Nearly five years after swallowing the rancid slab of meat that was Countrywide Financial, Bank of America is still vomiting up hundreds of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits tied to that failed company’s misdeeds. The latest is a $500 million class-action settlement with groups that invested in Countrywide’s radioactive mortgages. [More]
Bank Of America To Shell Out Another $500 Million To Settle Another Investors’ Lawsuit
By April 17, 2013
Another Day, Another 9-Figure Settlement For Bank Of America
By April 2, 2013
For most companies, a $165 million settlement would be huge news. For Bank of America, it’s like a paper cut on a guy that’s been swimming in the piranha tank all day. Not that we feel any sympathy. [More]
Investors Accuse Bank Of America Of Continuing Countrywide’s Bad Practices
By February 4, 2013
Most of the $40 billion Bank of America has set aside to pay out over the mortgage meltdown can be blamed on malfeasance at Countrywide Financial. But some investors say that BofA’s hands are not totally clean in this mess — and that the bank has gotten off too easy thus far. [More]
BofA CEO: Cleaning Up Countrywide Mortgage Mess Is Like Climbing Mountain With 250 lbs. On Your Back
By January 25, 2013
Before the economy nosedived, Bank of America was the aww-shucks upstart from North Carolina who was quietly making its play to become one of the world’s largest banks. Then things turned bad for mammomth mortgage-lender Countrywide and investment bank biggie Merrill Lynch, and BofA swooped in to save both. [More]
Bank Of America To Pay $11.6 Billion In Latest Countrywide Settlement
By January 7, 2013
Like someone who thought they were buying a nice little fixer-upper at a bargain only to find that every ounce of the property is covered in lead paint and asbestos, Bank of America’s 2008 purchase of Countrywide Financial continues to eat away at the company’s coffers. [More]
Exec Who Looked Other Way As Countrywide Sold Off Bad Mortgages Is Now Running Chase’s Foreclosure Review Dept.
By November 9, 2012
The federal government recently filed a lawsuit over a Countrywide scheme dubbed “The Hustle” that removed impediments to a mortgage approval so the company could sell as many mortgages as possible to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now comes news that a Countrywide exec who ignored warnings about the Hustle is currently running Chase’s foreclosure review initiative. [More]
Can Bank Of America Argue Its Way Out Of Federal Lawsuit?
By October 29, 2012
Last week, the federal government reminded Bank of America once again of how stupid an idea it was to acquire Countrywide Financial, filing the latest in a slew of lawsuits that have already cost BofA an estimated $40 billion. But some say that the bank might have some legal wiggle room in this case. [More]
Feds Sue Bank Of America Over $1 Billion In Bad Loans Sold To Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
By October 24, 2012
Bank of America continues to crawl through the legal spanking machine because of its ill-fated, idiotic, utterly stupid decision to buy Countrywide Financial and its mountain of toxic mortgages in 2008. This time, it’s the U.S. government that has sued the bank over all the rotten loans it sold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both of which were bailed out by the feds in 2008. [More]
How Much Have The Big Banks Been Penalized Over Mortgage Mess And Where Is All That Cash Going?
By March 6, 2012
The last few years have seen numerous settlements between the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders and various federal and state authorities. And while we hear numbers like “a total of $25 billion,” exactly which banks are responsible for the biggest chunks of these settlements? [More]
DOJ Settles With BofA For $335 Million Over Countrywide Pushing Minorities Into Subprime Loans
By December 21, 2011
Nearly four years ago, we first reported on allegations that Countrywide Financial, the failed lender that was bought by Bank of America after it collapsed, had their system set up so that non-white loan applicants were steered toward subprime loans, even if they could have qualified for a standard mortgage. Well, the wheels of justice turn remarkably slowly in Washington, DC, but today the Justice Dept. finally announced a settlement with BofA for $335 million over these allegations. [More]
Bank Of America Confirms 30,000 Jobs To Be Cut In Coming Years
By September 12, 2011
Only a few days after a report that Bank of America could be looking to axe upward of 40,000 employees in the next few years, the bank has released a statement today that gives the actual number of positions to be eliminated as 30,000. [More]
Investigation: Banks Took $6 Billion In Home Insurance Kickbacks
By September 7, 2011
According to a HUD investigation, big banks raked in over $6 billion in a decades-long insurance kickback scheme that violated RESPA. [More]
Could Bank Of America Put Countrywide Into Bankruptcy?
By August 12, 2011
Three years after breathing life into a drowned Countrywide Financial, Bank of America is probably wishing it had just let the lender sink. BofA has already lost $8.5 billion in one lawsuit, with others still pending that could more than double that amount. So what’s the nation’s largest bank to do? Maybe put Countrywide in bankruptcy. [More]
Bank Of America Sued Again Over Countrywide Loans
By July 29, 2011
We’re willing to bet that Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan’s office has two dartboards: one featuring the curiously orange face of former Countrywide head honcho Angelo Mozilo, whose company made countless loans to people it knew could never properly repay them; the other with the smirking face of Moynihan’s predecessor Ken Lewis, who was stupid enough to think Countrywide was worth buying, a decision that continues to haunt the nation’s largest bank. [More]
FTC Sends Out $108 Million In Refund Checks To Overcharged Countrywide Customers
By July 20, 2011
Earlier today, the Federal Trade Commission announced it is mailing out refund checks to the nearly half million American homeowners who were charged excessive fees on their mortgages by former Worst Company In America champ Countrywide Home Loans. [More]
Investors To Challenge $8.5 Billion Bank Of America Settlement
By July 5, 2011
Last week’s $8.5 billion settlement agreement between Bank of America and 22 investment groups over tainted securities, is being challenged but not by BofA. Rather, one group of bondholders claim the bank got off too easy. [More]
Analyst: Bank Of America's Takeover Of Countrywide "The Worst By A Mile"
By June 30, 2011
Three years ago this week, the acquisition-hungry CEO of Bank Of America looked at the menu of failing financial institutions and came upon a bargain bit of junk food called Countrywide that he could gobble up for only a couple billion dollars in BofA stock. Surely this little trifle couldn’t do any damage to his bank’s ironclad insides, right? But since that first bite of Countrywide, the nation’s largest bank has been praying at the porcelain god, barfing up billions in losses. [More]
Bank Of America Posts 36% Drop In Profits
By April 15, 2011
Perhaps hoping to garner sympathy votes in our Worst Company in America contest, Bank of America today reported a 36% drop in profits for the first quarter. One of the big drags on business continues to be the toxic landfill of mortgages the bank gobbled up when it bought Countrywide Home Loans. Never trust a man who is completely orange, I always say. [More]
