Bank Of America To Buy Back Bad Loans From Fannie,Freddie
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Bank of America Corp. (BAC) expects to take a provision of about $3 billion in the fourth quarter to buy back bad loans from Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) that were issued by its troubled Countrywide Financial unit.
The move represents the latest effort by the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking giant, which acquired mortgage originator Countrywide in 2008, to respond to the housing crisis. Countrywide's mortgages turned into some of the worst mortgages issued during the crisis and, ever since Bank of America bought the lender, the bank has had to handle growing loan losses.
Fannie and Freddie have been stepping up demands that lenders take back defaulted loans when they find that the mortgages didn't conform to their lending guidelines. The two giant mortgage buyers have been operating under federal conservatorship since September 2008. Keeping them afloat has cost taxpayers about $134 billion so far.
Last week, Fannie reached a $462 million settlement with Ally Financial Inc. to cover potential repurchases on $292 billion in mortgages.
Taken together, the Ally Financial and Bank of America settlements will result in a recovery of $3.3 for taxpayers, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said.
"While these agreements are an important step, (Fannie and Freddie) have other outstanding claims across a range of counterparties and they are being pursued," said Edward DeMarco, acting director of the housing agency, in a statement.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20110103-705110.html