Dodd-Frank News Center

Latest Making Home Affordable Program Performance Report released

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                   

The Treasury Department has released the latest Making Home Affordable Program Performance Report, which provides information through the third quarter of 2017. The MHA Program closed to new applicants on Dec. 31, 2016, and servicers were required to design policies and procedures to reasonably ensure that all MHA transactions were completed by Dec. 1, 2017. Although the program is now closed, servicers will continue to perform certain functions. According to the report, more than 2.9 million homeowner assistance actions have taken place under MHA programs.

Grassley says Treasury response on HHF wasteful spending 'inadequate and unconvincing'

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                   

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has received a response from the Treasury Department to inquiries he had made regarding wasteful spending of the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (Hardest Hit Fund), which his press release described as "a $9.6 billion program meant to help homeowners who suffered during the housing crisis."                                  

Grassley's most recent letter to Treasury had referred to an August 2017 audit report by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program that identified administrative expenses SIGTARP determined were unnecessary. Treasury said it was conducting its own review of expenses identified in the report and would move to recover improperly spent taxpayer funds once its review was completed.                                  

Grassley's letter had also referred to a September 2016 SIGTARP audit report that recommended that Treasury recover more than $8 million in administrative expenses from the Nevada housing finance agency. Treasury responded that it had determined that only $82,172 of these expenses were made in violation of Hardest Hit Fund program requirements and had recovered that amount from the Nevada housing finance agency.                                  

Commenting on Treasury's response, Grassley said the agency's "explanation of the significant discrepancy between the $8 million that TARP's watchdog said was misspent and the $82,172 recovered from Nevada HFA is inadequate and unconvincing."

reasury Department seeks extension of TARP executive compensation standards information collection

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                  

The Treasury Department is proposing to extend, without change, an existing information collection entitled "TARP Capital Purchase Program--Executive Compensation." It has also announced that it will submit the proposal to the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance.                                  

The collection is related to executive compensation and corporate governance standards to which certain entities receiving financial assistance from Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program are subject. Comments should be received by Oct. 27, 2017.

Latest Home Affordable Program Performance Report released

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                  

The Treasury Department has released the latest Making Home Affordable Program Servicer Performance Report, which contains detailed assessments of the performance of servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable program. Information about servicer performance is provided through two types of data: 1.) compliance data, which reflects servicer compliance with specific MHA guidelines; and 2.) program results data, which reflects how timely and effectively servicers assist eligible homeowners and report program activity.

SIGTARP says state housing agencies unnecessarily charged $3M to Hardest Hit Fund

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                  

The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has determined that state housing agencies have charged $3 million in unnecessary expenses to the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Hardest Hit Fund, which is intended as a temporary safety net to save the homes of unemployed or underemployed Americans and demolish blighted homes. SIGTARP said it conducted an audit that found that state agencies lumped unnecessary expenses into permitted expense categories, elevating the risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and overpayment throughout the program.                                  

According to Special Inspector General Christy Goldsmith Romero, "Congress did not authorize TARP dollars for barbeques, steak and seafood dinners, gift cards, flowers, gym memberships, employee bonuses, litigation, celebrations, cars, and other unnecessary expenses of state housing agencies, but those are some of the charges SIGTARP's forensic analysis uncovered.                                   

SIGTARP said these state agencies must pay back their "ill-gotten gains" for TARP and taxpayers to be made whole, and it recommended a series of controls to prevent future waste.

CBO issues report on TARP costs

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                  

The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report on transactions of the Troubled Asset Relief Program that were completed, outstanding, or anticipated as of May 31, 2017. The CBO issued the report in accordance with a statutory requirement that it submit an annual assessment of TARP costs that includes discussion of: (1) the costs of purchases and guarantees of troubled assets; (2) the information and valuation methods used to calculate those costs; and (3) the impact on the federal budget deficit and debt. 

The report said that by the CBO's estimate, $445 billion of the initially authorized $700 billion will be disbursed through the TARP, including $438 billion that has already been disbursed and $8 billion in additional projected disbursements. The CBO's current estimate of the cost to the federal government of TARP transactions (also referred to as the subsidy cost)--which accounts for the realized costs of completed transactions and the estimated costs of outstanding and anticipated transactions--amounts to $33 billion.

SIGTARP issues report on Hardest Hit Fund

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

A SIGTARP report on the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Hardest Hit Fund found that a majority of the more than 160,000 people denied funds through the program earned less than $30,000. The Hardest Hit Fund was created in 2010 and provides a temporary safety net to help save the homes of unemployed and underemployed Americans in 19 states in the rust belt, south, and other hard-hit areas of the country, according to SIGTARP's press release.

SIGTARP said it was unable to conclude why denial rates for homeowners making less than $30,000 are so high because state agencies' records were non-existent, missing, or incomplete, a situation SIGTARP said should be immediately remedied. The agency also said state agencies should remove unnecessary restrictions for participation in the program.

GAO issues report on TARP housing programs

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the status of the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program housing programs as of Oct. 31, 2016 (GAO-17-236). According to the report, as of that date, Treasury had disbursed $22.6 billion (60 percent) of the $37.51 billion TARP funds obligated to the three housing programs: the Making Home Affordable program, which was closed to applicants on Dec. 31, 2016; the Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (Hardest Hit Fund); and the Federal Housing Administration Short Refinance program.

The GAO made no new recommendations in the report but said that of the 29 recommendations it has previously made related to the TARP-funded housing programs, five remain open or not fully implemented. The GAO said it will continue to monitor and assess the status of these recommendations.

Treasury Department releases FY 2016 ‘Citizens’ Report’

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

The Treasury Department's Office of Financial Stability has issued its "Citizens' Report for Fiscal Year 2016," which describes financial and performance results for the eighth year of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The report contains the comparative fiscal years 2016 and 2015 financial statements for TARP, the Government Accountability Office's auditor's report with the audit opinion on these financial statements, an opinion from the GAO on the OFS's internal control over financial reporting for TARP, and the results of the GAO's tests of the OFS's compliance with selected provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements applicable to the OFS.

The report also includes information on the status of TARP programs and on the structure and operational goals of the OFS, which was created to help implement TARP.

According to an introductory message from the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, the OFS has made significant progress towards winding down TARP investments and is preparing to retire the largest TARP housing program, Making Home Affordable. He also said that more than 2.7 million homeowner assistance actions have taken place through the MHA program and that the Hardest Hit Fund has assisted approximately a quarter of a million American homeowners in preventing avoidable foreclosures. But in spite of these accomplishments and recent improvements in the economy, he said the recovery of the housing market remains uneven.

GAO issues report on status of Community Development Capital Initiative

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the status of the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Community Development Capital Initiative, which was established in 2010 to help banks and credit unions certified as Community Development Financial Institutions maintain services to underserved communities after the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

The GAO found that as of Sept. 30, 2016, the Treasury Department had approximately $420 million, or 75 percent, of the original CDCI investment of $570 million outstanding. In addition, 55 of the original 84 participating institutions remained in the program, and Treasury has received about $144 million in principal repayments and about $61 million in dividend and interest payments from program participants.

The report also said that as part of its ongoing effort to wind down TARP, Treasury began offering participating CDCI institutions an opportunity to repurchase their outstanding securities owned by Treasury at fair value. The GAO made no new recommendations in the report.