Continuing a commitment to expand direct outreach to customers facing difficulty in making their mortgage payments, Bank of America will more than triple its number of customer assistance centers in the coming weeks, bringing the total to 40 in 22 states by early summer.
Beginning this month and into July, the bank plans to open 28 new centers in some of the metropolitan areas that have been the hardest hit by the downturn in the economy and housing market. Two centers in Detroit were previously announced and 26 others are part of today’s announcement. Additional openings will be announced for the second half of 2011 to further expand the network of centers.
“Although we see signs of improvement, including slowing mortgage delinquencies, many homeowners continue to struggle to make their payments as a result of hardships in today’s economic environment,” said Rebecca Mairone, national mortgage outreach executive for Bank of America. “Our teams at the customer assistance centers are experienced loan professionals, trained to counsel customers, follow each customer file through the entire loan modification process, make on-site decisions in many cases, and assist with other foreclosure prevention solutions if a modification is not possible.”
The bank’s key customer outreach efforts also include participation in frequent community events hosted by Bank of America or third parties such as Hope NOW, the Alliance for Stabilizing our Communities and NACA. The bank has participated in more than 600 of these events since January 2009, including 50 already this year, and another 34 are scheduled in the next two months.
At six bank-hosted outreach events so far this year, homeownership retention specialists have met with nearly 6,500 customers. The outreach team uses enhanced processing systems during these meetings, giving them the capability to provide more than one third of the customers with on-site loan modification decisions.
Bank of America is already operating 12 fulltime customer assistance centers, including five opened since the first of this year. Since the first center opened in 2009, customer assistance center counselors have met with more than 17,000 homeowners, including more than 3,700 during the first quarter of 2011.
“One of the most difficult challenges we face is encouraging homeowners who are behind on their payments to respond to our invitations to work with them toward a solution,” said Mairone. “We have made a commitment to double our outreach staff this year, provide our customers with more ways to contact us and in locations that are as convenient and comfortable for them as possible.”
“In today's challenging economic environment, Bank of America continues to build on its long-standing efforts to develop new ways to help families remain in their homes,” observed Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “The National Urban League is working with the bank on many fronts to reach distressed homeowners around the country. It is key that homeowners receive early assistance from servicers, and certainly it is best when that assistance begins well ahead of potential foreclosure. Targeted expansion of its customer assistance centers in some of the nation’s hardest hit urban areas again demonstrates Bank of America’s leadership on this issue.”
Seven of the new centers will be located in hard-hit areas of California, including two additional locations in greater Los Angeles, as well as sites in San Diego, the Inland Empire (Riverside/San Bernardino), the Antelope Valley (Lancaster/Palmdale) and the northern and southern San Joaquin Valley (Modesto and Bakersfield).
Other metropolitan areas to be served by the new centers include Atlanta; Baltimore/Washington; Denver; Detroit (two locations); North Metro Detroit/Pontiac; Houston; Kansas City; Miami; Milwaukee; Nashville, Tenn.; Newark, N.J.; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Raleigh, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; San Antonio; St. Louis; and Tucson, Ariz.
Since the first of the year, Bank of America has opened customer assistance centers in Alexandria, Va. (metro D.C.); Chicago; Glendale, Calif. (LA/San Gabriel Valley); Orlando, Fla.; and. Seattle. Sites are being finalized for the two Detroit locations announced last month. Centers previously opened in Brea, Calif. (Orange County); Dedham, Mass. (Boston); Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Las Vegas, Henderson and Reno, Nev.; and Phoenix.
Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 58 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,800 retail banking offices and approximately 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Contacts:
Dan Frahm, Jumana Bauwens, Rick Simon, Bank
of America, 1.800.796.8448
pressroom@bankofamerica.com
