Bank of America Activates 125,000 Home Affordable Trial Modifications --Company Continues Momentum in Comprehensive Effort to Help Struggling Homeowners

CALABASAS, Calif., Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America announced today it has surpassed its pre, Oct 29, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Bank of America announced today it has surpassed its previously stated target of helping at least 125,000 financially distressed homeowners begin trial modifications through the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by November 1.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-b ) Bank of America has initiated nearly one in five HAMP trial modifications industrywide since the company began participating in the program in April.

Since beginning its HAMP outreach efforts, the bank's homeownership retention division has contacted nearly 600,000 potentially eligible homeowners to ascertain their interest in HAMP and has extended more than 200,000 offers of trial modifications under the program.

"Bank of America associates are working to keep as many customers in their homes as possible, and we have established clear momentum in providing trial modifications under HAMP," said Jack Schakett, credit loss mitigation strategies executive of Bank of America Home Loans. "We are helping our customers complete trial modifications successfully, convert to permanently modified loans under the program and get back on the path to successful, sustainable homeownership." Schakett noted that Bank of America began achieving significant gains in trial modification starts in August. On that basis, the company expects its conversion of customers into permanent modifications under the program will begin showing substantial progress in November, which will be reflected in December program reporting.

In addition to its active participation in HAMP, Bank of America was among the first lenders to offer refinancing under the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). To date, Bank of America has provided HARP refinancing to approximately 95,000 homeowners. That is the most customers of any bank, representing nearly 30 percent of the industry total.

Bank of America Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 53 million consumer and small business relationships with 6,000 retail banking offices, more than 18,000 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 29 million active users.

Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to more than 4 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients in more than 150 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

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