Bank of America Resolves Countrywide Dispute With GSEs to the Tune of $3 Billion

Bank of America has agreed to pay out nearly $3 billion total to both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a repurchase claims dispute over housing loans sold to them by Countrywide Financial Corporation. Bank of America agreed, among other things, to a resolution amount of approximately $1.52 billion, consisting of a cash payment of $1.34 billion made by Bank of America on Dec. 31, 2010, and credits for payments recently made or to be made by them.  The agreement resolves outstanding repurchase requests on 12,045 loans sold to Bank of America by Countrywide, addresses 5,760 other loans sold to Bank of America by Countrywide and permits Bank of America to bring claims for any additional breaches of its representations and warranties that are identified with respect to those loans. Fannie Mae continues to work with Bank of America to resolve repurchase requests that remain outstanding, including requests relating to loans delivered to the company by Bank of America. Fannie Mae pursues repurchase requests to protect the interests of the company and to prudently manage the resources that Bank of America has been provided. This agreement with Bank of America addresses approximately 44 percent of the $7.7 billion in repurchase requests (measured by unpaid principal balance) that the company had outstanding with all of its seller-servicers as of Sept. 30, 2010. For more information, visit www.bankofamerica.com.