DAILY Breaking News - Savannah Area Breaking News

SBJ Staff Report

Sept 29, 2011 - Bank of America Home Loans, the mortgage unit of Bank of America, has abruptly closed both of its loan origination offices in Savannah.  Two mortgage bankers close to the situation – and in deals with BofA - say that all employees were laid off, but this was unable to be confirmed by the Savannah Business Journal.

The bank’s mortgage division had two loan offices in Savannah, one at 4849 Paulsen St. and one at 7150 Hodgson Memorial Dr., the former Savannah office of Countrywide Home Mortgage.  Bank of America purchased Countrywide for $4.1 billion in July 2008, at the time the largest mortgage lender in the country.  For example, in 2006, Countrywide was credited with having financed 20% of all mortgages in the United States. 

This month, Bank of America announced that they were putting a portion of Countrywide up for sale – the division of that company that buys smaller mortgages from lending organizations which is 50% of the total mortgage portfolio of BofA.  In making the announcement, BofA’s CEO Brian Moynihan said that he wanted to concentrate on mortgages that the bank originated themselves. The Savannah decision appears to run contrary to that announcement. 

And, no other announcements can be found in the financial media about BofA closing local origination offices.  The Charleston loan offices have remained open.