Is a $1.3 Billion Fine for BofA Getting Off Cheap?

A sum of nearly $1.3 billion in a government fine would put most businesses out of business. However, if your corporate name is Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) or one of the other too big to fail banks you might look at a fine of this size as good news. BofA was ordered by a federal judge to pay out $1.27 billion after a federal jury found the bank liable for fraud — yet again, over mortgages sold by Countrywide.

The verdict was that BofA’s Countrywide sold defective mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but it is perhaps nowhere near as bad as it could have been. We are taking a closer look at this versus other fines tied to BofA and/or to Countrywide.

U.S. District Judge Rakoff ruled on the matter some nine months after the a federal jury found Bank of America and a former Countrywide executive liable. The verdict covered defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government sponsored entities running the nation’s mortgages, by effectively selling substandard or defective mortgage paper. This paper was covering loans made by Countrywide mostly back in 2007 and 2008.

The case pertained to some $2.96 billion of what were called questionable loans, which were securitized via Fannie and Freddie. What created the difference between the balance was because only some of the mortgages were found to have material defects. It appears that many of the loans were actually acceptable, making them not a part of the damages.

What is ironic here, and something that has been ongoing, is that this is a carryover from before Bank of America bought Countrywide. We do not yet have word of what Bank of America will do on this particular case, as far as appeals or other options. As of now, maybe they should just call it a day and move on as the Bank of America common shares were up 1.5% at $15.57 against a 52-week range of $13.60 to $18.03.

Citi recently took a $7 billion hit, but what about BofA? Here are some of its big charges and fines seen already:

• BofA was among the top five banks agreeing to pay a combined $25 billion over foreclosure abuses;
• BofA was among a dozen banks in 2013 paying a combined $9.3 billion to the Comptroller of Currency and Fed over foreclosure abuses;
• and BofA agreed to a settlement of $8.5 billion with group of private mortgage bond holders that were not the government.

Maybe a fine of close to $1.3 billion isn’t so bad. The real question is what pending cases and suits are still out there. That tally seems to have been lost in the ongoing shuffle.