Bank of America Sold Card Debts to Collectors Despite Faulty Records

In a series of 2009 and 2010 transactions, Bank of America sold credit card receivables to an outfit called CACH LLC, based in Denver. Co. Each month CACH bought debts with a face value of as much as $65 million for 1.8 cents on the dollar. At least a portion of the debts were legacy accounts acquired from MBNA, which Bank of America purchased in 2006.

The pricing reflected the accounts’ questionable quality, but what is notable is that the bank could get anything at all for them. B of A was not making “any representations, warranties, promises, covenants, agreements, or guaranties of any kind or character whatsoever” about the accuracy or completeness of the debts’ records, according to a 2010 credit card sales agreement submitted to a California state court in a civil suit involving debt that B of A had sold to CACH.

In the “as is” documents Bank of America has drawn up for such sales, it warned that it would initially provide no records to support the amounts it said are owed and might be unable to produce them. It also stated that some of the claims it sold might already have been extinguished in bankruptcy court. B of A has additionally cautioned that it might be selling loans whose balances are “approximate” or that consumers have already paid back in full. Maryland resident Karen Stevens was the victim of one such sale, which resulted in a three-year legal battle (see related story).

Some industry observers said that the language in Bank of America’s sales documents should be regarded as standard legalese intended to protect it against a disgruntled buyer’s legal claims. And even though Bank of America refused to stand behind the accuracy of the records it sold, debt buyers are the ones who make the call to sue.

“The buyer has the primary responsibility to test the … quality of what they’re buying,” says Samuel Golden, a former OCC ombudsman who is a managing director at consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal in Houston, Texas.

Collectors’ responsibilities aside, other banks’ sales agreements suggest Bank of America’s standards are emblematic of wider industry practice that raises risk management concerns. For less than $1.2 million a month — a rounding error on B of A’s income statement — the company sold CACH accounts that raise regulatory and reputation questions about the accuracy of its records and its disclosures to courts.

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Bank of America Sold Card Debts to Collectors Despite Faulty Records