Bank of America executives said that government pressure to write off tens of billions of dollars of mortgage debt was unworkable and warned that it would be unfair to borrowers who had managed to stay current on their loans, according to an article by Nelson D. Schwartz in today's edition of The New York Times.

The article said that Brian T. Moynihan, the chief executive of the bank, declared that "there's a core problem that if you start to help certain people and don't help other people, it's going to be very hard to explain the difference," adding that "our duty is to have a fair modification process."

His comments came at a meeting with investors and analysts in New York. Bank executives said that the number of successful modifications is on the rise and that more than 800,000 mortgages have been modified in the last three years.

The article quoted Terry Laughlin, the bank's executive who handles mortgages that are delinquent or in default as stating that writing down billions of principal now could actually retard the recovery by encouraging borrowers: "It's not that we don't want to help troubled borrowers...It's a moral hazard issue."

According to an article by Mark DeCambre in today's edition of The New York Post, the bank "will separate some 6.7 million souring mortgages - many of which it inherited from the acquisition of Countrywide Financial - and place them in a 'bad bank' with an eye towards selling them over the next three years."

The toxic loans which have an outstanding principal balance of $1 trillion, present about half of the bank's 13.9 million mortgage portfolio," the article said, adding that its decision to split its mortgage business up is driven in part by the hope that it will allow investors to more favorably value the better performing aspects of its business."