Photo Courtesy of the LA Times

As of today, Bank of America has officially retired the Countrywide Home Loans brand which they acquired about 10 months ago and re-branded their mortgage division as “Bank of America Home Loans”.

Countrywide was formerly the nations largest home lender but recently met its demise do to its aggressive sub-prime lending over the past few years.  Bank of America said that the Countrywide brand name has been tarnished so much that a complete change must happen.

Bank of America’s new pledge to customers is keeping home loans simple, affordable, and explaining them clearly.  They have created a “Clarity Commitment” which is a one page document outlining the mortgage’s interest rate, terms, potential payment changes and other details of the loan.

My Thoughts:  I have a lot of friends and colleagues who work in the lending industry and a lot of them are making the move from well established names like Chase and Wells Fargo to Bank of America because of the merger with Countrywide.  Apparently Countrywide’s back-office systems and technology are second to none and combined with the Bank of America brand many of these bankers and lending professionals feel Bank of America is going to be the best lender for clients to go through.  If you’d like the contact information of some of our preferred lenders please contact me at nwarren@warrenre.com.