Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen on Wednesday demanded Bank of America Corp., one of the nation’s biggest lenders with dozens of branches in the state, devote more resources to help struggling homeowners keep their properties.
Jepsen says he wrote a letter to Bank of America CEO Brian T. Moynihan, urging the lender to do more to help borrowers having trouble paying their mortgages to get loan modifications.
He said his and other state agencies are flooded with consumer complaints about the bank’s handling of their cases.
“I express these concerns on behalf of the thousands of distressed Connecticut borrowers who continue to experience significant difficulties due to Bank of America’s failure to devote adequate resources to loss mitigation,” Jepsen wrote to Moynihan. “Bank of America can and should do more.”
“Given that Bank of America is apparently poised to lift its moratorium on Connecticut foreclosures, I do not see that it has any credible plan to deal with the inevitable increase in … requests” from borrowers seeking loan modifications, Jepsen wrote.
In an e-mail response, Bank of America spokesman T.J. Crawford said, acknowlegded Jepsen’s letter and said the bank “will continue to work with the attorney general to address his concerns.”
Crawford added that in Connecticut Bank of America teamed with area home counseling nonprofits, local governments and state agencies to reach out to affected borrowers.
In addition, he said the lender has participated in15 outreach events statewide, with the next scheduled Tuesday in Hartford.
Jepsen said he was told the bank plans to establish 40 new customer assistance centers nationwide, including one in Dedham, Mass. to serve New England.
Establishing one center staffed by a dozen people to cover all of New England is simply not enough, Jepsen wrote.
Nor is it enough for the bank to change its customer service policies, Jepsen said. Bank of America needs to bolster its resources “so that distressed Connecticut borrowers receive fair and honest treatment,” he wrote.
Jepsen is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General multistate task force which is seeking to hold major loan servicers, including Bank of America, accountable for the unfair and deceptive default servicing practices they have engaged in across the country.
