LOS ANGELES — Bank of America Corp. was close to finalizing a deal late Tuesday that calls for the lender to pay $8.5 billion to settle claims from a group of investors who bought mortgage-backed securities from the lender, according to a person familiar with the settlement talks.

The Charlotte, N.C., bank was nearing an agreement with the investor group and was expected to announce a done deal as early as today, the person said on condition of anonymity because the matter was still developing.

Calls to a Bank of America spokesman were not immediately returned.

The investors, which include the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Blackrock Financial Management, have been pressing the lender for almost a year to buy back defaulted mortgages made by its Countrywide unit.

The Fed is involved because it took over assets held by American International Group Inc., which faltered under the weight of bad home loans.

Bank of America acquired Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008.

Should it stand, the proposed payout goes well beyond other settlement deals entered into by the bank to resolve mortgage buyback disputes.

In January, the lender paid $2.6 billion as part of an agreement to settle buyback claims on home loans it sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.