The time is nigh for Bank of America’s mortgage reckoning

You’re up next, Bank of America.

As Citigroup nears a deal that could see the bank resolve its lingering US mortgage problems for about $7 billion, according to the New York Times, the focus may soon turn to BofA and its boss, Brian Moynihan. Recent talks between the bank and US Attorney General Eric Holder had been hot and heavy weeks ago, until an impasse amid reports indicating that BofA may be on the hook for a whopping $12-billion penalty.

But a resolution of Citi’s problems (at $3 billion less than previously rumored) may bode well for BofA, which has been struggling to dispatch the mortgage baggage that came with its crisis-era acquisitions of the home lending giant Countrywide Financial and the investment bank Merrill Lynch. More than any other bank, BofA has been tarred by the mortgage crisis, and it has already rung up more than $50 billion in legal expenses, according to the bank’s public filings.