Florida regulators order Taylor, Bean & Whitaker to halt foreclosures, late charges

Florida regulators today ordered Ocala-based mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. to stop any foreclosure proceedings, stop assessing late charges and stop reporting late payments to any credit bureaus.

The cease and desist order from Florida's Office of Financial Regulation comes in the wake of a federal raid on Taylor Bean earlier this month. After the raid, Taylor Bean was forced to stop issuing FHA-insured mortgage loans and laid off nearly 1,000 of its employees.

However, it maintained a much smaller staff on its campus to service existing loans, the bulk of which are being transferred to Bank of America.

Under the terms of the state order, Taylor Bean must transfer all loans to a new servicing company within 60 days, safeguard customers' payments including escrow funds by establishing custodial accounts, provide the state with daily reports on the serviced loans, and forward all checks it receives to the new servicers on a timely basis.

"This action underscores the fact that the OFR will use every available enforcement power to protect the financial interests of Florida customers," Linda Charity, acting commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation, said in a statement.

Jeff Harrington can be reached at jharrington@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8242. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jeffmharrington.