SEC Company Response from BANK OF AMERICA (BAC) — Nov 10, 2010
BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ (BAC, BAC-PB, BAC-PE, BAC-PK, BAC-PL, BAC-PM, BAC-PN, BAC-PO, BAC-PP, BAC-PQ, BAC-PS, BML-PG, BML-PL) (CIK 0000070858)
Date: Nov. 10, 2010 · CIK: 0000070858 · Accession: 0001193125-10-256108
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-06523
Referenced dates: July 30, 2010, May 3, 2010, October 22, 2010
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CORRESP 1 filename1.htm Correspondence Confidential Treatment of Portions of this Letter Has Been Requested by Bank of America Corporation Pursuant to 17 C.F.R. § 200.83. Asterisks denote such omissions. November 10, 2010 Mr. Hugh West Accounting Branch Chief United States Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Corporation Finance 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549 RE: Bank of America Corporation Form 10-K for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2009 Forms 10-Q for the Quarterly Periods Ended March 31, 2010 And June 30, 2010 File No.: 001-06523 Dear Mr. West: We have received and reviewed your letter dated October 22, 2010. The following are our responses to each of your comments and requests. For ease of reference, we have repeated the Staff’s comments. Our responses are intended to address the comments and questions raised by the Staff. We would be pleased to continue to work with the Staff in resolving any matter requiring further attention. Form 10-Q for Quarterly Period Ended June 30, 2010 Financial Statements Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements Note 6 – Outstanding Loans and Leases, page 30 1. We note your response to prior comment ten of our letter dated May 3, 2010. In your response, you clarified that your renegotiated loans are classified as TDRs. However, it is not clear from your disclosure on pages 31 – 32 that your renegotiated portfolio is classified similarly. For example, on page 31 you quantify the amount of performing and nonperforming TDRs; however it does not appear that your $14.1 billion renegotiated portfolio is included in these amounts. Please revise your future filings to clarify whether the loans in your renegotiated portfolio are classified as TDRs. To provide greater clarity around your TDR portfolio, please also consider disclosing your TDRs in a tabular format by loan type and accrual status. Response: In Note 6 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010, we have specifically stated that substantially all our renegotiated portfolio modifications are considered to be troubled debt restructurings (TDRs). In our financial statements included in filings prior to our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010, we have provided detailed disclosures relating to our renegotiated portfolio in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification 310-10 (FAS 114). In addition, we have specifically stated in our filings that credit card loans, both consumer and business (among other loan types) are excluded from our nonperforming loans and leases disclosures. We will continue to review our disclosures around TDRs in future filings and consider a tabular format to disclose TDRs by loan type and accrual status. The following are the specific disclosures included on page 31 of our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010 (changes are underlined); we will include similar disclosures in future filings, where appropriate. A loan is considered impaired when, based on current information and events, it is probable that the Corporation will be unable to collect all amounts due from the borrower in accordance with the contractual terms of the loan. Impaired loans include nonperforming commercial loans, performing commercial TDRs and both performing and nonperforming consumer real estate TDRs. As defined in applicable accounting guidance, impaired loans exclude smaller balance homogeneous loans that are collectively evaluated for impairment, all commercial leases and those commercial loans accounted for under the fair value option. Purchased credit-impaired loans are reported separately and discussed beginning on page 32. The Corporation seeks to assist customers that are experiencing financial difficulty by renegotiating credit card, consumer lending and small business loans (the renegotiated portfolio) while ensuring compliance with Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) guidelines. Substantially all renegotiated portfolio modifications are considered to be TDRs. The renegotiated portfolio may include modifications, both short- and long-term, of interest rates or payment amounts or a combination thereof. The Corporation makes loan modifications, primarily utilizing internal renegotiation programs via direct customer contact, that manage customers’ debt exposures held only by the Corporation. Additionally, the Corporation makes loan modifications with consumers who have elected to work with external renegotiation agencies and these modifications provide solutions to customers’ entire unsecured debt structures. Under both internal and external programs, customers receive reduced annual percentage rates with fixed payments that amortize loan balances over a 60-month period. Under both programs, for credit card loans, a customer’s charging privileges are revoked. Note 8 – Securitizations and Other Variable Interest Entities, page 34 2. We note your responses to comments two through five of our letter dated July 30, 2010 and the related disclosures on pages 40 – 41 related to your representations and warranties obligations. In an effort to provide greater transparency surrounding your representations and warranties exposure, please revise your future filings to disclose the following: a. Provide a tabular roll-forward of your representations and warranties obligation for each period presented, with clear disclosure about the types of claimants that are excluded from your accrual (e.g., certain monoline insurers, private label investors, and any other significant third parties not already disaggregated.); Response: In Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010, we have added a tabular roll-forward of our representations and warranties liability for each period presented. In addition to our existing disclosures regarding certain monoline insurers, we have added additional discussion related to our lack of meaningful repurchase experience for certain private-label securitizations. With the addition of the detailed roll-forward and added narrative, we now provide additional qualitative information regarding our repurchase experience with each of our three primary types of counterparties: government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), monolines, and whole loan / private-label securitization investors, including those for which we have established a liability for representations and warranties. The following table was included on page 40 in Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010; we will include similar disclosure in future filings, where appropriate. Three Months Ended September 30 Nine Months Ended September 30 (Dollars in millions) 2010 2009 2010 2009 Liability for representations and warranties, and corporate guarantees beginning of period $ 3,939 $ 3,442 $ 3,507 $ 2,271 Merrill Lynch acquisition — — — 580 Additions for new sales 6 12 22 29 Charge-offs (415 ) (359 ) (1,774 ) (721 ) Provision (1) 872 455 2,647 1,336 Other — 20 — 75 Liability for representations and warranties, and corporate guarantees September 30 $ 4,402 $ 3,570 $ 4,402 $ 3,570 (1) Recorded as representation and warranty expense in mortgage banking income. The following disclosures were included on page 40 in Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010 (changes are underlined); we will include similar disclosure in future filings, where appropriate. The Corporation and its subsidiaries have limited experience with private-label MBS repurchases as the number of recent repurchase requests received has been limited. The representations and warranties, as governed by the private-label securitizations, require that counterparties have the ability to both assert a claim and actually prove that a loan has an actionable defect under the applicable contracts. Although it is reasonably possible that a loss may have occurred, until the Corporation and its subsidiaries have meaningful repurchase experience with these counterparties, it is not possible to estimate future repurchase rates and any related loss or range of loss. A liability for representations and warranties has been established for monoline repurchase requests based upon valid identified loan defects and for repurchase requests that are in the process of review based on historical repurchase experience with a specific monoline to the extent such experience provides a reasonable basis on which to estimate incurred losses from repurchase activity. A liability has also been established related to repurchase requests subject to negotiation and unasserted requests to repurchase current and future defaulted loans where it is believed a more consistent repurchase experience with certain monolines has been established. For other monolines, in view of the inherent difficulty of predicting the outcome of those repurchase requests where a valid defect has not been identified or the inherent difficulty in predicting future claim requests and the related outcome in the case of unasserted requests to repurchase loans from the securitization trusts in which these monolines have insured all or some of the related bonds, the Corporation cannot reasonably estimate the eventual outcome. In addition, the timing of the ultimate resolution or the eventual loss, if any, related to those repurchase requests cannot be reasonably estimated. For the monolines, where sufficient, consistent repurchase experience has not been established, it is not possible to estimate the possible loss or a range of loss. Thus, a liability has not been established related to repurchase requests where a valid defect has not been identified, or in the case of any unasserted requests to repurchase loans from the securitization trusts in which such monolines have insured all or some of the related bonds. b. Provide a sensitivity analysis that illustrates how changes in significant assumptions would impact the amount of your recognized repurchase obligation; Response: In the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” (MD&A) on page 205 of our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010, we have expanded our disclosures of our critical accounting estimates related to our representations and warranties to include a sensitivity analysis. We applied a simultaneous increase or decrease of 10 percent to several key assumptions used in our methodology, including estimated future defaults, loss severity, and the net repurchase rate, which resulted in an increase or decrease of approximately $800 million in our representations and warranties liability. The following disclosures were included in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010 (changes are underlined); we will include similar disclosure in future filings, where appropriate. Representations and warranties expense may vary significantly each period as the methodology used to estimate the expense continues to be refined based on the level and type of repurchase requests presented, defects identified, the latest experience gained on repurchase requests and other relevant facts and circumstances. For those claims where we have established a representations and warranties liability as discussed on page 40 in Note 8 – Securitizations and Other Variable Interest Entities to the Consolidated Financial Statements, an assumed simultaneous increase or decrease of 10 percent in estimated future defaults, loss severity and the net repurchase rate would result in an increase or decrease of approximately $800 million in the representations and warranties liability as of September 30, 2010. These sensitivities are hypothetical and are intended to provide an indication of the impact of a significant change in these key assumptions on the representations and warranties liability. In reality, changes in one assumption may result in changes in other assumptions, which may or may not counteract the sensitivity. c. We note that you disclose the unpaid principal balance of loans for which the monolines requested loans files for review but for which no repurchase request has been received. If available, provide similar disclosure for GSEs and other purchasers; and Response: In Note 8 to our consolidated financial statements included in our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30. 2010, we have added a tabular disclosure of outstanding repurchase claims by type of counterparty and by product type. In addition, in the MD&A section “Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Contractual Obligations”, we have expanded the discussion regarding the current status of the outstanding repurchase requests for our three primary types of counterparties: GSEs, monoline insurers, and whole loan sales / private-label securitization investors. For each type of counterparty, we have summarized, as applicable, the amount of repurchase requests that have been resolved, the amount of repurchase requests that have been reviewed where it is believed a valid defect has not been identified which would constitute an actionable breach of representations and warranties, and the amount of repurchase claims that are in the process of review. The following disclosures were included in the MD&A section “Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Contractual Obligations” beginning on page 141 of our Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2010 (changes are underlined); we will include similar disclosure in future filings, where appropriate. For GSEs: From 2004 through 2008 Bank of America and Countrywide sold approximately $1.2 trillion of loans to the GSEs. Through September 30, 2010, we have received approximately $18.0 billion in repurchase claims associated with these vintages, representing approximately 1.5 percent of the loans sold to the GSEs in these vintages. We have successfully resolved $11.4 billion of these claims with a net loss experience of approximately 22 percent. For monoline insurers: Through September 30, 2010, legacy companies have sold approximately $180 billion of loans into these monoline-wrapped securitizations, including $75 billion of first-lien mortgages and $105 billion of second-lien mortgages. Of these balances, approximately one-third of the first-lien mortgages and 60 percent of the second-lien mortgages have paid off as of September 30, 2010. Of the first-lien mortgages sold, we estimate $38 billion were sold as whole loans to other institutions which subsequently included these loans with those of other originators in private-label securitization transactions in which the monolines typically insured one or more securities. Through September 30, 2010, we have received $4.8 billion of representations and warranties claims related to the monoline insured deals and approximately $550 million of such claims were resolved through repurchase or indemnification of the trust for the loss. At September 30, 2010, the unpaid principal balance of loans related to unresolved monoline repurchase requests was approximately $4.2 billion, including $2.7 billion that have been reviewed where it is believed a valid defect has not been identified which would constitute an actionable breach of representations and warranties and $1.5 billion that is in the process of review. For whole loan sales and private-label securitization investors: Our repurchase claims experience with this category of counterparties prior to 2004 is limited and the amount of the claims asserted is not significant. From 2004 through 2008 legacy Countrywide and to a lesser extent Bank of America, sold loans with a total principal balance of ap