Posted by Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq.
Bank of America has 1.3 million home mortgage loans in its portfolio that are in default. To deal with these defaulted home mortgage loans, Bank of America created a new entity. This entity is known as Legacy Asset Servicing. The defaulted loans, from this point forward, will be serviced by Legacy Asset Servicing. Many of these defaulted loans were acquired from Bank of America when it purchased Countrywide Financial in 2008.
Performing Mortgage Loans
Bank of America has approximately twelve-million additional home mortgages in its portfolio. These home mortgage loans are not in default. Bank of America will continue to service these loans directly.
Countrywide Financial and Improper Mortgage Policies
Countrywide Financial was involved in initiating numerous sub-prime mortgage loans. Since Bank of America’s acquisition of Countrywide, they have been forced to write off billions of dollars in sub-prime mortgage loans.
Bank of America has decided to remove the non-performing loans from its portfolio for a variety of reasons, including an investigation into foreclosure practices by financial institutions that is currently underway by all fifty state attorney generals’ offices.
Bank of America Changes its Foreclosure Practices
Last year, after Bank of America was criticized by state court judges in a number of states, it established a moratorium on foreclosures. The bank has since modified its foreclosure practices. Bank of America has also sharply increased the number of mortgage modifications that have been approved. In the last quarter of 2010, more than 80,000 mortgage modifications were approved by Bank of America. This is a step in the right direction.
Chase Retail Services, which is a consumer banking unit of JP Morgan Chase, has also indicated that it would separate its non-performing home-equity and mortgage loans from its performing home-equity and mortgage loans. In January of 2009, Citibank also separated its troubled home mortgage loans from mortgage loans that were up-to-date.
Foreclosure Defense In New York
The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo handles foreclosure defense cases throughout the Metropolitan New York area. We assist our clients in mortgage modifications. Should your home go into foreclosure, we attend foreclosure conferences, we litigate these matters and deal with defective foreclosure practices, predatory lending and bad faith proceedings by financial institutions. We also maintain this foreclosure blog to update the general public regarding a variety of issues concerning mortgage modifications, foreclosures, mortgage modification programs that fail to serve the needs of consumers, as well as other related articles. Should you need a consultation, fell free to contact us at 1-800-344-6431; 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802. Our phones are answered 24/7.
