Former OneWest headquarters in Pasadena (2009–2016)
OneWest Bank, a division of First Citizens BancShares, is a former regional bank that operated from March 2019 to July 2022. With over 60 retail branches in Southern California. OneWest Bank specialized in consumer deposit and lending including personal checking and savings accounts, money market accounts, CDs, and home loan products. OneWest offered small business checking, savings, CD, and money market accounts as well as small business loans and treasury management products.
Through OneWest Bank the investment group purchased two other failed banks from the FDIC, the First Federal Bank of California on December 18, 2009, which then had $6 billion in assets and $5 billion in deposits, and La Jolla Bank, FSB in February 2010, which then represented $3.6 billion in assets. In November 2010, OneWest Bank, purchased a $1.4 billion multifamily and commercial real estate loan portfolio from Citibank, N.A., which included approximately 600 loans, as part of their Commercial Real Estate lending business.[4] Under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the California Reinvestment Coalition, a nonprofit, determined that as of December 2014, the FDIC had already paid over $1 billion to OneWest Bank under the shared loss agreements it secured from the FDIC when it purchased IndyMac and La Jolla Banks, and that the FDIC expected it would pay another $1.4 billion.[5]
According to the New York Daily News, OneWest Bank foreclosed on the homes of thousands of people.[6] According to the Wall Street Journal, OneWest Bank started foreclosure proceedings on 137,000 homeowners.[7]
In enforcing its rights under the loans purchased from IndyMac, OneWest Bank took a much more aggressive approach to foreclosing on properties.[citation needed]
On November 25, 2009, Judge Spinner in Long Island, New York penalized OneWest for their “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” actions in trying to work out a distressed mortgage, by canceling the debt in favor of the borrower.[8] A year after the New York Judge Spinner wiped away the debt, an appellate panel ruled that the judge had no right to do it. While Judge Spinner ruled that the bank's practices warranted him erasing the homeowners' debt, the appellate judges found that he had no authority to render such a judgment—and did not give the bank fair notice that such consequences were even on the table.[9] After the ruling, in a previously unreported twist, senior OneWest executives reviewing the bank's past-due mortgages came across a delinquent loan made to the judge, a person familiar with the matter said. The bank asked the judge to recuse himself. He did. Judge Spinner said Wednesday that while he fell behind on his mortgage, this had no bearing on his decision in the Horoskis’ case. After Judge Spinner recused himself, a higher court overturned his decision canceling the Horoskis’ loan. The Horoskis’ home was foreclosed on in 2012 and later sold by the bank. OneWest, now owned by CIT Group Inc., is still trying to get more than $400,000 from Mrs. Yano-Horoski, she said.[10]
On December 8, 2009, OneWest worked with the Hennepin County, Minnesota Sheriff's department to change the locks on a distressed home despite stating in a Nov. 25 e-mail that they were rescinding both the foreclosure and the sheriff's sale. OneWest Bank said, "You expressed concern that … you and your mother will be evicted from the property. Rest assured, that will not take place …".[11] Changing the locks was done without any court action, which bypasses acknowledged and mandated Due Process on home foreclosures in Minnesota.[11]
OneWest Bank stopped originating reverse mortgages, which was before CIT acquired the bank. But, OneWest continued servicing its portfolio of reverse mortgages, and similar to regular mortgages, it was criticized by attorneys for a number of abusive foreclosure practices, such as the story of Ossie Lofton, a 90-year-old woman who OneWest tried to foreclose on over a 27-cent mistake.[12] In May 2017, CIT agreed to pay $89 million in settlement claims related to its reverse mortgage program.[13] According to the United States Department of Justice, "The United States alleged that Financial Freedom sought to obtain insurance payments for interest from FHA despite failing to disclose on the insurance claim properly forms it filed with the agency that the mortgagee was not eligible for such interest payments because it had failed to meet various deadlines relating to appraisal of the property, submission of claims to HUD, and pursuit of foreclosure proceedings. As a result, from March 31, 2011 to August 31, 2016, the mortgagees on the relevant reverse mortgage loans serviced by Financial Freedom allegedly obtained additional interest they were not entitled to receive."[14]
In July 2014, OneWest Bank and CIT Group announced a merger. CIT Group had accepted $2.3 billion in TARP funding that it never repaid because it declared bankruptcy.[15] Nonprofits throughout the state very quickly raised concerns about the merger, citing the damage caused by the approximately 36,000 foreclosures conducted by OneWest in California, the bank's weak record in small business lending, the bank's weak community reinvestment act record, and concerns about possible redlining by the bank. On February 2, 2015, Daily Kos and the California Reinvestment Coalition visited the San Francisco Federal Reserve and delivered more than 15,000 petitions signed by people who opposed the merger.[16] A picture of those petitions being delivered was included in a book by Al Gore. Bank regulators announced on February 6, 2015, that they would hold a public hearing about the proposed merger.[17]
On August 3, 2015, CIT Group acquired OneWest Bank, N.A.[18]
On June 4, 2018, the company sold Financial Freedom, the unit responsible for servicing reverse mortgages. The transaction included selling mortgage servicing rights and $879 million of reverse mortgage whole loans and other real estate owned assets.[19]
The Community Reinvestment Act is a United States federal law designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Congress passed the Act in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining.
CIT Group (CIT), a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, is an American financial services company. It provides financing, including factoring, cash management, treasury management, mortgage loans, Small Business Administration loans, leasing, and advisory services principally to individuals, middle-market companies and small businesses, primarily in North America. Under the reporting mark CEFX, it leases locomotives and railroad cars to rail transport and shipping companies in North America. It also operates a direct bank. In January 2022, CIT was acquired by First Citizens BancShares.
Flagstar Bank is an American commercial bank headquartered in Troy, Michigan. A wholly owned subsidiary of New York Community Bank, Flagstar is one of the largest residential mortgage servicers in the United States, and was among the largest banks in the United States prior to its acquisition in 2022.
New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYCB), headquartered in Hicksville, New York, is a bank holding company for Flagstar Bank. In 2023, the bank operated 395 branches in New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Florida, Arizona and Wisconsin. Branches used to be operated under the names Queens County Savings Bank, Roslyn Savings Bank, Richmond County Savings Bank, Roosevelt Savings Bank, and Atlantic Bank in New York; Garden State Community Bank in New Jersey; Ohio Savings Bank in Ohio; and AmTrust Bank in Arizona and Florida. However, they rebranded all of these under the Flagstar name on February 21, 2024. NYCB is on the list of largest banks in the United States and is one of the largest lenders in the New York City metro area.
IndyMac, a contraction of Independent National Mortgage Corporation, was an American bank based in California that failed in 2008 and was seized by the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Mortgage discrimination or mortgage lending discrimination is the practice of banks, governments or other lending institutions denying loans to one or more groups of people primarily on the basis of race, ethnic origin, sex or religion.
The subprime mortgage crisis impact timeline lists dates relevant to the creation of a United States housing bubble and the 2005 housing bubble burst and the subprime mortgage crisis which developed during 2007 and 2008. It includes United States enactment of government laws and regulations, as well as public and private actions which affected the housing industry and related banking and investment activity. It also notes details of important incidents in the United States, such as bankruptcies and takeovers, and information and statistics about relevant trends. For more information on reverberations of this crisis throughout the global financial system see 2007–2008 financial crisis.
Housing prices peaked in early 2005, began declining in 2006.
Regulatory responses to the subprime crisis addresses various actions taken by governments around the world to address the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, also known as the "bank bailout of 2008" or the "Wall Street bailout", was a United States federal law enacted during the Great Recession, which created federal programs to "bail out" failing financial institutions and banks. The bill was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, passed by the 110th United States Congress, and was signed into law by President George W. Bush. It became law as part of Public Law 110-343 on October 3, 2008. It created the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which utilized congressionally appropriated taxpayer funds to purchase toxic assets from failing banks. The funds were mostly redirected to inject capital into banks and other financial institutions while the Treasury continued to examine the usefulness of targeted asset purchases.
The government interventions during the subprime mortgage crisis were a response to the 2007–2009 subprime mortgage crisis and resulted in a variety of government bailouts that were implemented to stabilize the financial system during late 2007 and early 2008.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush. It was a component of the government's measures in 2009 to address the subprime mortgage crisis.
Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total assets. Wachovia provided a broad range of banking, asset management, wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services. At its height, it was one of the largest providers of financial services in the United States, operating financial centers in 21 states and Washington, D.C., with locations from Connecticut to Florida and west to California. Wachovia provided global services through more than 40 offices around the world.
Loan modification is the systematic alteration of mortgage loan agreements that help those having problems making the payments by reducing interest rates, monthly payments or principal balances. Lending institutions could make one or more of these changes to relieve financial pressure on borrowers to prevent the condition of foreclosure. Loan modifications have been practiced in the United States since the 1930s. During the Great Depression, loan modification programs took place at the state level in an effort to reduce levels of loan foreclosures.
On March 23, 2009, the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Reserve, and the United States Treasury Department announced the Public–Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets. The program is designed to provide liquidity for so-called "toxic assets" on the balance sheets of financial institutions. This program is one of the initiatives coming out of the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as implemented by the U.S. Treasury under Secretary Timothy Geithner. The major stock market indexes in the United States rallied on the day of the announcement rising by over six percent with the shares of bank stocks leading the way. As of early June 2009, the program had not been implemented yet and was considered delayed. Yet, the Legacy Securities Program implemented by the Federal Reserve has begun by fall 2009 and the Legacy Loans Program is being tested by the FDIC. The proposed size of the program has been drastically reduced relative to its proposed size when it was rolled out.
Onity Group, formerly Ocwen, is a provider of residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing, and asset management services, which has been described as "debt collectors, collecting monthly principal and interest from homeowners". Ocwen was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, with additional offices in Mount Laurel, NJ, Rancho Cordova, California, and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. It also has support operations in the Philippines and India. On June 10th, 2024, Ocwen rebranded as Onity Group. Onity's Slogan is "We Get It Done."
CapitalSource is a commercial lender in the United States. It is a division of Pacific Western Bank and provides senior debt loans of $5 million to $100 million to middle-market companies throughout the United States. The company targets specific industries in its portfolio of holdings, particularly focusing on technology, real estate, healthcare, security, small business, golf finance, and equipment leasing companies. With $16 billion in assets and 80 full-service branches located throughout the state of California.
The 2007–2008 financial crisis, or the global financial crisis (GFC), was the most severe worldwide economic crisis since the Great Depression. Predatory lending in the form of subprime mortgages targeting low-income homebuyers, excessive risk-taking by global financial institutions, a continuous buildup of toxic assets within banks, and the bursting of the United States housing bubble culminated in a "perfect storm", which led to the Great Recession.
Joseph M. Otting is an American businessman and government official. He served as the 31st Comptroller of the Currency from November 27, 2017 to May 29, 2020.
Steven Terner Mnuchin is an American investment banker and film producer who served as the 77th United States secretary of the treasury as part of the Cabinet of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021. Serving for nearly a full presidential term, Mnuchin was one of the few high-profile members of Trump's cabinet whom the president did not dismiss.
References
↑ "Failed Bank List". Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
↑ Wigand, Jim; Bovenzi, John (January 19, 2017). "Steven Mnuchin Bought IndyMac Fair and Square". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 23, 2018. Trump's pick for Treasury made the best offer. The second-highest bid meant $1 billion more in losses.
↑ Ensign, Rachel Louise (January 19, 2017). "Mnuchin's Bank Foreclosed on This Couple. Now They Support Trump". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 23, 2018. The Horoskis of Long Island, NY, say their foreclosure experience with OneWest Bank gave them a more conservative worldview
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
