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Editor’s Comment: Oops. I thought they said they had reviewed hundreds of thousands of foreclosures in about 6 minutes and discovered that everything was in order. I thought they said the procedure was wrong (perjury and fraud on the court) but the facts were true. Now they say the facts are not true either. And when the wash cycle is complete, and the clothes go into the dryer, check the lint filter. You’ll probably find that they never owned the mortgages in the first place, that the mortgages were void and could not be “owned”, that the notes were made out in  favor of the wrong people, and that the obligations to the investors are paid off entirely or in part — all in accordance with securitization documents under which they claim they have the right to foreclose.

I know this is all very complicated and intimidating. But how hard is it to question a “review” procedure completed in days where they admit to robo-signing the documents, a process that took years to complete the foreclosures? If it took years to robo-sign, how it could take a small fraction of that time to review the records for accuracy?

Bank of America IS a public company, unlike MERS. If I was trading securities, which I am not, I would be, as many readers have told me they are doing already, buying puts, and selling short. Much as the government apparatus does not want BOA to collapse, the patient is far too sick to survive in its current form. Of course, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Foreclosures Had Errors, Bank Finds

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

Even as Bank of America begins to restart foreclosure proceedings in 23 states on Monday, the bank confirmed that it had discovered errors, including incorrect data and misspelled names, in the paperwork it has reviewed.

For weeks, Bank of America has insisted its review had not turned up any serious errors, and emphasized that it had not found a single case where a homeowner was facing foreclosure in error.

But on Sunday, the bank revised its fairly combative public stance. Bank of America had found errors, but only in a tiny number of cases, Dan Frahm, a spokesman for the bank, said late Sunday.

“These are examples of exceptions that were caught early in the process through control steps,” Mr. Frahm said. “They do not reflect exceptions in final documents that are being resubmitted to the courts.”

Bank of America and several other institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and GMAC Mortgage, halted foreclosures in late September and early October amid a growing controversy over problematic documents, including so-called robo-signers — bank employees who say they signed foreclosure affidavits without reviewing the documents. Other foreclosure cases were initiated with missing documents or incorrect information.

As a result of its review, Bank of America has combined signing and notarization into one step, unlike in the past, when they were separate tasks. “We felt there was greater risk for error before,” Mr. Frahm said.

On Sunday, Bank of America maintained that no homes were foreclosed in error. [Editor’s Note: In my opinion this isn’t simply wrong. It is a lie and they know it is a lie, which means they are lying to their shareholders, their creditors, and the public, not to speak of the consequences of filing any statement to that effect with regulatory authorities including the SEC. In my opinion, nearly ALL foreclosures by ALL of the mega securitization players were foreclosed improperly AND WITHOUT CAUSE.]

“The basis for our foreclosure decisions has been accurate,” he said, and he added that the bank would work to correct any problems.

Initially, Bank of America imposed the freeze in 23 states where judicial approval is required before a foreclosure can go ahead, and the bank extended it nationwide on Oct. 8. But on Oct. 18, the bank confirmed foreclosures would resume in the initial 23 states and declared it was confident in the procedures it had in place.

“We did a thorough review of the process, and we found the facts underlying the decision to foreclose have been accurate,” Barbara J. Desoer, president of Bank of America Home Loans, said at the time. “We paused while we were doing that, and now we’re moving forward.”

Since the controversy began, Bank of America shares have been pummeled and the company has repeatedly sought to reassure investors that it does not a deeper financial threat from the controversy.

What’s more, it is facing pressure from large institutional owners of troubled mortgages, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pimco and BlackRock, to buy tens of billions in bad loans back from them.

That has forced analysts to rethink earnings expectations, with some warning that the mortgage mess represents a long-term drain on an industry that only recently has gotten back on its feet.

As the nation’s largest bank and the servicer of roughly one in five American mortgages, Bank of America is closely watched by the rest of the industry, and its decision to resume foreclosures was seen as an attempt by the big banks to put the growing furor behind them.

Still, it is far from certain that banks will be able to calm the public controversy easily or quickly. Aside from the robo-signers, lawyers for homeowners have found evidence that documents were lost or even thrown out. Armed with this information, lawyers are gearing up for protracted court battles.

Bank of America’s troubled mortgage portfolio is a legacy of its July 2008 acquisition of Countrywide, a subprime mortgage specialist that was among the financial institutions with the most troubled loans, as well as its January 2009 merger with Merrill Lynch, which was a major player in the business of taking mortgages and transforming them into securities to be sold to investors.

In addition, as the beneficiary of two capital infusions by Washington under the federal bailout, Bank of America was among the banks most dependent on Washington to help survive the financial crisis, receiving $45 billion from taxpayers. Of that, $20 billion came in emergency aid after Merrill’s losses were revealed.

That money has been paid back, but the bank remains eager to maintain good relations with the government, and has emphasized that restoring its public image was a crucial factor throughout the foreclosure controversy.

Last Wednesday, Bank of America reported that operating earnings in the third quarter hit $3.1 billion, in contrast to a loss a year ago.

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