F E D E R A L R E S E R V E B O A R D | The Federal Reserve Board on Monday published a report regarding the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) and the Payment Agreement that replaced the IFR.

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Press Release

Release Date: July 7, 2014

The report released today provides information on the process for the review of the foreclosure files during the IFR and file review results, including servicer error rates during the IFR, up to the time the IFR was replaced. The report also contains updated information on direct borrower payments and other assistance from the Payment Agreement and discusses the Federal Reserve's ongoing supervision of corrective actions the mortgage servicers are required to implement. The report focuses primarily on servicers regulated by the Federal Reserve.

​For release at 11:00 a.m. ET
The Federal Reserve Board on Monday published a report regarding the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) and the Payment Agreement that replaced the IFR. The Payment Agreement required large mortgage servicers to provide approximately $10 billion in cash payments to eligible borrowers and other foreclosure prevention assistance. After the Payment Agreement has been fully implemented, the Federal Reserve expects to publish data on the final status of the cash payments and the foreclosure prevention assistance.
Between April 2011 and April 2012, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve issued enforcement actions against 16 mortgage loan servicers for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing. In addition to correcting their servicing practices, the actions required the servicers to hire independent consultants to conduct file reviews to determine if borrowers suffered financial injury and were eligible for financial remediation.
To settle their obligations under the IFR, 15 mortgage servicers entered into the Payment Agreement with the OCC and the Federal Reserve to provide $3.9 billion in direct cash payments to borrowers and approximately $6.1 billion in foreclosure prevention assistance. The Payment Agreement provides the greatest benefit to consumers in a timelier manner than would have occurred under the IFR and ensures that servicers cannot ask or require borrowers to waive any legal claims against their servicer as a condition of payment.
The report released today provides information on the process for the review of the foreclosure files during the IFR and file review results, including servicer error rates during the IFR, up to the time the IFR was replaced. The report also contains updated information on direct borrower payments and other assistance from the Payment Agreement and discusses the Federal Reserve's ongoing supervision of corrective actions the mortgage servicers are required to implement. The report focuses primarily on servicers regulated by the Federal Reserve.
Also on Monday, the Board released action plans for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to correct deficiencies in the firms' third-party vendor management procedures. The action plans were required by the enforcement actions issued in 2011 and 2012 by the Federal Reserve for deficiencies in residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing.
Independent Foreclosure Review report, July 2014 (PDF)
Goldman Sachs Residential Mortgage Servicing Vendor Management Policy Addendum (PDF)
Morgan Stanley Policy for the Management of Third Party Residential Mortgage Servicing Providers (PDF)
For media inquiries, call 202-452-2955

2014 Banking and Consumer Regulatory Policy

Last update: July 7, 2014

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And how many times can a man turn his head,

and pretend that he just doesn't see?

And how many ears must one man have,

before he can hear people cry ?

And how many deaths will it take till we know,

that too many people have died?

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind,

the answer is blowing in the wind.