Bank of America Flips 180 Degrees on $6 Billion Bad Mortgage Hit

Bank of America Flips 180 Degrees on $6 Billion Bad Mortgage Hit (Bloomberg)

Just as the economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots is rising in the United States, so too is the profitability gap within the banking industry. And this morning, Bank of America (BAC) provided a great example of just how quickly a bank can go from “have” to “have not.” Just last year, the company’s first quarter profit was $1.48 billion, or 10 cents a share profit. BAC’s loss for the just-completed first quarter was $276 million, or 5 cents a share. BAC’s struggles began seriously about five years ago, with its acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp and that bank’s portfolio of bad mortgages. If you’ve been considering taking the plunge into U.S. financials, you may want to consider players like Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the nation’s #1 home lending institution (up 14 percent in Q1), or Citigroup, Inc. (C), up 3.5 percent year-to-date.