In an effort to streamline their processing of a half-million short sales, Bank of America has announced that all short sales must now be processed through the Equator online transaction manager regardless of the file’s proximity to approval. Effective March 1, 2010, all properties secured by a Bank of America loan must be uploaded electronically. No existing short sale reviews will be grandfathered in. All files, regardless of the stage, will have to be resubmitted and assigned to a new negotiator.
Historically, Equator is a software platform which has been used to track matters related to depressed properties. Traditionally, asset managers and realtors use Equator to list and sell REO properties. Other vendors such as title companies and eviction attorneys use it to assist in relocating the occupants of REO properties.
Bank of America believes that Equator will “streamline” and expedite short sale negotiations by uploading the necessary documents to save time. However, the uploading process takes as much time, on average, as faxing. More importantly, it still takes several weeks for Bank of America to open the file and assign a negotiator.
What this will mean for many of our clients is that the entire short sale package must be resubmitted through the Equator system and the timeframes for processing will have to start over. Due to the particularity of the program, Black & LoBello may be forced to request additional or supplemental documentation from all parties involved in the transaction. Additionally, the short seller is now required to obtain login information before any financial data can be uploaded to the system. Once you have obtained your login information, please forward the login, temporary password, and security question to your processor so that we may make the proper submissions on your behalf.
Black & LoBello apologizes in advance for the inconveniences Bank of America’s decision will cause our clients.
Tisha Black Chernine, Esq.
