Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the “big four” American banks along with JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citi. As of this writing, BofA is the second largest of the four in total assets and the third largest by market capitalization. Bank of America has over 5000 branches across the United States.
Unlike Wells Fargo, Bank of America was not a large reverse mortgage lender until the late 2000s. Although BofA originated its first home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) in 1994, by the end of 2007 it had only originated 487 total loans. However, in June 2007 the company purchased Reverse Mortgage of America, the reverse mortgage arm of the Seattle Mortgage Company.
At the time, the Seattle Mortgage Co was the fifth largest HECM lender in the United States, giving Bank of America an excellent starting point. By 2008, BofA controlled over 4% of the HECM market. By 2010, this number had increased to over 10%, as shown in the chart below. BofA was an even more dominant player within the wholesale market.
Bank of America Origination Data
| Year | Loans | Market Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 1 | 0.03% |
| 1995 | 3 | 0.07% |
| 2007 | 483 | 0.45% |
| 2008 | 4,768 | 4.14% |
| 2009 | 9,035 | 8.37% |
| 2010 | 7,410 | 10.19% |
| 2011 | 3,485 | 5.08% |
| 2012 | 1 | <0.01% |
However, in February of 2011 decided to exit the reverse mortgage business. Wells Fargo and MetLife stopped originating reverse mortgages that year as well, leaving room for smaller non-bank institutions, most of which only originate HECM loans. Although BofA is no longer a reverse mortgage lender, the bank still ranks fifth all time in total originations.
Countrywide Bank Reverse Mortgages
In one of the most infamous acquisitions in the history of American business, Bank of America purchased Countrywide Financial in January 2008. It’s worth noting that Countrywide also began originating reverse mortgages in 2007, with the goal to “dominate the reverse mortgage industry“. As you can see from the table below, the company did in fact become a major player in virtually no time at all:
| Year | Loans | Market Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 1,114 | 1% |
| 2008 | 3,907 | 3.4% |
| 2009 | 1,129 | 1% |
| 2010 | 1 | < 0.01% |
Although it was only active for four years, Countrywide’s more than 6000 total originations is still the 19th most in the history of the home equity conversion mortgage. If you add up all of the originations from Countrywide, Seattle Mortgage Co, and BofA, you end up with over 45,000 originations, a number that would be in the top 4 of all time to this day.
Where to Go for Help
If you found this page as an existing customer of Bank of America or Countrywide Financial, we recommend calling BofA Home Loans customer support at (800)763-5242.
