Sound Alliance Secures Bank of America Commitment

Sound Alliance leaders working on the Foreclosure Intervention campaign have focused much of their attention on getting State Treasurer Jim McIntire to use his influence to press Bank of America to establish a homeownership center in the state that would allow distressed borrowers a chance to meet face-to-face with loan servicing representatives.

In a recent letter to Bank of America, Treasurer McIntire said:

"I have recently been working with Sound Alliance, a coalition of faith-based, labor and non-profit organizations and I share their interest in asking Bank of America to open a Homeowner Service Center in our state.…

We are in one of the worst recessions in U.S. history with high rates of unemployment expected to persist for some time into the future. These large numbers of people out of work will add pressure to the record high numbers of mortgage loan delinquencies and foreclosures anticipated across the country.

Washington's mortgage delinquency rate is 7.3 percent and still rising even as the national rate appears to be declining from its current 9.4 percent level. This represents nearly 87,000 loans and families in Washington and we want to do everything possible to keep this number from growing even larger…. As a major customer, my office gets excellent service from Bank of America - and we want this same quality service to reach the state's homeowners as they deal with the lingering effects of a protracted recession. I sincerely hope your approach to resolving delinquencies will accomplish this, and look forward to continuing to work with you and Sound Alliance toward that end."

On October 21, Treasurer McIntire announced to more than 170 people attending the Sound Alliance’s “Celebrating Leaders” event that he received a call from a bank vice president earlier in the day promising that Bank of America will be bringing two full-time loan servicing representatives to the state – working from two locations in western Washington - to meet face-to-face with Bank of America homeowners who are trying to save their homes.  One of the homeownership servicers will be co-located with the Seattle Metropolitan Urban League, and the other will be located at the Bank of America office in downtown Seattle.

This is a victory for Alliance member institutions – especially UA Plumbers’ and Pipefitters’ Local 32, which was responsible for starting this effort and has carried a major load in this campaign.

But it is a partial victory.

More is still needed from Bank of America to responsibly meet the loan servicing needs of distressed borrowers across the state and much more is still needed on a variety of fronts to help struggling homeowners.  For more information on how to get involved in the Foreclosure Prevention campaign, please contact the Sound Alliance office at (206) 575-2252, info@soundorganizing.org.