No bad foreclosure decisions have been uncovered by internal investigations at Bank of America Home Loans and GMACÂ Mortgage LLC. Both servicers are carefully moving forward with new foreclosures and taking additional steps to ensure no wrongful foreclosures are filed.
In its third-quarter earnings report, Bank of America Corp. said that it is amending and re-filing 102,000 foreclosure affidavits in the 23 states that require judicial foreclosures.
BofA’s move follows a “voluntary internal review” of its foreclosure process in all 50 states. The bank concluded that its past foreclosure decisions were accurate.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based institution, which operates Bank of America Home Loans from Calabasas, Calif., said that it has controls in place to prevent wrongful foreclosures.
“Before filing foreclosure action and the day prior to foreclosure sale, additional checks are conducted for borrower status changes,” BofA said. “Post-foreclosure sale steps include customer appeals process.”
While BofA is continuing its suspension of foreclosure sales until it completes its assessment, the foreclosure process for delinquent borrowers is moving forward. The company expects to complete its assessment during the next few weeks — during which time an estimated 30,000 foreclosure sales will be delayed.
Statistics released by BofA indicate that 80 percent of its borrowers who faced foreclosure had not even made a payment in more than a year, while the average foreclosed loan was 560 days past due. Around a third of the properties were vacant.
Over at GMAC Mortgage LLC, things are “really no different from what we have said all along,” according to spokesman James Olecki.
Review and remediation activities at the Ally Financial Inc. subsidiary tied to judicial affidavits in the 23 states have gone on for around two months and are continuing, according to the spokesman.
“As each of those files is reviewed, and re-mediated when needed, the foreclosure process resumes,” according to Olecki, who added that GMAC has “found no evidence of any inappropriate foreclosures to date.”
BofA is America’s biggest residential servicer, while GMAC is the fifth largest mortgage servicer, based on data maintained by Mortgage Daily.
