BofA Pledges Speedy Loan Aid Response

Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Charlotte Observer, By Stella Hopkins:

Bank of America will respond to distressed homeowners and credit counselors working on mortgage modifications within 72 hours, a major improvement, under a program expected to be available within 90 days.

"From a customer experience perspective, we have to do better," Rebecca Mairone, Bank of America's national default servicing executive, told a group of counselors and others on Tuesday. 

Under the "Kept Informed Routines," or KIRs, "customers won't wait more than 72 hours for answers," Mairone said during the Charlotte gathering, which drew about 100 consumer advocates, community activists and counselors who work with people trying to reduce their mortgage payments to avoid foreclosure. 

Currently, homeowners and counselors often wait weeks, even months for responses from servicers. Bank of America is the nation's largest servicer, handling one of five mortgages. An executive with Wells Fargo, the second-largest servicer, also took part. 

The event was the first of 10 in a nationwide tour featuring U.S. Treasury officials, bankers, borrowers, counselors and advocates, talking about what is - and isn't - working with the massive federal foreclosure-prevention effort, called HAMP. The program, introduced in February 2009 and intended to stanch the flow of foreclosures, has been strongly criticized as inadequate. Servicers have been chastised for inept execution.

The Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina, which advocates for lending to low- and moderate-income communities, organized the Charlotte event. The overall tour sponsor is PICO, a national network of faith-based organizations, which has been working with lenders, advocates and government officials to improve HAMP and related programs. 

"We want to figure out how to make HAMP work for families," said Tim Lilienthal, a PICO spokesman in Washington. 

Slow responses, conflicting information and lost paperwork were recurring complaints from counselors. They drilled participants on the lack of recourse for modifications gone awry. They told of clients locked out of their homes while awaiting modifications that never came. And they criticized some processes as a waste of time and scarce money for desperate homeowners. 

To read this full report, please visit www.charlotteobserver.com. For any home or lending information, please visit www.simiishome.com.