, in the case of structured finance, one or more of the transaction parties participated in the rating process except that the following issuer(s), if any, did not participate in the rating process, or provide additional information, beyond the issuer’s available public disclosure.
Solicitation Status
The ratings above were solicited and assigned or maintained at the request of the rated entity/issuer or a related third party. Any exceptions follow below.
ENDORSEMENT POLICY
Fitch’s approach to ratings endorsement so that ratings produced outside the EU may be used by regulated entities within the EU for regulatory purposes, pursuant to the terms of the EU Regulation with respect to credit rating agencies, can be found on the EU Regulatory Disclosures page. The endorsement status of all International ratings is provided within the entity summary page for each rated entity and in the transaction detail pages for all structured finance transactions on the Fitch website. These disclosures are updated on a daily basis.
Real Estate and Homebuilding
Structured Finance: CMBS
CMBS Seller/Servicers
Structured Finance
Structured Finance: Servicers
RMBS Seller/Servicers
Structured Finance: RMBS
North America
United States