Bank of America

1sts - BofA's adoption of the Equator platform for short sale processing saves time. We hear that this is cutting 2-3 weeks off of the process. The biggest advantage is that all documents will be date and time stamped which will eliminate the need to resubmit lost documents. It is very frustrating when the short sale is declined and the reason is "other". The use of the Equator system is a step in the right direction. You will still need to open all files with the loss mitigation department and be referred to the Short Sale Support department. They will not be accepting fax or email documents. You will still need an authorization letter so contrary to what you may have heard you will still need to contact them before sending in any documents. They do require the homeowner to post info to the site which can be difficult for some owners. Sellers and agents have different logins. Agents should get their sellers login information to make sure that the seller docs are uploaded properly.
Equator TIPS: make sure you do not miss any deadlines for your tasks or you will have to start the process all over. Even if there are no changes make sure you respond even if you have talked to someone on the phone. Also, when responding to a counter offer ALWAYS check the commission. We hear that is does not always auto populate from a previous offer and may default to 5%.
There are different rules for Fannie and Freddie loans. They did just announce on 6/1/10 that they are going to be participating in the HAFA program starting 8/1/10. (To check to see if your loan is a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac go to www.fanniemae.com/loanlookup or
www.freddiemac.com/mymortgage) If the loan is a Fannie or Freddie loan be prepared to have 2 BPO requests. One order by BofA and one order by Fannie/Freddie. We have also been told that Freddie has amended the approval and requested more money when they have reviewed the file.
Short Sale file handling is fast when the loan was originated through Bank of America. If you have a Countrywide loan expect the process to take over 13 months to close on average. Normally not flexible when homeowner hardship is unique.  We hear that they operate very much like the big bank they are - cumbersome policies that are slow to change.
If you get a good negotiator they are worth their weight in gold since there are numerous tasks in Equator that they need to complete to keep the process flowing. Although there are files being approved and closing it is usually out of desperation on the part of the homeowner since they just want to move on and close this chapter of their lives.

2nds - Bank of America continues to present the most difficult challenges in the servicing industry on Short Sale proposals, on home equity 2nds.  It takes approximately 5 weeks for them to acknowledge receipt of the package. They typically demand 5% of the net proceeds which typically equates to 12-15% of the loan balance when other lenders are closer to 10%. (This is still dramatically higher than the $3,000 in the treasury proposal). If the file is charged off and sent to recovery/collections we have heard from some agents that they are surprisingly easier to work with than the loss mitigation department. This may not be true in all instances.
Update - Since the Countrywide integration, Bank of America has become absolutely inflexible on the continuing liability for deficiency issue when authoring short sale approval letters. We hear that California borrowers, who are legally entitled to anti-deficiency protection, are forced to accept liability for the deficiency on first and second mortgages as a condition of BofA short sale approval. While this is not a new issue, the fact that there is virtually not room for flexibility is new. Irrespective of the severity of the hardship, the troubled borrower is forced to either accept the liability or surrender to foreclosure.

Bank of America Home Loans
Phone: 800-669-6087 or 800-262-4218
Fax: 805-520-5019
Fax Authorizations: 800-658-0395
Bank of America Mortgage
Phone: 866-880-1232
Fax: 888-491-4947
http://homeloanhelp.bankofamerica.com/en/short-sale.html
Tip: They request that the homeowner call them to get the process started.