CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bank of America, a leader in developing and carrying out programs to help financially distressed homeowners, will continue to expand community outreach in 2011 through a doubling of outreach staffing, new regional customer assistance centers, more community-based events and increased collaboration with nonprofit housing counselors.
The bank named Rebecca Mairone as national mortgage outreach executive to spearhead this important initiative. Mairone will report directly to Executive Vice President Terry Laughlin, who leads the newly created Legacy Asset Servicing unit.
“Providing customers with face-to-face counseling and on-site decision making is a key element in continually improving the process for customers experiencing financial hardship,” said Terry Laughlin, executive vice president. “Rebecca’s deep knowledge of default servicing and modification programs makes her a natural choice to lead this effort.”
Since the beginning of the year, Bank of America has increased its outreach to regions that have experienced some of the most significant impact from the downturn in the economy and housing market.
- Regional Customer Assistance Centers: In February, Bank of America opened centers in Seattle and Chicago, and plans to open four new regional centers near Washington, Los Angeles, Orlando and San Francisco in the next two months. The bank’s assistance centers hosted meetings with more than 12,000 customers in 2010.
- Partnership Outreach Events: Bank of America has already participated in 26 events since January, in association with regional and national nonprofit partners such as HOPE Now and Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA). Bank of America has committed to participating in more than 15 NACA “Save the Dream” events this year.
- Bank of America Home Preservation Events: The bank has launched a series of borrower outreach events exclusively for Bank of America Home Loans customers, completing events in Phoenix, Chicago and Detroit already this year, meeting with more than 3,300 customers. Another 10 independent events are planned around the country in the first half of 2011.
- Nonprofit Housing Partners: The bank works with more than 2,000 nonprofit housing organizations across the country, and is active in training and updating housing counseling groups about modification programs and processes. A dedicated homeownership retention unit helps facilitate the modifications process for nonprofit groups. Bank of America supported the formation and ongoing operations of the Alliance for Stabilizing our Communities, led by the National Urban League, the National Council of La Raza, and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community. The Alliance concentrates its efforts on assisting multicultural homeowners facing foreclosure to secure affordable home retention solutions. In 2010, the group held 21 events across the country.
“Our efforts to keep financially distressed customers in their homes have resulted in nearly 800,000 loan modifications in the last three years, but the exceptional severity and length of this economic crisis leaves us with much more work to do,” said Mairone. “By establishing a presence in the community, we’ve had greater success reaching customers who have not been responsive to more traditional contact methods.”
Bank of America is testing technology that will enhance the customer experience at events and customer assistance centers and speed the decision-making process for most individuals. The full rollout is expected in the second quarter of 2011. Customers who choose to visit one of the centers will have one point of contact throughout the process, and the entire modification review process will be completed at the center.
Mairone’s new responsibilities will include managing and growing the number of customer assistance centers, overseeing outreach events, building stronger relationships with nonprofit housing groups, leading specialized mortgage modification programs and serving as the liaison with key external stakeholders, including the Department of Treasury who oversees the Making Home Affordable Program.
Mairone has served in numerous leadership positions in Bank of America’s homeownership retention and default servicing programs. Most recently, she was responsible for continued improvements to processes designed to support circumstances where customers are no longer able to stay in their home, such as short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, and where other alternatives are not possible.
Since the beginning of the housing crisis, Bank of America has completed more than 800,000 modifications through all available programs and leads the industry in the number of completed permanent modification under the Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program. The bank continues to redeploy experienced mortgage professionals to help homeowners in financial difficulty. Bank of America has expanded the staffing level in all of default servicing by three-fold since January 2009 and about 30,000 are now dedicated to this area.
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 57 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5,800 retail banking offices and approximately 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 29 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.