Last week Ocwen announced it is laying off 2,100 employees. By our math, however, the number is closer to 2,300. As much as we dislike Ocwen, we do feel bad for the people losing their jobs.
The homeowning public despises Ocwen but the fault isn’t with the rank and file workers. It lies squarely with senior management. Ocwen has perfected the ability to make it impossible for workers to do their jobs. And that was always management’s intent.
How do we know this? We have heard the horror stories both from homeowners fighting to save their homes and from Ocwen employees… Mail that is thrown out without even being read. Phone calls that aren’t answered and computer systems that don’t work and don’t allow employees to communicate internally.
It is the perfect recipe for disaster and that is the intent. Why? The longer a homeowner stays underwater, the more the company can wrack up fees.
Don’t think those fees go to workers, however. They go to shareholders and to CEO Glen Messina. We don’t know how much he makes today but immediately before the merger with PHH Corp he was making $7,750,295.00 and we doubt that number went down!
It is hard to justify taking home millions of dollars while both workers and homeowners are needlessly being thrown out on the street. But hey, fewer people mean less salaries and therefore more profits. It also means homeowners already finding it difficult to get a modification or answer to their questions will now find it impossible.
We understand that many workers are upset with the layoffs but the employee reviews on Glassdoor.com are off the chart. And by that we mean bad.
Lest you think we are cherry picking reviews, this is what the 5 most recent employee reviews say (all were months before the layoffs were announced):
Modification Underwriter - 2 stars (out of 5)
Cons -Senior Management, no job security
Senior Applications Developer - 3 stars
no process, senior management reluctant to take hard decisions
Advice to Management - take hard decisions in favor of organization and employees
Former Manager – 1 star
Cons- Poor treatment by Senior management and lack of job security
Advice to Management - Listen to your staff without repercussions
Former Document Execution Specialist – 1 star
“Better Off Being Unemployed Then Working At Ocwen”
Cons - Where do I begin. Incompetent Managers and Senior Management staff. No leadership because no manager at Ocwen knows what the word "leadership" means. Management sets unrealistic and unobtainable goals due to processes and procedures changing constantly and most of the time they don't advise the employees of the changes and then will write them up and put people on probation the second they make a … Show More
Advice to Management - Get a clue as to what it really means to be a Manager and a Leader and then maybe you will understand why people hate working at Ocwen
Former Employee - 3 stars
Cons - No transparency and the senior management changes very often, which in turn changes the entire work ethic and direction
The company has already laid off 700 and says another 1,600 will be terminated before the end of the year.
If this were a company the size of Bank of America with an estimated 204,000 workers, the company might have an easier time in absorbing and redirecting the work load. Ocwen, however, was already understaffed, particularly in customer service areas. If a company can’t even answer its phones or mail, how can it lay off 2,300 workers?
The answer is obvious, it can’t. And with a total of 7,800 employees, a loss of 2,300 means the company plans on shedding almost one third of its workforce!
Assuming you work in the United States, the news is even more bleak. Already, 4,600 of the companies 7,800 workers are offshore. The company says that most of the layoffs will be of American workers.
Ocwen says it is doing everything it can to help its workforce. A company spokesperson is quoted as saying, “The most important thing is we are trying to do everything we can to ease the impact to employees. Decisions like this are very difficult when they impact employees.” Unfortunately, we don’t believe a word of what the company says.
What does that mean for homeowners? Don’t expect things to improve!
And for already overworked employees? Things will only get worse.
Looking for Ocwen Whistleblowers – Cash Rewards Possible
The Department of Justice rewards whistleblowers with inside information about fraud involving federally insured mortgage programs. That means FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans.
If Ocwen / PHH’s underwriting or loan servicing practices are violating FHA / Fannie / Freddie guidelines you may be eligible for a cash reward. The federal False Claims Act pays between 15% and 30% of whatever the government collects from wrongdoers.
In recent times HUD has been less focused on enforcement. We believe that Ocwen has received so many chances, however, that its good fortune is running out. And many of the 2,300 freshly laid off Ocwen workers probably have information valuable to both HUD and homeowners.
We are the prominent whistleblower law firm for whistleblowers working in the financial services industry. Our clients helped the Justice Department collect over $16.7 billion from Bank America as well as a $300 million jury verdict against Allied Home Mortgage.
We are currently seeking past and present employees with information about fraud committed by Ocwen. The fraud or wrongdoing can be either on the underwriting or servicing side of the business. Examples include robocalling consumers, failure to properly account for payments and charging excessive or unnecessary fees.
Your information will help us bring actions on behalf of both taxpayers and homeowners. If your information is sufficient to implicate federal funds or loan guaranties, you may even receive an award.
If you haven’t yet been terminated, its better to call us now. The False Claims Act is an anti -fraud statute. Most courts require actual examples of fraud. An example would be the name of homeowner, a property address and confirmation that their loan was federally insured. That information becomes more difficult to obtain once you are gone from the company.
To learn more, contact us online by email [hidden email] of by phone 800.669.7782 (direct). We also urge you to visit our cornerstone Ocwen fraud and investigations and our Ocwen resources pages
All inquiries are protected by the attorney – client privilege and kept confidential. Worried about a nondisclosure agreement? Those are generally void if they attempt to prevent you from reporting wrongdoing.