The fight hinges on a single contract clause
Real Time Resolutions is suing PHH Mortgage over the alleged improper termination of a servicing deal worth millions in fees.
The Dallas-based loan servicer filed suit on March 12, 2026, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, claiming PHH Mortgage Corporation wrongfully pulled the plug on a long-running Collection Agreement tied to mortgage loans held in securitization trusts. The case has landed as Civil Action No. 3:26-cv-00811, and no determination has yet been made on the merits.
At the heart of the dispute is a contract that dates back to August 2008, when Real Time Resolutions first signed on with American Home Mortgage Servicing as a subcontractor to service certain loans. The arrangement allowed Real Time Resolutions to earn fees by maximizing recoveries for the trusts that held the loans. Over the years, the agreement changed hands through a series of corporate reshuffles — American Home became Homeward Residential, which merged into the Ocwen Financial orbit, and eventually, after Ocwen acquired PHH in October 2018 and merged the two entities in 2019, PHH ended up holding the contract.
Real Time Resolutions alleges it kept up its end of the deal throughout. The trouble, according to the filing, started in June 2025, when PHH notified the company that some of the remaining loans would be moving to NewRez LLC, doing business as Shellpoint Mortgage Servicing. PHH then allegedly sought to end the agreement for those loans. A second notice followed in February 2026, this time targeting all remaining loans.
PHH allegedly pointed to a specific clause in the contract — one that allows termination when servicing rights are assigned "by the Owner or any third party (not including Servicer)." But Real Time Resolutions argues that language does not apply here. The reason, the company contends, is straightforward: PHH itself made the transfer to NewRez/Shellpoint. The clause, as Real Time Resolutions reads it, only kicks in when someone other than the servicer — such as the loan owners or an outside party — reassigns those rights.
When Real Time Resolutions asked PHH for documentation showing the transfer was made by a qualifying party, the company alleges it received acknowledgments confirming that PHH — not the loan owners or any independent third party — had executed the assignments.
The filing seeks a court declaration that the agreement remains in effect and claims damages for anticipatory repudiation, alleging Real Time Resolutions stands to lose millions of dollars in future servicing fees.
For mortgage professionals, the case raises a pointed question: can a master servicer exit a subservicing arrangement simply by transferring its own rights and then claiming the contract allows termination? The answer could shape how servicing agreements are drafted and enforced for years to come, particularly as the industry continues to see large-scale transfers of servicing portfolios between major players.
The case is in its earliest stage, and PHH Mortgage Corporation has not yet responded.
