OneWest Bank Group, LLC
OneWest Bank Group, LLC, is a new federal savings bank established in 2009 based in Pasadena, California. It’s primary assets are a $21.3 billion loan portfolio, a $150 billion mortgage servicing portfolio and the 33 former branches of Indymac Federal which was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.
At Indymac Federal the scenes were like those last seen in the Great Depression. Depositors were pulling money from the bank in a massive run that became a flood of $100 million a day. The Feds shut IndyMac’s doors as depositors beat on the glass doors. Although most depositors soon regained access to their deposits, home equity lines of credit were immediately frozen. The FDIC will lose an astounding $10.7 billion on its insured deposits. Borrowers lost $600 million in uninsured deposits.
Since IndyMac’s insolvency was due to borrowers defaulting on mortgages, its successor bank, OneWest, is intent on restructuring them so that borrowers can pay them back. There are three main points to its program:
- Eligible mortgages will be changed to fixed rate conforming mortgages from adjustable rate mortgages;
- Payments will be reduced to a debt to income ratio of 38% through reductions in interest rates;
- Amortization periods will be extended such as going from a 30 to a 40 year mortgage;
- Principal forgiveness, a sober recognition that these properties are simply no longer worth what they once were.
Most of the beneficiaries of this program are Alt-A borrowers.
The best way to initiate a mortgage modification through OneWest Bank Group is online. The lender offers a very proactive site or call 1-800-419-5180.
