I cracked up that while Marriott was saying business was bad in N America and they didn't see a turnaround this year, the construction reports shows they are putting up more Hotels and Commercial Real Estate. Ken Lewis is unable to connect the dots. I would bet his Home Equity portfolio will "suprise" him and have bad loans over 3%.

Mozilo and Co. UNDERREPORTING to cook the books to make sure the merger doesn't blow up.

If anyone outthere can verify, please step forward. The fraud's gotta stop.

Maybe it was more about BofA getting a vehicle to stuff their bad mortgages?

BAC is helping the Fed keep their dirty secrets...Ken's hubris is well placed.

In Virginia Beach Va (app pop count 500k ) Countrywide has 3 REO. Are you kidding me?Everyone I know has a Countrywide mortage here .I have 5 loans with them alone .

That website just tracks the REO CFC chooses to list on its website.. it is not a comprehensive list. I bet once the Countrywide Foreclosure blog got attention on places like CNBC then CFC just started leaving listings showing for less time.

I told the teller that I didn't want to open any other accounts/business with them because I was worried that they were insolvent. The poor kid needed me to tell him what insolvent means.

Insolvent means it dissolves in alcohol right?

zackattack, that stunned me as well. My only thought is that he's on a personal competition kick with Jamie over at JPM and it's leading him to make terrible decisions.

When you want to know who has the biggest d*ick, all you have to do is whip them out, not spend 2b to find out

I have 20k in BofA checking account and it's not FDIC insured, what will happen to my money if BofA becomes bankrupt? There is no way I can lose that money...right?

Cal is right on the website. My understanding is that all the major servicers are using more bulk auctions to investors to "move" REO inventory. I don't know how much of this inventory is out there and how much is actually "moving". I am pretty sure that it does not get counted in the same way as inventory on the MLS that has been listed with a realtor. I am sure that workouts, short sales, etc. are a factor but the largest impact is the bulk approach to REO sales IMO.

I will tell you this, in 2006 Bank of America was making RIDICULOUS commercial mortgages, ridiculous.

It is going to come back to haunt them...

(I'm the guy who said that Golden West was going to make the Money Store look like a good investment.)

If BofA goes under and you have money in your account above the FDIC limits, you lose it. It's a good time to make sure your accounts are under the FDIC limits.

My understanding is that if BAC buys CW, they must assume their debts along with their assets; there's no legal way to invalidate the debts incurred by the company you are purchasing (which is what not assuming them would be). On the other hand, CW could probably sell their performing assets for BAC money/shares and then declare bankruptcy, but that assumes their loans allow such as obvious end-around of the asset-basis for the loans. Without knowing their specifics (and probably being a lawyer with a financial specialty), I couldn't say if it would be possible.

That's a mighty long engagement between BAC and CFC, isn't it? What's holding up the marriage?

A rhetorical question.

I would not pay too much attention to Lewis' public platitudes -- he won't be around a year from now. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, and I would guess the chances of this deal ever being done are less than 50/50 unless BAC gets a balance sheet deal similar to or even better than the one JPM got to take over BSC. Also BAC will have to be indemnified against all the follow-on legal problems CFC will bring. All of that is asking a lot, even from Bernanke.

This seems to me more or less like the Fed's auction facilities, i.e. designed to string the problem out long enough so that a kind of news fatigue sets in and when the inevitable happens -- in this case, BAC backs out of the deal and CFC goes bankrupt -- it won't be such a big deal anymore, at least in terms of the impact on the equity markets, which is a primary concern of Bernanke et al (recall the January rate cut).

You all are missing the biggest piece of the puzzle. BOA has to take CFC because they have too much exposure to credit default swaps against the bankruptcy of Countrywide. This is why this buy-out must go through. BOA is just trying to hold out till the last minute to see if they can get a chunk of change from the Fed too.

It was more or less a bet that they would lose less by buying CFC than they would through CDS if they let CFC go under.

The REO numbers are going down because the REA's aren't selling the inventory fast enough, so it's going to auction. The volume has gotten so big they're selling it wholesale instead of through the agents. The problem with auction is that nobody hits the reserve and buyers have figured out that half the bidders are working for the seller.

shotgun weddings are bad for all of us.
Too bad Kenny boy can't speak his mind or we'd surely get the real story.

I've seen mergers go off much quicker than this one.....

even money it does not without another backstop..

Ciao
MS

Aaaaargh....can I tell you how insanely pi$$ed I get when I hear stories like that , joeblo?

This country is freaking doomed. TWENTY MONTHS while the rest of us pay rent/mortgages.