US Uncut flash mobs tax-dodging BofA

BofA admits they quit delivering default notices last fall.

Oh, this just gets uglier and uglier for Bank of America. From the WSJ:

UPDATE: BofA Resumed Default Notices Last Year After Brief Halt

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Bank of America Corp. (BAC) confirmed Tuesday that during its nationwide moratorium on foreclosures last fall, it also stopped delivering notices to delinquent homeowners that typically inform borrowers the bank is starting foreclosure.

The bank resumed foreclosures it had halted, along with notices of disclosure, in December.

Moynihan BofA CEO

That the bank specifically stopped issuing notices of default to borrowers during its moratorium is a new line in a story the bank longs to close. It is also not terribly surprising, given it was unlikely the bank would have initiated foreclosures during its review of its processes.

Earlier Tuesday, CNBC reported the bank had stopped notice of defaults in some states, along with the halt to foreclosure sales in the rest of the country that had been the focus of most reports on the problem. That report followed an article in the American Banker that highlighted notices of default as another possible legal headache for banks. The article said lawsuits have started pointing to issues in notices of default that echo issues found in foreclosure files that caused waves in the industry.

*snip*

The bank, along with its giant lending peers, was caught using so-called robo-signers, employees who rapidly authenticated the massive piles of foreclosure paperwork without checking the facts behind the pages. Affidavits and signatures of the robo-signers had indicated they had, in fact, checked the documents, causing a legal stir for the banking industry.

A week after the initial halt, Bank of America imposed a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures and the sale of foreclosed homes, including the nonjudicial states that don't require court oversight.

That expansion, to the 27 nonjudicial states, led the bank to stop sending new notices of default.

Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens said in an emailed statement the bank restarted the process, in both judicial and nonjudicial states, in December, as it had said at that time. The bank believes its foreclosure decisions were correct.

Of course they believe their foreclosure decisions 'were correct'..would they say publicly they weren't? Damn...their stock must be sinking faster than a turd in a toilet bowl with all this negative publicity.Tsk..tsk. 

Bank of America loses Billions in 4th Qtr-This is news?

They bought Countrywide and people didn't think they would end up writing down/off Billions in loans? Come on people, this was a no-brainer.  Oh, but they have a plan! From the DBJ:

Bank of America Corp. reported billions of dollars in losses and write-downs for the fourth quarter in what CEO Brian Moynihan said was a "repair and rebuilding year," adding Friday the bank has a plan to improve results in 2011.

But the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, which has five home loan offices in the Dayton region and is a bellwether in the financial industry, also disclosed as much as $10 billion in future mortgage-related losses could be looming.

BofA lost nearly $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter, or 16 cents per diluted share, as it recorded a $2 billion write-down for its distressed mortgage unit. In the fourth quarter of 2009, BofA lost $5.2 billion on large provisions for future loan losses.

Without the one-time charge, BofA says it would have earned $756 million, or 4 cents per share, in the latest quarter. Analysts had forecast that BofA would earn 14 cents per share in the latest quarter.

For the full year, BofA lost almost $3.6 billion, or 37 cents per share, on $12.4 billion in noncash write-downs in mortgage and debit card business lines, compared with a loss of $2.2 billion in 2009.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of Corporate carpetbaggers.

Bank of America not happy: judge blocks 8,900 NV foreclosures

Bet this news didn't go down too well with the execs at BofA. With all the gnashing of teeth about robosigning and foreclosure fraud in the news, this recent story is important. From WaPo:

Bank of America is aggressively moving to appeal a Nevada county judge's order halting more than 8,900 foreclosures.

In one of a growing number of foreclosure cases across the country in which judges are questioning whether notices and documents were improperly prepared, Nye County District Court Judge Robert Lane issued a preliminary injunction against BofA's ReconTrust subsidiary, blocking it from proceeding with non-judicial foreclosures statewide until a Feb. 28 hearing.

The case involves a borrower, Suzanne A. North, who sued the bank on Jan. 11 arguing that ReconTrust filed foreclosure papers when it did not have the legal standing to do so.

Goodness, gracious! Since BofA bought CountryWide Financial, one of the nations most crooked mortgage companies, I am sure there are plenty of phony loans and phony foreclosures in the mix. Suzanne North uses the word FRAUD in her filing and brotha..I wouldn't doubt it..do you? From the VegasSun writeup on this bizarro world of fuckery in foreclosure:

While North complained that ReconTrust filed foreclosure papers at a time when it was not the trustee, Bank of America said in Thursday's filing that ReconTrust -- a B of A subsidiary -- was acting as its agent and that procedure has been found in other cases to be proper.

"ReconTrust ... filed the notice of default not as the trustee, but rather as the agent for the beneficiary (Bank of America), pursuant to," Nevada law, the bank's filing said.

"Courts have repeatedly rejected challenges to a notice of default on the grounds that a party was substituted as trustee after it issued the notice of default when the party substituted as trustee filed the notice of default as an agent of the beneficiary, not as the trustee," the filing said.

Bank of America also disputed claims by North that ReconTrust must be licensed in Pahrump and with the state of Nevada to execute foreclosures, saying that as a national bank it's exempted from such licensing rules.

In seeking to overturn Lane's order, the bank argued:

"The cost associated with delaying one foreclosure is severe, but when multiplied by the thousands of foreclosures in Nevada that cost is enormous. In addition, (the Bank of America) defendants have contractual obligations to investors and other obligations to regulators to conduct foreclosure proceedings," the bank's filing said.

"The harm caused to the public interest is overwhelming. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner opined that ceasing the foreclosure process is `very damaging' and harms the public as communities are forced to live longer with empty homes, there is increased downward pressure on home prices and increasing blight," the bank argued. "The order also harms those subject to the foreclosure process because those individuals, especially those in mediation trying to stay in their homes, are now forced into a state of limbo for an unspecified duration."

Bank of America and its subsidiaries are represented in the litigation by Las Vegas attorney Ariel Stern of the law firm Akerman Senterfitt LLP.

It's unclear when the federal court may rule on its motion.

Timmy Geithner can kiss my brown ass. He loves The Corporatocracy and Wallstreet and supports their every whim, regardless of how and who it affects on Mainstreet. Piss off Timmy. Also, for BofA to toss in how this affects their investors when their own investors have recently sued them..well, I find that ironic as hell.