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The Charlotte company is expected to announce today that it has acquired Framework, Inc., a Tarrytown, NY vendor of loan origination technology. Though Bank of America Corp. is in cost-cutting mode, growth remains the operative word at its home mortgage business. The Charlotte company is expected to announce today that it has acquired Framework Inc., a Tarrytown, N.Y., vendor of loan origination technology. Neither side would say how much the deal was worth, but a person familiar with it put the price in the neighborhood of $50 million, roughly two and a half times Framework's revenue last year. The deal, which closed on Jan. 29, highlights the bullishness in the mortgage business. Bank of America began using Framework's technology in March and says it has helped boost origination and cross-selling volume and reduce costs. By buying the vendor, it has gained an additional source of mortgage-related income - origination software license fees - which it expects will grow as other lenders look to technology to help reduce costs. "We're a pretty tough customer," Kevin Shannon, Bank of America's president of consumer real estate, said in an interview Wednesday. "If they can please us," then other lenders have good reason to sign up for the software. Aside from Bank of America, Framework has only one client - Washington Mutual Inc. of Seattle, the No. 2 originator. The vendor turned profitable last year, earning approximately $5 million, the source said. Dan McClure, its founder and chief executive, said that he wants to sell the platform to the rest of the top 20 originators and that B of A's deeper pockets will help him achieve this goal. "Bank of America is committed to accelerating our growth as well as helping us with expansion opportunities," and that commitment includes "investment in growing our new product areas when we need the money," he said. Mr. Shannon said that Framework will operate as a separate subsidiary and retain its name and its 90 employees. He also said that Rudy Medina, a business strategy executive in B of A's consumer real estate division, who reports to Mr. Shannon, will become the chairman of Framework's board, but otherwise the unit will be kept at "arm's length" from the parent. Alenka Grealish, a senior analyst with Celent Communications LLC, a Boston financial technology research firm, said the purchase of a technology provider by a major banking company raises an inevitable question: "How open are competing companies to using the systems provided" by acquired vendors? Mr. McClure said that potential Framework clients need not worry about conflicts of interest, because it configures its software for each client and keeps those custom settings confidential. Twenty of its employees are located in Charlotte and serve only B of A, while another 20 in Irvine, Calif., are dedicated to Wamu, he said.