Bank of America-Countrywide: Worst Deal in History?
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Loan modifications, $8.4 billion: State regulators negotiated in 2008 comprehensive settlement to grant $8.4 billion in home modifications for hundreds of thousands of homeowners. Mortgage-security holders bore much of the settlement’s cost, and cried foul at the agreement.
Class action: In May 2010, Countrywide agreed to pay $600 million to put behind it lawsuits from pension investors who said they lost money on shady Countrywide mortgage securities.
Federal Trade Commission, $108 million: A year ago, Bank of America agreed to pay $108 million to settle claims over the excessive fees Countrywide charged home owners facing foreclosure.
Angelo Mozilo: The man who built Countrywide in October agreed to pay $67.5 million in penalties to settle SEC civil fraud and insider-trading charges related to the near-collapse of his company. BofA (or its insurers) were on the hook to pay at least some of the $45 million of the settlement earmarked for “disgorgement” paybacks to former Countrywide shareholders. Bank of America also paid Mozilo’s legal bills, and agreed to cover another Countrywide executive’s $5 million in reparations to investors.
Losses: Bank of America’s mortgage business – some of which is Countrywide — lost $8.9 billion in 2010 and $3.8 billion in 2009.
Mortgage-security repurchases, at least $13 billion: In January Bank of America agreed to settle claims that Countrywide had violated certain “representations and warranties” when selling mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac. Later, BofA agreed to dole out another $1.6 billion to settle similar claims from bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd.
Then today, BofA announced a sweeping settlement under which it agreed to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims by private investors, including Pimco and BlackRock, that lost money on mortgage-backed securities. Previously, Bank of America estimated the worst-cases losses from mortgage-repurchase demands by private investors at $7 billion to $10 billion.
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To be sure, the Charlotte, N.C., BofA has built itself into the country’s largest bank in part by scooping up battered assets. A 1988 deal by BofA’s predecessor for bits of FirstRepublic Bank of Dallas now is considered a master stroke. Eventually, Ken Lewis’s deals for Countrywide — and for another battered company, Merrill Lynch — could look like courageous steals, too.
But for now, shareholders will be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief now that BofA has pledged to be deadly dull when it comes to deal making. BofA CEO Brian Moynihan has talked repeatedly about a “peace dividend” from calling a stop to acquisitions for now.
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