Ever since Bank of America got greedy and gobbled up the greasy, calorie-filled platter that was Countrywide, it’s been dealing with the indigestion caused by that company’s oodles of toxic mortgages. Now, after losing the Worst Company In America title by less than 1% to BP, BofA has decided to do something more than pay lip service to its crappy state of affairs. The bank has announced it will open 28 new foreclosure prevention centers in 22 states between now and July.

BofA currently only operates 12 such centers but says those have already been used by 17,000 mortgage holders.

According to MainStreet.com, these new centers will be located in places that have seen the greatest impact of the mortgage meltdown. Additionally, BofA plans to continue opening up foreclosure prevention centers later in the year.

BofA says the specialists at these centers can provide same-day loan modification answers to about one-in-three customers.

Let’s just hope these “specialists” are slightly better trained than the inexperienced, unqualified robosigners responsible for rubber stamping all those foreclosure documents that got BofA into trouble in the first place.

What the MainStreet article fails to mention is that this sensible move on Bank of America’s part is likely a response from demands by regulators and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac for mortgage servicers to start taking foreclosure prevention seriously.

Last month, Fannie and Freddie began offering incentives to servicers who met certain benchmarks in improving their response to loan modifications. These new standards included a formal review of each borrower, as well as responding earlier and talking more frequently with customers.

Meanwhile, the 14 biggest U.S. banks are also under orders from regulators to get their mortgage ducks in a row. That deadline is mid-June, with another 60 days to put whatever plans they come up with into action.

BofA Ramps Up Foreclosure Aid [MainStreet.com]

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