Big bank receives failing grade

One big bank failed one of the tests for the National Mortgage Settlement.

Citigroup failed one of the National Mortgage Settlement Test for loan modifications.

“Citi failed one of the new metrics the Monitoring Committee and I negotiated to address the loan modification process,” Joseph Smith, NMS monitor said, according to Housing Wire. “It also implemented an approved CAP and cured the fail in the next quarter.”

However, several other banks including Bank of America, Chase, Green Tree and Wells Fargo passed.

“I am pleased to see that the servicers are adhering to the NMS’s servicing rules, which aim to give borrowers better experiences,” said Joseph Smith, NMS monitor. “Among five servicers and over six months, only one failure was uncovered, and of the servicers who had earlier fails to address, the corrective actions put in place were successful.”

A first report regarding Citigroup’s responsibilities was released in January of this year.

“The purpose of this report is to describe Citi’s obligations under the Settlement Agreement and to provide the first interim report on Citi’s progress towards meeting its obligations by the end of 2018, as the Settlement Agreement requires,” the report states.

Citi agreed to pay $4.5 billion to various states for law violations in connection with residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations between 2006 and 2007.

“DOJ and the States investigated allegations that Citi packaged, marketed, and sold defective residential mortgage loans between 2006 and 2007 before the financial crisis,” the report states. “During that time, when Citi securitized and issued RMBS, Citi routinely provided representations to potential investors about the validity and quality of the underlying loans.

“The investigations discovered that Citi received information indicating that, for certain loan pools, significant percentages of the loans reviewed did not conform to the representations.”