Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) shareholders have cause for a little bit of rejoicing today, ‘BAC’ did not set another 52-week low today. While it is doubtful many champagne corks will be popped as the result, for long-positioned shareholders it is better than the alternative. BAC finished trading with a 11 cent gain, up 1.04% at $10.65 per share. As it stands, over the past year, BAC has a share valuation volatility difference of roughly 60%.
Banks today had their knuckles rapped by the U.S. Government (the U.S. Treasury Department in particular) that had their hands in the Making Homes Affordable Program ‘cookie jar,’ and Bank of America was one of those banks. Aside from Bank of America, other company knuckles rapped were JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) all of which are no longer allowed to receive fees from the program for now. The program is to provide assistance to troubled borrowers for avoiding foreclosure.
The issue stems from these aforementioned banks having foreclosure documentation errors that arise when foreclosure documents are being processed. Notably, some of these banks only have a single employee effectively placing the ‘approved’ stamp on these documents. The results are errors appearing far too frequently for the Treasury to allow these banks to continue receiving fees from the program coffers until they ‘shape up,’ as they are now being ‘shipped out’ from the program.