Letter To Brian T. Moynihan, President, Bank Of America; John G. Stumpf, President, Wells Fargo

Letter

Titus Letter Calls for More BofA and Wells Fargo Staff in Southern Nevada to Assist Homeowners

Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada's Third District sent the following letter to Bank of America and Wells Fargo today calling on them to send more staff to Southern Nevada so that more homeowners who are facing foreclosure can receive assistance to stay in their home.

Below is the text of the letter:

March 26, 2010

Brian T. Moynihan
President -- Bank of America
100 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28202

Dear Mr. Moynihan,

As you may know, I represent many of the suburbs of Las Vegas, dubbed "ground zero" of the foreclosure crisis by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan. The situation in Southern Nevada, especially in my district is severe. In the fourth quarter of 2009, seven of the top 50 worst zip codes for foreclosure in the United States were located in Congressional District 3. It is estimated that 100,000 homeowners in Nevada are at risk of losing their homes and some 70% of all mortgages are underwater.

Since beginning my term in January 2009, helping families avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes has been my top priority. My office was one of the first Congressional Offices in the country to assist homeowners work with the banks to modify their mortgages. This process is arduous and often futile. Despite the assistance that your institution received recently from the taxpayers, your bank and others appear simply unwilling to help homeowners. The most common complaint I receive is not that you deny modification applications, but that homeowners are not even able to reach that step. Your staff often "misplaces" critical paperwork, refuses to return phone calls, and fails to follow through on processing applications. I believe this lack of regard is directly responsible for the fact that only 200,000 of the five million homeowners it was designed to help have received any type of modification through the "Making Home Affordable Program" which was put in place over a year ago. As you know, this program was scheduled to end in June 2010 but has been extended for an additional year.

One of the most common problems that we have has noted is that your bank does not have staff in Las Vegas that can make decisions on individual loans. Every loan modification needs to be approved by more senior managers in a distant place. As you can imagine, this often results in significant delays and misplaced paperwork. There are even homeowners who have received their default notices while their mortgage has been "under review."

I write to ask you today to relocate members of your staff to Southern Nevada who possess the necessary authority to make final decisions on mortgage modifications. I believe this will greatly reduce the response time in modification requests and ultimately help more homeowners avoid foreclosure.

As you know, Wall Street was rescued from the brink of insolvency by the American taxpayers. As evidenced by your lack of success in helping homeowners in Southern Nevada, I believe that your bank and others have not done enough to repay the debt owed to the American people. I hope that you will take this opportunity to show your appreciation to the American taxpayer by helping them avoid foreclosure.

Sincerely,

Dina Titus
Member of Congress

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