Although Bank of America entered into a $2.8 billion buyback settlement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac late last year, it is looking at additional repurchase claims regarding the two GSEs, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The increase in unresolved claims is primarily attributable to an increase in new claims submitted by the GSEs for both legacy Countrywide originations not covered by the GSE agreements and legacy Bank of America originations, in addition to an increase in the volume of claims appealed by us and awaiting review and response from one GSE,” the banks said.
BofA bought Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) in August 2008. CFC was Fannie Mae's largest seller/servicer customer but also sold product to Freddie, though much less. (Most of the repurchase claims – though not all — submitted to the GSEs cover mortgages originated by CFC prior to its sale to BofA.)
Some in the industry thought the December 2010 settlement was great for BofA and a horrible one for the government, but details of those agreements discussed in the new 10-Q show that the original deal was not all inclusive.
The Freddie Mac agreement, for instance, mentions “certain exceptions” to the original buyback deal.
In June the bank agreed to pay $8.5 billion to investors, settling representation and warranty/buyback claims on $409 billion of CFC loans that were packaged into private-label securities. Roughly 22 investors are represented in that settlement, which still needs court approval.
