Banks face foreclosure practices deadline

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has given all banks until September 30 to conduct a self-assessment of its foreclosure practices.

The “self-assessment” request first came in consent orders given to 14 of the nation’s largest banks in April over a settlement into questionable foreclosure practices that had surfaced last fall. The consent orders called for mortgage servicers to hire a third party to review its foreclosure files to determine if home owners were harmed directly from any errors, sloppy, or incomplete paperwork.

The mortgage servicers include banking giants Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, among others. But the OCC now says that any bank that falls under its supervision, even those that did not sign the consent orders, must complete the self-assessment by September 30.

“Banks that identify weaknesses in their foreclosure processes through the self-assessment should take immediate corrective action,” the OCC said. “Banks should determine if the weaknesses resulted in any financial harm to borrowers and provide remediation where appropriate.”

The OCC says it will review the self-assessments and the corrective actions taken, as well as also make any determinations of financial harm to homeowners.