A leading mortgage servicer, Ocwen Financial Corporation, has already signed an agreement with the Department of Financial Services (DFS) promising to refrain from charging homeowners for such costs. Ocwen agreed it would not penalize homeowners affected by the Baum closing in an amendment to an agreement reached in September with DFS to adhere to groundbreaking mortgage servicing reforms designed to address troublesome practices in the servicing industry generally. Based in Amherst in Erie County, Baum closed after being fined $2 million by the federal government for its foreclosure practices, including allegations of "robo-signing," and after Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae removed the firm from their lists of approved law firms. The Baum firm represented plaintiffs in an estimated 40 percent of the foreclosure proceedings in New York in 2010. Servicers across the state will now have to hire new counsel, who will have to gather and review case files, and ask courts for the approval of new legal representation.