Ocwen says should not be removed as servicer on mortgage pools: WSJ

[March 23, 2015]  (Reuters) - Ocwen Financial Corp has rebutted allegations that the company was responsible for poor mortgage-servicing practices and argued it should not be removed as a servicer on mortgage pools, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The company, which had earlier said the allegations made by a group of large mortgage investors were false, has sent a letter to the trustees who will now decide whether to remove the firm as a mortgage pool servicer, the Journal said.

"Ocwen has explored and identified untenable legal arguments and factual misapprehensions underlying" the investor claims, the company's general counsel wrote to trustees in the letter disclosed on Monday, the newspaper reported. (http://on.wsj.com/1N4hMYL)

Investors including BlackRock Inc and Metlife Inc <MET.N> sent a notice to Ocwen and trustees in January, alleging improper loan modification practices, wrongfully recouped advances, and a failure to account for cash flows.

The trustees for the 119 mortgage pools in dispute, include units of banks such as Wells Fargo & Co, Citigroup Inc and Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

Ocwen could not be reached immediately for comments outside regular business hours.

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Bengaluru; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)

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