- 1. OCWENAllison BenderskyJune 23, 2013
2. OCWEN Background What is OCWEN? According to the OCWEN
Website, OCWENs primary business of servicing high-riskloans. Ocwen
works with customers in a variety of ways to make their loans
worthmore, including purchasing of mortgage servicing rights,
sub-servicing, special servicing andstand-by servicing. We can also
support companies that wish to utilize our best-in-classtechnology
and know-how to support improvements in their ownoperations(Ocwen,
2012). When and why did the company come into existence? According
to the Companys website, the company has been in existence for over
20 yearswith its diverse practices that allow its users to
increase(s) borrower acceptance of andcompliance with loan
resolutions(Ocwen, 2012). OCWEN was founded in 1988 (EquityBites,
2013). 3. OCWENs Organizational Behavior Current and proposed
leader values Ethics, Change, Innovation Personality Type A versus
Type Bs Appropriate and proven decision-making abilities Testing
for abilities through the wonderlic and the personality index test
Expertise Dependent on area of work. 4. OCWEN Today Executive
Offices are based in Atlanta, Georgia (Ocwen, Walter Investment
2012) Additional offices in West Palm Beach and Orlando, Florida;
Houston, Texas; St.Croix, the United States Virgin Islands; and
Washington, DC (Ocwen, WalterInvestment 2012) Call Center
operations in India and Uruguay. (Ocwen, Walter Investment 2012)
The Company has numerous offshoots One such is the AltiSource
Residential Corp. based in Atlanta. 5. OCWENS Portfolio of Services
Handling troubled loans As the economy remains weak, this will only
continue to enable OCWEN to be infurther hot water as further loans
go into default. As the company continues to buy underperforming
portfolios, they will answer for theerrors of others. 6. How Does
OCWEN Operate? OCWEN is the collector: Mortgage servicers are the
housing industrys middlemen, low-profile companies thathandle the
day-to-day business of collecting payments, managing paperwork,
andinitiating foreclosures (Kroll, A., Pg.35, 2010). Some have
accused OCWEN in a federal class-action suit against OCWEN
assertsthat it has hiked mortgage payments without fair notice,
forced borrowers to buyunnecessary insurance, and intentionally
processed payments late(Kroll, A., Pg.35, 2010). 7. What is OCWENS
Current ManagementStyle? The current management style at OCWEN is a
lean management style withlittle creativity allowed and the
stiflingly of change. Contrary to the image portrayed in interviews
and orientation. The company also acquires entities and then cuts
large amounts ofemployees after denying layoffs. Latest company
facing layoffs is OneWest Bank in Austin, TX with WARN letters
setfor August 31, 2013 for over 700 employees (Hawkins, L., 2013)
8. How Management Can Change OCWEN? 1. Listen to the staff on
improvement of training and procedures. Gaps have been found by the
State of New York and therefore, measures have beentaken to ensure
safeguards are in place. "Following complaints about OCWENs
servicing practices, we conducted a targeted examof OCWENs
performance and discovered gaps in the companys compliance," Lawsky
saidin news release. "The department is requiring the company to
hire a monitor so that we canbe sure that the reforms are
implemented and homeowners have a real chance to avoidforeclosure.
(Browdie, B., 2012). 9. How Management Can Change OCWEN? 2. Learn
to care about something beyond the profits that managementreceives
dividends payouts on a quarterly basis. Currently the owners each
have the largest amount of shares held by anyone makingthem the
strongest and most likely to be taken out if the company performs
weakly. 10. How Management Can Change OCWEN? 3. Listen to the
Staffs feedback in the exit interviews. The turnover in most
departments at OCWEN are quite high due to the longhours, low pay,
and unappreciative nature of the management. Staff members who are
salaried are expected to work beyond a 50 hour work week andfrowned
upon if they do not work on weekends. Look at restructuring the
bonus structures to be more fair and equal for all employees.
Bonuses are only structured for salaried customer service or for
management basedpositions. Hourly based employees do not qualify
for such incentives. 11. Customers of OCWEN What happens when their
accounts are sold to OCWEN? Portfolios transferred to OCWEN. Do
they find out in an appropriate manner? Customers may receive a
letter that their loan has been transferred. Predatory Practices
Fees 12. Two-faces of OCWEN The company acts as if it cares for its
customers, but it instead does not. According to President and CEO
of OCWEN, As the housing market evolves andcontinues to recover,
the exchange of ideas between housing counselors, mortgageindustry
decision-makers, regulators and other agency representatives remain
criticallyimportant. While we each have a different perspective, we
all share the same goal - tohelp preserve homeownership and assist
borrowers in distress. (Ocwen hosts housingadvocates, 2013)
However, homeowners using OCWEN as a servicer provider have logged
numerouscomplaints due to their inability to deal with the company.
13. Complaints Filed onThe Better Business Bureau Website
Complaints lodged on the Better Business Bureau website. 1952
complaints filed against business Failure to respond to 1242
complaints filed against business. 141 complaints filed against
business that were not resolved. OCWEN has failed to resolve
underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints. Many of the
complaints filed by consumers included, but werent limited to
(bbb.org, 2013): Inability to reach the same person at the company
in order to discuss their problems and dissatisfaction with what
consumers feel areexcessive add-on fees. Not processing of payments
in a timely fashion. Failure to respond to requests for loan
modifications in a timely manner. The company states that fees
associated with each loan are agreed to as part of the loan
servicing agreement it has with the owner ofthe loan which may be
the loan originator or investors, not the consumer. 14. Why Are
Employees Upset? Upset about dealings of current shareholders. Over
priced purchase of W. Erbeys, current chairman of OCWEN, home
inSeptember 2012 (Ostrowski, J. , 2012). $2 million over actual
value. According to Aaron Boyd who is the director of research at
the executivecompensation company Equilar, publicly traded
companies increasingly have boughtexecutives homes in recent years.
During the housing boom, executives could sellhomes without relying
on their employers helpThis has really become an issue overthe past
four years, as housing prices have dropped,"(Ostrowski, J. , 2012).
15. Comments from Former Employees Employees were asked by the
Glassdoor to rate the company. Comments ranged from mediocre to
downright horrible. The comments were for issues ranging from
management to training and any item inbetween. One individual
related the company to a circus and stated that the turnover was
higher than a fastfood restaurant. Also equated to working in a
sweatshop (Ocwen Financial Reviews, 2013). 16. Who is the Manager
that Will ChangeOCWEN? The type of manager that will change OCWEN
is the type of Manager thatcan understand the different cultures it
entails. The company does not only do business within the USA, thus
understanding bothAmerican and the foreign cultures where the
company does business will help themanager to be a better leader to
all employees. (Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T.A. 2009) Understanding
local customs and norms in daily business dealings will allow
betterinteraction and the ability to get all employees to work
better on projects versus havingto fight to get activities
completed. (Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T.A. 2009) 17. What Happens
if OCWEN Doesnt Change? Competitors will continue to take over
portfolios. Bayview Loan Servicing Nationstar Further Governmental
Monitoring. 18. Closing Thoughts About OCWEN Dont grow faster than
your employees can carry the brand. Reward the employees that work
with and for you. Understand that todays workers will be tomorrows
leaders. 19. References Browdie, B. (2012). Ocwen Financial to Get
Mortgage Monitor. American Banker, 177(186), 16. Hawkins, L. (2013,
Jun 17). OneWest bank to lay off 725 workers in austin. McClatchy -
Tribune Business News. Retrieved
fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/1368070426?accountid=38569
Kroll, A. (2010). ALWAYS BE FORECLOSING. Mother Jones, 35(1),
34-35. Ostrowski, J. (2012, September 13). Mortgage firm Ocwen buys
chairmans house for $2 million more than he paid at peak. Palm
Beach Post, The (FL). Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T.A. (2009).
Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
ISBN 13: 978-0-13-60717-3 Our Company. (2012). OCWEN. Retrieved
from http://www.ocwen.com/our-company Ocwen Financial chief
accountant resigns. (2013). EquityBites (M2). Ocwen hosts housing
advocates, regulators and government agencies to discuss
homeownership in the evolving housing market. (2013, Apr 30).
NASDAQ OMXsNews Release Distribution Channel. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1346938977?accountid=38569
Ocwen, Walter Investment to complete purchase of Residential
Capital. (2012). EquityBites (M2) BBB. (2013) Retrieved from the
web
http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/loan-servicing/ocwen-loan-servicing-in-orlando-fl-13002055
Glassdoor. (2013). Retrieved from the web
http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Ocwen-Financial-Reviews-E5986.htm
