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“The Turn Around Begins…”
By Sherman Ragland | April 28, 2008
As reported in today’s LA Times, Bank of America steps up and into a leadership role
filling the obvious void created by the departure of billions of dollars taken out of the
mortgage market and created by the lack of action on the part of the FED’s through
Fannie, Freddie and FHA…
By E. Scott Reckard,
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 28, 2008
Pushing to fast-track its takeover of wounded home-loan goliath
Countrywide Financial Corp., Bank of America Corp. will promise today to
help 265,000 troubled borrowers keep their homes over the next two years
by refinancing or modifying at least $40 billion in mortgages.
Bank of America also plans to double its community development lending,
which focuses on affordable housing, small businesses and people in
low-income and minority neighborhoods, to $1.5 trillion over 10 years,
said Liam E. McGee, the bank’s top consumer and small-business
executive. In addition, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank will donate $2
billion to charity over the coming decade, up 33% from its current
level.
McGee is to unveil the commitments today while testifying at a Federal
Reserve hearing on the bank’s plan to buy Countrywide, the nation’s
largest mortgage lender, for $4 billion in stock. The combination would
give Bank of America 25% of the U.S. mortgage market. Regulatory
approval of the deal is expected, and the bank hopes to win speedy
approval and complete the acquisition in July.
Providing a preview of his testimony in an interview, McGee said he was
optimistic that the company’s “responsible and principled approach”
would avoid both the pitfalls of old-line banking — doing business only
in supposedly safer, affluent areas — and the aggressive lending that
toppled Countrywide and hundreds of smaller mortgage firms, producing a
monumental wave of foreclosures.
“It’s very much our intent to make mortgages available to the
underserved,” McGee said. “But we’re going to make sure that people who
get loans from us can repay them and stay in their homes.”
For more of this story go to: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-countrywide28apr28,1,6949329.story
BofA is to be commended for taking this step.
Someone please forward this article to G.W. Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20001
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Tags: affordable housing, bank of america corp, e scott, la times, los angeles times, mortgage firms, mortgage lender
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