Nevada sues Bank of America

Arizona and Nevada state governments last week sued Bank of America over its home loan practices.

Arizona accused the corporation of violating a 2009 consent judgment with the state in which it promised home loan modifications. The state accuses BofA of failing to do so and also of. state consumer fraud violations.

The Nevada suit charges BofA with deceiving borrowers about when it would act on modification requests. The state’s filing also says the bank falsely promised mortgagees they would not be foreclosed upon until modification requests were resolved, and told some mortgagees they were in default when they were not.

“Nevadans who were trying desperately to save their homes were unable to get truthful information in order to make critical life decisions,” said Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

Both states seek fines. Nevada has the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, followed by Arizona. Bank of America has about a fifth of the nation’s mortgage market.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sent out a flurry of subpoenas last week to Bank of America and four other corporations as part of its ongoing investigation of the mortgage industry.