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Posted by: kwflatbed

Orange County Dep. Adam Pierce, left, Sheriff Kevin Beary and Floyd Robinson, Bank of America's president of consumer real estate and insurance services, listen as Ed Timberlake, Bank of America's senior VP and Florida market president, speaks during a news conference to announce the new Neighborhood Champions Protected Mortgage program, which provides free mortgage insurance for teachers, police officers, firefighters and medical workers, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

Jerry W. Jackson
Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. — When Orange County Deputy Sheriff Adam Pierce was shot and paralyzed two years ago, one of the many things he worried about was whether he would lose the home he was buying in Ocoee.
On Tuesday, Bank of America executives announced in Orlando that they have added mortgage-protection insurance to the nationwide home-loan program that targets police officers, firefighters, teachers and certain other professions, adding another level of security for borrowers such as Pierce.
"This program is going to be a great asset," Pierce said from his wheelchair during the announcement by Floyd Robinson, Bank of America's president of consumer real estate and insurance services, and Ed Timberlake, Bank of America's Central Florida president.
Pierce, now 27, did not have mortgage-protection insurance when he was injured in the line of duty in 2005. His aunt, Vicki Sikorski of Orlando, wrote to Bank of America executives at the company's Charlotte, N.C., headquarters, asking if something could be done to help. Bank officials paid off the $200,000 mortgage for the family home in which Pierce grew up and which he was in the process of buying from his father. They also began crafting a plan to include mortgage protection with all of the bank's "Neighborhood Champions" mortgage loans.
The loan program, launched for teachers in 1999, was expanded in 2004 to include police, firefighters, educators, nurses and certain other medical professionals. It was then renamed the Neighborhood Champions mortgage program. Robinson said that all of the existing 8,000 loans under the program have had the mortgage insurance added, at no additional cost to the homeowners, and all future loans in the program also will have the coverage.
The accidental-death-and-dismemberment policies are written by Minnesota Life Insurance Co., with the premiums paid by Bank of America. Consumers can opt out of the coverage, but doing so does not reduce the mortgage premiums, according to details the bank provided Tuesday. Robinson said the bank is absorbing costs of the program. "We're comfortable with them," he said.
Mortgage-protection insurance, which has been around for years, is a type of consumer-credit coverage that people ultimately pay for one way or another, said Richard Peek Jr., vice president of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers.
"They are not a philanthropic organization," Peek said of Bank of America. Peek, executive vice president of Stockton Turner LLC, a mortgage brokerage based in Maitland, said Bank of America's mortgage rates are not always the lowest, and consumers might be better off with a loan at a lower rate from another lender and with other insurance products, if they're deemed necessary.
Stanley D. Smith, finance professor and holder of the SunTrust Chair of Banking at the University of Central Florida, said it would be difficult for a consumer to tell if a lender is "charging me a higher price, and imbedding it into the mortgage." But such credit insurance, he noted, is a form of "declining term" coverage, because it pays some or all of a mortgage debt that declines over time.
Bank of America representatives said the loan program is generally designed for first-time buyers, who typically have higher mortgage rates anyway because of their lack of credit history and little or no down-payment money. The insurance is a good deal for them, Timberlake said, because it covers both the primary borrower and a second person on the loan, such as a spouse, and no qualifying based on health is necessary.

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Posted by: justanotherparatrooper

AWESOME, now if theyd quit supporting illegal aliens .....ya know the guys that commit crimes.

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Posted by: NewEngland2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by justanotherparatrooper AWESOME, now if theyd quit supporting illegal aliens .....ya know the guys that commit crimes.

Too funny - was just thinking "BOA: the bank of the illegal alien"

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