Industry analysts, economists, even lawmakers generally concede that the pooling of risky subprime mortgages into secondary market securities fueled the economic collapse that almost brought the nation's financial system to its knees. But New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is looking for proof that major financial institutions were hocking these dicey mortgage-backed securities during the days leading up to the collapse of the housing market, knowing that these transactions would result in billions of dollars in mortgage losses.
Read More »City of Chicago Tackles Blight with New Abandoned Property Program
The city of Chicago is working to alleviate the impact of vacant foreclosure properties on its neighborhoods with a new program that has garnered participation from major mortgage servicers and local law firms. Bank of America has agreed to identify and register with the city 150 vacant properties in default under the Cook County ""Vacant and Abandoned Building Court Call."" The program will move empty homes through the foreclosure process more quickly in order to return them to viable housing or make way for new uses of the land.
Read More »Bank of America to Triple Number of Foreclosure Prevention Centers
Bank of America said Thursday that the company plans to more than triple its number of customer assistance centers to help borrowers who are having trouble making their mortgage payments. The expansion will bring the number of BofA mortgage help centers to 40 in 22 states by early summer. The bank is already operating 12 fulltime customer assistance centers, where counselors have met with more than 17,000 homeowners. Beginning this month and into July, it plans to open 28 new centers.
Read More »Bank of America Brings in Industry ‘Heavy-Hitters,’ a DS News Exclusive
Bank of America has assembled what you might call a ""Dream Team"" of default servicing executives to head up critical areas within its Legacy Asset Servicing unit. Collectively, this new team has more than 70 years experience working with distressed borrowers. The nation's largest mortgage servicer has brought in a former default and loan servicing exec of JPMorgan, someone who previously ran all of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage's default operations, and a top executive from Fannie Mae's national servicing operation.
Read More »NeighborWorks Receives $2M from Bank of America
NeighborWorks America has received a $2 million grant from Bank of America to support the organization's foreclosure counseling efforts and fund training for local nonprofit professionals. NeighborWorks says the funding will help its network of community-based counselors create and preserve homeownership assets for 250,000 families.
Read More »Judge Rules BofA Not Liable for Countrywide’s MBS Deals
A federal judge in California has dismissed all claims brought against Bank of America by investors who bought mortgage-backed securities (MBS) from Countrywide before BofA purchased the subprime lender in 2008. Even after the investors narrowed the scope of their case, the judge granted Bank of America's motion to dismiss on the grounds that the plaintiffs failed to show that two separate transactions between the bank and Countrywide involving the transfer of assets constituted a de facto merger.
Read More »Mortgage Issues Lead to 39% Drop in Income for Bank of America
Bank of America said Friday that it turned a profit of $2.0 billion for the first quarter of 2011. That's down 39 percent from the lender's earnings a year earlier, largely due to continuing losses tied to its legacy mortgage business. Bank of America took a $4.9 billion hit related to foreclosure delays and other out-of-pocket expenses that the company does not expect to recover, as well as higher litigation costs and loss mitigation expenses. The bank has also confirmed plans to lay off 1,500 mortgage employees.
Read More »Regulators Hand Down Enforcement Actions to Servicers, Vendors
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision announced formal enforcement actions Wednesday against 14 mortgage servicers and two firms that provide foreclosure-related services to the industry - LPS and MERS. The consent orders are the result of regulators' investigations into robo-signing allegations and represent a settlement with the firms involved, at least in part. Both the OCC and Fed say they believe monetary sanctions in these cases are also warranted, and they plan to pursue such actions separately.
Read More »REO Allegiance Adds Former BofA Exec to Its Team
REO Allegiance, a national property preservation and eviction field services firm based in New Jersey, has hired Brian Daily to serve as VP of business development. Daily joins REO Allegiance with over 25 years of executive level experience throughout the mortgage industry spanning origination, servicing, and default management, including 15 years with Bank of America.
Read More »BofA’s Shareholders Sue Over Foreclosure Processing Errors
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said last week that Bank of America must entertain shareholders' request to open up its foreclosure practices for an independent audit. The SEC ruled that BofA must include the option on the ballot at its annual stockholder meeting this spring. But the company's shareholders aren't waiting for a formal investigation. They filed a lawsuit this week with the New York State Supreme Court claiming they were damaged by the bank's intent to hide defects in the paperwork used to process foreclosures.
Read More »