Imagine a kid waiting in line next to a discount candy stall. Now imagine how disappointed that kid would be if the stall closed down before he or she got a chance to buy a pocketful of gummy bears.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is falling behind in its compliance with the federal plan for a $25 billion foreclosure abuse settlement, agreed upon in February. While other large banks such as JPMorgan Chase have already made major advances in pledging their respective portions of the program, BAC claims that the reason for the slowdown is the time needed to underwrite.
Nancy Bush, an analyst with SNL Financial, VA, explained the slower pacing of BAC with the fact that the bank’s infrastructural organization is not suited well enough to deal with an issue of such scope in such a time frame. A Bank of America spokesperson expressed the bank’s optimism that it will meet pledges within the stretch of a year. Borrowers who are missing on very low interest rates may not react as calmly to the situation.
BAC is facing other, albeit lesser problems. ReconTrust Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of BAC providing foreclosure services, was sued by the state of Washington and forced to cease operation. ReconTrust was found failing to meet requirements in several areas, including identification of loan owners in foreclosure notices and giving clear information as to what steps should be taken to put a halt to proceedings.
Looking at the stock, BAC has made an effort to solidify its position, climbing up another 1.1% or $0.09 at yesterday’s close. The movement may be partly due to the announcement of BAC’s launch of its mobile cash-back services that are integrated in their BankAmeriDeals system. The platform aims to eliminate the fuss with coupons and forward money right back to customer accounts.
Even if some BAC clients are finding the interest rate floss stall closed due to the bank’s ponderous movement, the company manages to keep Wall Street forecasts for the current and next quarters steady as it goes and into the positive.
