Bank of America, which has vowed to reduce its overall risk in mortgages, is close to completing the sale of a $50 billion package of Freddie Mac mortgage servicing rights, according to advisors close to the deal.
Final bids were taken this week. A B of A spokesman declined to comment.
If the sale comes off, BofA will have unloaded roughly $120 billion in troubled MSRs over a two-month period.
Early in the fall the bank sold a roughly $70 billion package of MSRs to Fannie Mae, which is using subservicer Green Tree Servicing, St. Paul, Minn., as its processing contractor. (Both MSR packages involve Countrywide “legacy” servicing.)
Even though many servicing advisors believe the sale of a $70 billion MSR package is a “material event” there has been no public confirmation on the transaction from BofA, Fannie, or Green Tree. All continue to keep quiet about the transaction.
BofA has been trying to unload the Freddie MSRs since the summer. (For a full roundup on pending MSR sales see the Monday edition of National Mortgage News.)
