American Foreclosure Sales Outsourced to India

[OhioChick]

Freddie Mac subprime lenders hired Ocwen to list and sell their foreclosure properties in the U.S. However, Ocwen outsources the administration normally done by licensed U.S. real estate agents, to hired employees in India. Ocwen (New Co. spelled backwards), well known for its horrible service and volumes of lawsuits, was mysteriously picked up by Freddie Mac to list and sell their REOs despite being sacked by HUD for too many complaints and lawsuits.

A March 2009 edition of Huffington Post outlines this practice.

Ocwen has a licensed broker whose name is on all documents, although, CAR legal could not find a valid license for him. The boiler room in India uses stamps with the broker's name on it and handles the entire transaction from start to finish.

American Realtors must go through rigorous training, including updates of training every four years, as well as background checks including fingerprinting. Through Ocwen this work is being done outside of the U.S. by unlicensed, unchecked and untrained employees.

"Not once during any transaction do you ever speak to anyone inside the U.S." reports one local real estate agent. The beginning is marked by a bidding war on line. The rest is done by an assigned staff member in India. All of it is done by way of email. Every attempt to reach anyone by phone is met with a message taken by the staff in India.

Given the current Administration's promises to keep American dollars and business in the U.S., this is a demonstration of the exact opposite. The National Association of Realtors web site states their membership is 1.1 million Americans. Allowing outsourcing of this profession is a travesty to all homeowners who expect the high ethical standard enforced by the Association and a slap in the face to the American real estate professionals.

After receiving American dollars as part of the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) from the American government Freddie Mac appears to be biting the hand that feeds it.

http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/2663/75/

[Skittles]

1. and speaking to India offshore folk is THE.WORST.

[virgogal]

2. My Labor Day weekend was going great-----until I read this article.

This is especially hard because I have an educated,experienced daughter who cannot find a job.

:-(

[Cass]

3. Wtf, this is unbelieveable!!

I don't know what to say except to unleash a bunch of swear words.

[ChromeFoundry]

4. And why is it that we didn't just let Freddie Mac fail?

This is just the tip of the corruption iceberg.

[ihavenobias]

5. No really, what next?

How much lower can it go?

[AdHocSolver]

6. Offshoring the work enables the corporation to evade accountability.

Why would buyers want to do business with these people?


This sounds like a setup between Freddie Mac and colluding buyers to prevent an audit trail so as to cover up some kind of fraudulent scam.