National Mortgage Settlement Monitor Issues Implementation Report

Mortgage Servicing Consumer Complaints National Mortgage Servicing Settlement

On February 21, Joseph Smith, Jr., the Monitor charged with overseeing the borrower relief and servicing standards aspects of the national mortgage servicing settlement, issued an implementation status report. The report states that the servicers subject to the agreement have provided nearly $46 billion of borrower relief to date and that one of the five servicers has been certified as having satisfied its borrower relief obligations under the settlement. The report notes that, effective January 1, 2013, each of the five servicers’ compliance with the servicing standards are being measured against a set of 29 metrics. The report does not provide any initial assessment of servicer compliance, but notes that the Monitor is currently reviewing each servicer’s compliance review report and, after completing a consultation process with each servicer and the Monitoring Committee, the Monitor will file a compliance report during the second quarter of 2013. The report also notes an increase in consumer complaints collected by the Monitor to date, but does not conclude whether the increase is due to greater awareness about the settlement or persistent servicing problems.