What We're Hearing

Now that Bank of America has repaid the Treasury Department its $45 billion in TARP aid, does that mean it won't be lopping off any large chunks of nonperforming loans in the coming year? It stands to reason that BoA can ill-afford to take any significant "hits" on its huge holdings of non-performing mortgages and MBS. After all, accounting rules allow the bank to treat its NPL holding benignly as long as they are placed in a "held for investment" account. Translation: it's better to keep than to sell. According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and its Managing REO newsletter, BoA has roughly $34 billion in non-performers on its books, most of which are mortgage-related. Meanwhile, we're still waiting to hear what, exactly, BoA's plans are for its Merrill Lynch mortgage affiliate in Jacksonville, Florida...