CHARLOTTE, NC - Pushing to fast-track its takeover of wounded home-loan giant Countrywide Financial Corp., Bank of America Corp. will promise today to help 265,000 troubled borrowers keep their homes during 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 during 10 years, said Liam E. McGee, the bank's top consumer and small-business executive. In addition, the Charlotte, NC based bank will donate $2 billion to charity during the coming decade, up 33 percent from its current level.
McGee is to unveil the commitments today while testifying at a Federal Reserve hearing into 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 percent 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, 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 lesser mortgage firms.
Source: Los Angeles Times