Tag Archives: Bank of America

Treasury says servicers participating in the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are getting better at evaluating homeowners for eligibility. Its latest performance assessment found no company in need of ""substantial improvement."" OneWest Bank and Select Portfolio Servicing performed at the highest level, needing only minor improvement. As part of the $25 billion settlement announced last month, Treasury has agreed to release incentives previously withheld from Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.

Bank of America will no longer sell new loans to Fannie Mae due to disputes over repurchase claims. The bank will still deliver modifications and refinancings for Fannie Mae loans. The disclosure was made Thursday in the bank's Securities and Exchange Commission Filing. In January 2011, the bank paid about $2.5 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for loans that were allegedly originated with improper underwriting standards. Due to a settlement in June 2011, the bank also agreed to pay $8.5 billion to Bank of New York.

Treasury is heading to the coastal cities of Miami and Tampa, Florida, this week in order to offer assistance to homeowners struggling with their mortgage payments. Treasury will host a ""Help for Homeowners"" outreach event in each of the hard-hit Florida cities where homeowners can meet one-on-one with their servicers. Before the homeowners arrive, though, Treasury has blocked off time for real estate professionals to meet with the servicers on behalf of their clients and to participate in short sale workshops led by the servicers themselves.

In addition to the $25 billion settlement between the five largest servicers and 49 states, Nevada's Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto reaped more for Nevada homeowners through an additional settlement with Bank of America. Masto won Nevada $750 million in relief for lien principal payments and short sales from BofA and $30 million for consumer protection efforts. That's on top of the $1.5 billion that will go to the state from the nationwide settlement reached with all five servicers.

Bank of America will pay $1 billion to the U.S. to settle on the largest False Claims Act relating to mortgage fraud. Since 2009, the U.S. attorney's office has been investigating lending practices from Countrywide, which BofA acquired in 2008. The results of the investigation led to allegations that the bank created loans insured by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to unqualified home buyers. BofA was also accused of originating loans based on inflated appraisals and failing to identify homeowners who could participate in the government's Home Affordable Modification Program.

Bank of America is experiencing a deluge of phone calls from homeowners wanting to refinance. Consumer demand is so high, in fact, that without some internal adjustment, it threatens to compromise the level of customer service delivered by the bank's fulfillment personnel and interfere with closing timelines. The company says it's not willing to sacrifice long-term customer satisfaction for short-term volume, and it has instituted a temporary stopgap measure that alerts customers when it is experiencing processing delays due to high volume.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve issued statements Thursday detailing monetary penalties they have levied against the nation's largest servicers for ""unsafe and unsound mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices."" The OCC is assessing a total of $394 million in penalties against Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. The Federal Reserve's monetary sanctions total $766.5 million and target the same four institutions as well as Ally Financial.

Federal and state officials announced Thursday morning that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general - with Oklahoma as the lone exception - have reached a $25 billion agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to address what authorities describe as ""loan servicing and foreclosure abuses."" The settlement with the nation's top five servicers – Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) - provides financial relief to homeowners and establishes new homeowner protections.

The deadline for the 50 state attorneys general to sign onto the settlement negotiated between the committee headed by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and five large servicers was extended from Friday to Monday. Late Monday evening, Miller's office issued a statement saying more than 40 states have agreed to participate. For the past few months, the number repeated from various sources is $25 billion. That's $25 billion that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Ally Financial would pay for a clean slate regarding robo-signing misdeeds of the past.

Bank of America informed its staff Friday that Barbara Desoer will retire from the company in February. In her current role as president of Bank of America Home Loans, Desoer helped manage the integration of the Home Loans business into Consumer Banking and oversees the servicing of the company’s more than 12 million mortgage customers who remain current on their accounts, as well as the mortgage origination side of the business.