CNN's Velshi criticized for loan modification story

Bank of America is upset with CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi, who reported recently about a Philadelphia-area man who received a modified loan that kept him in his house, reports Jeff Blumenthal of the Philadelphia Business Journal.

“Michael McKeever of Goldbeck McCafferty & McKeever, Bank of America’s law firm in the matter, said the CNN piece was ‘less than honest’ about the Flannery case, saying the story reinforces ‘the victim mentality that we see with these cases.’

“Velshi, though, said that he tried to reach out to both McKeever and Bank of America for months to get their side of the story and both declined comment. He also said that neither responded to Flannery’s attempts to resolve the matter for months.

“‘So to say that Brendan Flannery was the uncommunicative one is not fair,’ Velshi said. ‘It was more of the story that Bank of America [was] being uncommunicative.’

“Velshi said his reporting led him to conclude that banks like Bank of America do not have the staffing to follow up with people like Flannery when they try to resolve the problem. He was careful to point out that he did not think Bank of America had done anything nefarious in the Flannery case but rather was not equipped to deal with his inquiries.”