Bank halts work with ACORN arm

WASHINGTON -- Bank of America Corp. is suspending its work with the housing affiliate of the embattled community organizing group ACORN.

The decision comes as three Republicans in Congress ask Bank of America and 13 other financial institutions to give Congress a complete accounting of their dealings with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or its affiliates.

In a statement, Charlotte-based Bank of America said it would not enter into any further agreements with ACORN Housing Corp. until the bank is satisfied all issues have been resolved. ACORN Housing Corp. and Bank of America have worked together for years on mortgage foreclosure issues.

"We completely understand why our lending partners like Bank of America want assurances that the recent allegations against us won't happen again," ACORN Housing Corp. said. "We are taking a number of steps to ensure this, including providing ethics training to all of our staff."

Employees of ACORN, long a target of conservative critics, were caught on videotape recently giving advice to a woman posing as a prostitute and to a man posing as her pimp about cheating on taxes and operating a brothel with underage immigrant girls.