Bank of America Announces New Initiative for Accessible Mortgage Documents

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This is a press release issued by Bank of America. It announces that the bank has begun to make its online mortgage documents accessible.  It will also provide other formats when needed. Bank of America has been a champion of accessibility for blind customers for many years. This agreement was reached in Structured Negotiation. The bank worked with blind mortgage holder Jessie Lorenz, and no lawsuit was needed. Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian are the lawyers who worked with Jessie and the bank on this effort. [Back to press release]

mortgage document with keys resting on it

Congratulations Bank of America! The press release posted here announces Bank of America’s commitment to improving the accessibility and usability of mortgage documents for customers who are blind. The bank will continue to use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA as its accessibility standard for its web and mobile content. The release is the result of a ground-breaking agreement reached in Structured Negotiation; no lawsuit was needed or filed. The Law Office of Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian, of the Oakland civil rights firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian and Ho represented Bank of America mortgage holder Jessie Lorenz in the negotiation. Today’s announcement reflects Bank of America’s ongoing commitment to its blind customers, begun more than fifteen years ago when the bank assumed a leadership position in rolling out Talking ATMs and making its online banking platform accessible. Visit the Bank of America Accessibility topic on this website for links to earlier press releases and settlement agreements demonstrating the bank’s accessibility commitment.

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Bank of America Enhances Accessibility of Mortgage Documents

Improvements Continue the Bank’s Commitment to Digital Access for All Customers

CHARLOTTE – (May 4, 2016) Bank of America announced today that it has begun an initiative to enhance the accessibility of its online mortgage documents for visually impaired customers. The bank worked with Jessie Lorenz, a visually impaired customer, on the project.

Bank of America will continue to use Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA as the standard for ensuring that the content, features and services of its web pages and documents for mortgage holders are accessible to all site users, including people who are blind or visually impaired.

Bank of America has been a wonderful partner with the blind community for over two decades. Getting my mortgage information in a format I can read independently is critical to my ability to manage my finances. I congratulate Bank of America on this landmark initiative and encourage all financial institutions to follow the bank’s leadership role.Jessie Lorenz, Bank of America mortgage holder

Today’s announcement continues Bank of America’s long-standing commitment to customers with visual impairments. The company was the first to work with the blind community on a website accessibility initiative and to agree to a national talking ATM installation plan. In 2010, Bank of America announced that every ATM in its fleet was upgraded to deliver private, spoken instructions through a headset plugged into an audio jack in order to provide independent accessibility to people who cannot see an ATM screen.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 47 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 4,700 retail financial centers, approximately 16,000 ATMs, and award-winning online banking with approximately 33 million active users and approximately 20 million mobile users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Visit the Bank of America newsroom for more Bank of America news.

Reporters May Contact

Terry Francisco, Bank of America, 1.213.345.9024
terry.h.francisco [at] bankofamerica.com