The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) abruptly announced January 7 that it was ending the Independent Foreclosure Review of the mortgage servicing practices of 11 of the largest mortgage servicing companies in favor of an $8.5 billion settlement.
In November 2011, as a result of enforcement actions by the OCC, the Office of Thrift Supervision and the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Independent Foreclosure Review (IFR) was launched to investigate abuses by mortgage servicers in the processing of mortgage foreclosures. The IFR, a product of April 2011 consent orders entered into with 14 major mortgage servicers and two "service providers," was separate from the National Foreclosure Settlement between mortgage servicers and 49 state attorneys general.
