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10) Reinsurance, Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Notes  
10) Reinsurance, Commitments and Contingencies

10)       Reinsurance, Commitments and Contingencies

 

Reinsurance

 

Reinsurance Agreement with North America Life Insurance Company

 

On May 8, 2015, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Security National Life, signed a paid-up business offer under the coinsurance agreement effective December 1, 2010 to reinsure certain life insurance policies from North America Life Insurance Company (“North America Life”). Pursuant to the paid-up business offer, North America Life ceded and transferred to Security National Life all contractual obligations and risks under the coinsured policies. Security National Life paid a ceding commission to North America Life in the amount of $281,908. As a result of the ceding commission, North America Life transferred $8,900,282 of cash and $9,182,190 in statutory reserves, or liabilities, to Security National Life.

 

Reinsurance Agreement with American Republic Insurance Company

 

On February 11, 2015, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Security National Life, signed a coinsurance agreement to reinsure certain life insurance policies from American Republic Insurance Company (“American Republic”).  The policies were previously reinsured by North America Life under a coinsurance agreement between World Insurance Company (“World Insurance”) and North America Life entered into on July 22, 2009 which was commuted.  World Insurance was subsequently purchased by and merged into American Republic.  The current coinsurance agreement is between Security National Life and American Republic and became effective on January 1, 2015.  As part of the coinsurance agreement, American Republic transferred all contractual obligations and risks to Security National Life and Security National Life took control of $15,004,771 of assets in a trust account held by Texas Capital Bank as the trustee.

 

Mortgage Loan Loss Settlements

 

The mortgage industry has seen potential loan losses increase. Future loan losses are extremely difficult to estimate, especially in the current market.  However, management believes that the Company’s reserve methodology and its current practice of property preservation allow it to estimate its losses on loans sold. The amounts accrued for loan losses for the three months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 were $1,755,000 and $1,063,000, respectively, and for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2014 were $4,674,000 and $2,007,000, respectively. The estimated liability for indemnification losses is included in other liabilities and accrued expenses and, as of September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014, the balances were $5,751,000 and $1,718,000, respectively.

 

Mortgage Loan Loss Demands

 

Third Party Investors

 

There have been assertions in third party investor correspondence that SecurityNational Mortgage sold mortgage loans that allegedly contained borrower misrepresentations or experienced early payment defaults, or that were otherwise allegedly defective or not in compliance with agreements between SecurityNational Mortgage and the third party investors consisting principally of financial institutions.  As a result of these claims, third party investors have made demands that SecurityNational Mortgage repurchase certain alleged defective mortgage loans that were sold to such investors or indemnify them against any losses related to such loans.

 

The total amount of potential claims by third party investors is difficult to determine.  The Company has reserved and accrued $5,751,000 as of September 30, 2015 to settle all such investor related claims.  The Company believes that the reserve for mortgage loan loss, which includes provisions for probable losses and indemnification on mortgage loans sold to investors, is reasonable based on available information.  Moreover, the Company has successfully negotiated acceptable settlement terms with other third party investors that asserted claims for mortgage loan losses against SecurityNational Mortgage.

 

SecurityNational Mortgage disagrees with the repurchase demands and notices of potential claims from third party investors. Furthermore, SecurityNational Mortgage believes there is potential to resolve the alleged claims by the third party investors on acceptable terms. If SecurityNational Mortgage is unable to resolve such claims on acceptable terms, legal action may ensue. In the event of legal action by any third party investor, SecurityNational Mortgage believes it has significant defenses to any such action and intends to vigorously defend itself against such action. 

 

JP Morgan Chase Indemnification Demand

 

The Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, SecurityNational Mortgage, received a notice of claim for indemnification dated December 21, 2011, from JP Morgan Chase & Co. (“JP Morgan Chase”) on behalf of EMC Mortgage, LLC (“EMC Mortgage”), relating to 21 mortgage loans that EMC Mortgage allegedly purchased as a third party investor from SecurityNational Mortgage.  The notice also referenced a guaranty agreement, dated February 23, 2006, by the Company for the benefit of EMC Mortgage.  The indemnification notice additionally stated that EMC Mortgage had been named in a lawsuit by the Bear Stearns Mortgage Funding Trust 2007-AR2 (the “Trust”), which was filed on September 13, 2011 in the Delaware Court of Chancery. 

 

The lawsuit the Trust brought against EMC Mortgage contends that more than 800 residential mortgage loans that EMC Mortgage sold to the Trust (including the 21 loans allegedly originated by SecurityNational Mortgage) contained breaches of representations and warranties with respect to the mortgage loans, as well as defaults and foreclosures in many of such loans.  As a result of the alleged breaches of representations and warranties by EMC Mortgage, the complaint requests that EMC Mortgage be ordered to repurchase from the Trust any loans for which it breached its representations and warranties, in the amount of the mortgage loans’ outstanding principal balance and all accrued but unpaid interest.

 

The indemnification notice from JP Morgan Chase further alleged that the Company and SecurityNational Mortgage are required to indemnify EMC Mortgage for any of its losses arising from the lawsuit that the Trust brought against EMC based upon allegedly untrue statements of material fact related to information that was provided by SecurityNational Mortgage. To the extent the claims in the complaint relate to the 21 mortgage loans that SecurityNational Mortgage allegedly sold to EMC Mortgage, the Company believes it has significant defenses to such claims. The Company intends to vigorously defend itself and SecurityNational Mortgage in the event that JP Morgan Chase were to bring any legal action to require the Company or SecurityNational Mortgage to indemnify it for any loss, liability or expense in connection with the lawsuit that the Trust brought against EMC Mortgage.

 

Inquiry Regarding FHA Insured Loans

 

SecurityNational Mortgage has been cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in a civil investigation regarding compliance with requirements relating to certain loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).  No demand has been made and SecurityNational Mortgage has not established a liability for this matter absent a specific demand because it is not able to estimate a range of reasonably potential loss due to significant uncertainties regarding:  the absence of any specific demand, the potential remedies, including possible defenses, and the lack of information concerning the performance of its FHA insured originations, the majority of which SecurityNational Mortgage does not service. The investigation has focused on loans originated by SecurityNational Mortgage on or after January 1, 2006.  The FHA mortgage loans that SecurityNational Mortgage originated between January 1, 2006 and May 21, 2013 total approximately 45,900 loans with an original principal balance of approximately $7.9 billion.

 

Mortgage Loan Loss Litigation

 

For a description of the litigation involving SecurityNational Mortgage and Lehman Brothers and Aurora Loan Services, reference is to Part II, Item 1. Legal Proceedings.

 

Other Contingencies and Commitments

 

The Company has entered into commitments to fund new residential construction loans. As of September 30, 2015, the Company’s commitments were $48,354,000 for these loans of which $28,863,000 had been funded. The Company will advance funds once the work has been completed and an independent inspection is made. The maximum loan commitment ranges between 50% and 80% of appraised value. The Company receives fees from the borrowers and the interest rate is generally 2% to 6.75% over the bank prime rate (3.25% as of September 30, 2015). Maturities range between six and twelve months.

 

The Company is not a party to any other material legal proceedings outside the ordinary course of business or to any other legal proceedings, which, if adversely determined, would have a material adverse effect on its financial condition or results of operations.