bank of america

A House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the controversial merger between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch has been postponed “due to additional documents recently received,” the panel announced today.
The hearing, initially to be held Thursday, has not been rescheduled.

Bush administration officials have been under fire for effectively forcing a merger last December between Bank of America and Merrill Lynch without informing BoA shareholders of the financial dire straights Merrill was in at the time.
But yesterday the Obama administration was pulled more deeply into the scandal as well, after newly unveiled BoA documents suggested [...]

He was practically a fixture on Capitol Hill during the Wall Street bailout debate and subsequent oversight discussions. But Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, is set to retire at the end of the year.
Lewis and BoA have been in hot water over their government-backed deal to acquire the failing Merrill Lynch in December. [...]

The congressional Democrats leading the effort to protect consumers from overdraft fees said today that, despite Tuesday’s news that Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase will adopt some of those protections voluntary, there remains the need to make the safeguards permanent through legislation.
“These are positive changes, but the system has gotten completely out of [...]

For months, Congress has had its eyes on reining in the overdraft fees tacked on by many banks when consumers — often unbeknownest to them — exceed their balances with debit card purchases. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced a consumer protection bill earlier in the year, and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has vowed to follow [...]

CNN examines the stalled efforts to rework troubled mortgages, noting that only 6 percent of  4 million eligible homeowners have been helped so far under the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable program. The piece notes that banks say they are trying to do loan modifications, but need more time to get up to speed on [...]

As a quick addition to Mary’s thoughts on yesterday’s Treasury Department report confirming the reluctance of mortgage servicers to modify loans through the administration’s Making Home Affordable program, it’s worth noting that some of the poorest-performing banks are the same institutions that appeared before Congress just a few weeks ago with declarations that they were [...]

Startling requirements in out-dated, but still used paperwork raises questions about how well Treasury is overseeing the centerpiece of Obama’s foreclosure crisis solution.

Via Patrick.net, here’s more about how some banks abandoned their foreclosed properties and left innocent neighbors to deal with the blight. And no, this isn’t just happening in Cleveland. In Petaluma, Calif.,  one neighbor got so fed up fighting with Bank of America– for two years — to clean up the abandoned home next door [...]

Just a few days after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before House lawmakers about his role in Bank of America’s controversial buyout of Merrill Lynch, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) announced that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be the next official to take the hot seat.
Bank of America purchased [...]