Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement
As of January 2017, the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) Payment Agreement has concluded. In 2013, fifteen mortgage servicing companies subject to enforcement actions for deficient practices in mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing reached an agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to provide more than $9.3 billion in cash payments and other assistance to help borrowers. The sum included $3.6 billion in direct cash payments to borrowers covered by the agreement and $5.7 billion in other foreclosure prevention assistance, such as loan modifications and forgiveness of deficiency judgments. To be eligible for a payment, a borrower’s loan must have been serviced by one of the participating servicers and involved in a foreclosure action on the primary residence between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2010.
Beginning in April 2013, the paying agent, Rust Consulting, Inc., mailed checks to eligible borrowers. As all borrowers eligible for the payment agreement were involved in a foreclosure action, Rust Consulting undertook significant efforts, under the oversight of federal regulators, to locate as many eligible borrowers as possible and ensure that they were able to cash or deposit their checks. For checks returned as undeliverable with no forwarding address, Rust Consulting conducted multiple address searches, including various commercial database searches, utilizing both batch address trace and manual search methods. At least three years have passed since the initial checks were mailed to borrowers. During that period, at least two and in most cases three attempts were made to reach each eligible borrower. Rust Consulting has advised that the efforts undertaken to locate borrowers covered by the payment agreement have exceeded efforts in similar payment distributions.
Participating servicers under the agreement, including their current and former affiliates covered under the agreement, included:
| America's Servicing Company | HSBC |
| Aurora Loan Services | Litton Loan Servicing LP |
| BAC Home Loans Servicing | MetLife Bank |
| Bank of America | Morgan Stanley |
| Beneficial | National City Mortgage |
| Chase | PNC Mortgage |
| Citibank | Saxon Mortgage |
| CitiFinancial | Sovereign Bank |
| CitiMortgage | SunTrust Mortgage |
| Countrywide | U.S. Bank |
| EMC Mortgage Corporation | Wachovia Mortgage |
| EverBank/EverHome Mortgage Company | Washington Mutual (WaMu) |
| GMAC Mortgage | Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. |
| Goldman Sachs | Wilshire Credit Corporation |
| HFC |
In November 2015, the Federal Reserve Board approved a plan to conclude the IFR Payment Agreement and issued a press release notifying eligible borrowers whose loans were serviced by one of the Federal Reserve supervised servicers of related deadlines. In August 2016, at the direction of the Federal Reserve, Rust Consulting redistributed remaining funds to nearly 650,000 borrowers of Federal Reserve supervised servicers who had cashed or deposited their initial check from the IFR Payment Agreement by March 31, 2016. All outstanding checks expired on December 31, 2016 and will no longer be accepted for payment.
A final reconciliation of the Qualified Settlement Funds has been completed and any remaining funds attributable to Federal Reserve supervised servicers has been remitted to the general fund of the U.S. Treasury. The Federal Reserve has now published final data regarding the final status of the cash payments and the foreclosure prevention assistance focused primarily on servicers regulated by the Federal Reserve. The Independent Foreclosure Review Final Report can be found here.
If a borrower’s loan was serviced by one of the mortgage servicers under the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's supervisory authority, please refer to the OCC's website for additional information.
More information can be found in Payment Agreement - Frequently Asked Questions.
Related Links
Press Release
November 19, 2015
Federal Reserve Board announces plan to redistribute unclaimed funds under Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement
Press Release
February 18, 2015
Agencies announce reissuance of checks related to the Independent Foreclosure Review
Press Release
July 7, 2014
Federal Reserve Board publishes report on Independent Foreclosure Review and the Payment Agreement
Press Release
July 26, 2013
Federal Reserve releases an amendment to the enforcement action against GMAC Mortgage
Press Release
Press Release
April 29, 2013
Payments to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley borrowers covered by foreclosure agreement to begin May 3
Press Release
April 17, 2013
Federal Reserve provides information on checks sent under Independent Foreclosure Review Payment Agreement
Press Release
April 9, 2013
Payments to 4.2 Million Borrowers Covered by Foreclosure Agreement to Begin April 12
Press Release
February 28, 2013
Amendments to Consent Orders Memorialize $9.3 Billion Foreclosure Agreement
Press Release
January 18, 2013
OCC and Federal Reserve reach agreement with HSBC to provide $249 million in payments and assistance
Press Release
Press Release
January 7, 2013
Independent Foreclosure Review to Provide $3.3 Billion in Payments, $5.2 Billion in Mortgage Assistance