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BofA is the worst. Terrible experience.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- Bank of America has been the worst bank I have even encountered. They pre-approved a client of mines for an amount she didn't qualify for, setting up the client for failure, and loosing her deposit. The loan officer who was handling the file pre approved my client for an amount based on her tax returns and pay statements. She put in an offer, got her offer accepted and went through all the process. Paid for a home inspection, they made her order an appraisal and also made her get an insurance binder for the property. Everything was going smooth until it was a couple of weeks before closing. Then the nightmare and games started. They kept delaying everything, my client and my self was trying to call and email the loan officer daily. He started ignoring everyone and would not provide a concrete answer. My client then reached out to the loan processor who kept giving my client a bunch of excuses. She even said once that the underwriter called out sick and that they won't be able to give my client an answer for a few more days. It's ludicrous that a big bank like BofA has only one underwriter handling all the files. They made my client run around getting paper work that the loan officer never sent to the loan processor. When she sent in the paper work then underwriters would say they can't accept it. My client is an independent contractor and has no employer who could verify her employment and income. I would imagine that a bank would use common sense and look at the tax returns, pay statements to verify a customers employment. It got to the point that the seller of the house refused to sign any extensions because BofA was always taking forever to reply back and give us a concrete answer. We informed them that the house went back on the market and that we were way behind on the deadlines. They didn't care at all, instead of expediting the file they just kept on adding days, weeks of delays. My client sent them a letter they requested and the loan officer told my client it would take up to 5 days to review the letter. Absolutely ridiculous, why would it take 5 days to review a letter? Knowing that the file was way behind. It got to the point that my client started requesting something, either a commitment letter of a letter of denial. The loan processor kept ignoring her request and kept on asking for more paperwork which my client had already sent to them. It's almost like they figured they made a mistake and they were trying to stall things and find a way to deny the loan. After almost 3 weeks they finally decided to deny the loan saying that my client had too much debt which she does not and that they could not verify her income, which was all on paper on her tax returns. My client is so stressed out from this ordeal that she has given up the idea of buying a home and also faces loosing her deposit due to BofA's mistake. I would not wish this type of thing to happen to anyone, thus I would suggest anyone who's thinking about buying a home to stay away from BofA. They will make your life a misery. They are a big corporation which does not care if you end up getting screwed at the end. Try to get pre-approved from lenders which deals with mortgages only, stay away from BofA. They are the worst.

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I Feel Like Burning Down My House to Get Away From This Bank!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

TAMPA, FLORIDA -- My husband and I refinanced our home loan with Countrywide (circa 2005), which was subsequently taken over by B of A. I do not recall issues initially with B of A. During the recession, as business owners, we suffered a huge hit to our income and could not make our mortgage payments. The loan was then transferred to Bayview Loan Servicing (with whom I have absolutely no issues and to whom I am forever grateful for approving the modification).

My husband and I separated, and having lost everything else, I was determined to not also lose the only thing I had left, which was my home (and my dog). He agreed to help with income verification, and after 2 long years of being rejected and filing endless paperwork, the modification was approved and on my own, I made the trial payments, then continued paying on time for about a year and a half, when I was informed my loan was going back to B of A. Sad day, indeed.

The notification letter did not state a loan payment amount, so I stupidly figured that the payment would be the same and that is what I paid, on time. The following month, my statement listed the payment amount as what I had been paying to Bayview, so again, I stupidly think everything is good, and I paid on time.

The third month with B of A, I get a statement which increases my monthly payment over $1100/month. Upon calling to find out why, I am told I have an escrow shortage. I disclosed that I don't have an extra $1100 a month to pay, or why would I do the modification in the first place if I don't need a reduced payment amount. And again questioned why this shortage.

After all, when I checked my escrow liability, I determined it had increased under $200/month for the next year. I told the representative I would be paying the original payment amount until some satisfactory explanation and proof was presented to me that I owed over $1100/month additional on my payment. And, further, I asked why there were no options offered to pay this supposed shortage. I was told B of A doesn't have options.

The 4th month, B of A again asked for this ridiculous increase but I paid the original amount because they still had no resolution for me. The 5th month, I did not receive a statement but a notice stating that my new payment had decreased over $700/month, making it about $365/month more than what my original payment was. This was still a shock to me and my finances, but obviously more palatable than an $1100 increase.

So the 6th month, I paid that amount even though my statement stated that my regular payment read that that lowered payment had never happened. For the 6th month, I was given 2 different payments. One, the $1100 additional amount, and the 2nd was a "new" payment that dropped back down to about $300/month over my original payment that I had had with Bayview. During all this nonsense (which is putting it lightly), B of A paid my insurance, which had already been paid by Bayview and it was clearly stated in the records B of A received.

I discovered this on my own and asked my insurance company for a refund, which I marched right into my B of A branch with my loan number and instructions to apply it to the Escrow Account. Next I had researched the existing year (2018) and following year (2019) for increases in taxes and insurance, and as mentioned earlier, the total monthly obligation amounted to less than $200/month. During all my endless phone calls, and after the insurance duplication had been credited back to escrow, I was told that my escrow account was still short by about $4700.

This is another longer story that I can't even go into here, but suffice to say that Bayview had identified the same shortage and had adjusted for that by giving me a 60-month payment increase to cover that, which is what I had been paying. Because the 2 banks could not (or would not) talk to each other, this is something I have never been able to resolve. It would seem that my monthly payment had taken into account this shortage. But stupid me what do I know.

At this point, I felt so defeated. My credit score had plunged because B of A wasn't crediting the on time payments I was making. I felt I had no option but to scrape up from every source I had, money to give them every last cent I had managed to save, draining every account to 0 and giving them the $4700. They do note that they received that. But they do not note that they themselves dropped my payment down and are still asking for a higher payment.

I have spent hours on the phone, being transferred to people who do not help. I was told I had a dedicated representative who would help me with the escrow account, then when I called a subsequent time and asked to be transferred to a supervisor, she told me there is no such thing as a dedicated representative but she did tell me she is highly experienced and that she will help me. For about 5 minutes I believed that.

By the end of the call her form of help is to tell me that if I were making the correct payment I would not be in pre-foreclosure and that she could help me by getting me to "workout" where they may be able to lower my payment for up to 6 months if I provide them a wheelbarrow full of paperwork and if I then qualify. I told her I do not want a workout, I want my escrow account corrected and I would sooner burn my house down and be done with B of A. Then I hung up on her. I prayed about it and came to the conclusion after a few days that I just needed to start out with printing out every piece of paper they had issued to me since obtaining my loan.

Unfortunately (stupid me who has been a business owner way too long to not document phone calls) I did not document phone calls. I took all the paperwork and created an Excel spreadsheet of dates, amounts I paid, amounts asked for, and what B of A stated was my "regular" payment, with notes on each line. After summing up what I paid and what they actually had changed my payments to each month (that they kept denying happened), I have ended up overpaying my mortgage in these 6 months by just under $150!!! Can you believe that? And they are ready to begin foreclosure.

Somehow, I feel victorious after creating my ammunition for my case with them, and I WILL get this resolved. B of A is a huge Medusa with so many snakes coming out of its head and none of them having any idea of what any of the rest of them are doing. And they're all evil. I am old enough to have experienced many business takeovers. I could write another review of DirecTV. Who began by giving what I would rate as A+ customer service. Then they were taken over by AT & T and that CS, while not actually what I would term as horrible, has diminished greatly. Then there was Nextel. Wow! In my estimation, again A+ customer service. Taken over by Verizon, and what can I say further. Not horrible, but not good either.

My observation is that large corporations just provide "corporate bullshit". They are too big. They are too concerned with executive compensations and how they fuel them. Give me a small local business any day. Personally, I bank with a credit union because fees are low to none, they know me when I come in, I don't even have deposit slips and they know where my money goes. Come to think of it, I must write them a glowing review. Unfortunately, the only glowing review for B of A will be if you see flames rising from my house.

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Leaving Bank of America Not Looking Back
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

I had an absolutely horrible experience getting my home loan from Bank of America. It was the worst customer service ever. I could write a novel about the agony but I will try to condense it to meet this format. Needless to say I am moving my banking elsewhere and I know they will sell my home loan probably before I make my first payment, so at least I will never have to deal with them again.

We had a 60 day closing. That is twice as long as a “regular” 30 day closing. We did not close until yesterday, day 69, at 6:30 PM (even though the original time scheduled for the closing appointment was 3 PM – they even hardcore stumbled at the finish line) following the issuance of two closing extensions to our seller.

Our loan officer was incompetent to say the least. During our 60 day closing, it came to light that he did close to nothing. I sent him numerous documents multiple times – via email and posting to the online mortgage portal – that following our closing date he claimed never to have received. Even though I have a thorough email record to document that some items were sent to him four and five times!

Our case was escalated to a sales manager on Monday 5/9 (our original closing date) as our loan officer called us the Friday before – 5/6 – basically saying “there is no way the loan is going to close on time”, even though he had never given any indication that he was even behind up to that point. I called him literally every day that week (again, I have phone records) and he screened my calls, emails, and texts, failing to contact me in any way until approximately 2 PM that Friday afternoon. That weekend we went out of town for a trip and it was basically ruined because we were frantically calling Bank of America trying to get a manager on our case. As mentioned, no one contacted us back until Monday.

When the sales manager took our case it was revealed that we had never been charged for our appraisal, which I had obviously noticed, even though I provided my Bank of America credit card information to the loan officer twice. I can't even mention all the things the sales manager had to do that should have been done weeks or months before. One that comes to mind is that they did not have our 2015 tax transcript from the IRS, even though 2013 and 2014 had been successfully obtained. Why didn't they order them all at the same time, even though we signed the 4506-T for all of them? I don't know. But I found out about it on Friday afternoon 5/13 and called the IRS myself, waiting on hold for 3 hours, obtaining it myself. The bank told me they had ordered it Friday morning and it takes “24 to 48 hours to get back” and no way was I waiting that long for them to do something they already had 60+ days to do.

The stumbling block at the closing was that the bank's closer hadn't sent the final purchase documents to the title officer. I had to scramble communicating with both parties myself to help get it resolved. I did not have the amount needed for the cashier's check until literally 4 PM (the time Bank of America closes) the day of my 3 PM closing. After that it was revealed at the closing table that Bank of America made the closing documents for the wrong amount. They did not include a $3,000 seller credit that they were supposed to. As we were literally signing documents we had to wait again for Bank of America to resend them and give us our $3,000 back.

If you are getting a home loan, go literally anywhere else. Do not use Bank of America. They are terrible. Buying a home is supposed to be at least a little bit enjoyable and I am really just glad it is over.

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Double-checked us into homelessness
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SARASOTA, FLORIDA -- We asked Bank of America to double-check whether or not they loan on properties in a specific location. The loan officer went to his supervisor, Lawson England, who said, "yes we loan on Little Gasparilla Island". We moved forward under contract with the property as well as with our current home. When we updated the loan officer a couple of weeks later so he could put everything into motion, I was contacted the next day with "so sorry but we do not loan on LGI".

WHAT?????

I specifically asked this to be double-checked. We know the routine and are not foolish enough to not get things double-checked. Mr. England failed to do his job and this was unquestionably out of laziness. Had he done his job as requested then he would have been able to tell us that, "no we do not lend on LGI" and we would not have moved forward with either property until securing other financing. He continued pointing at the "fine print", whilst failing to recognize that his failure came before the fine print. He also attempted to divert blame by stating that other lenders will not lend on LGI either, however, this is again not the point. We asked them to double-check and they did with the response that "yes, they loan on LGI".

Mr. England now wants to spin this all on us and is doing so in a very arrogant manner. His responses have been extremely unprofessional for someone in his position. We asked for confirmation and he did not do his job for us. I guess I should have known he wasn't actually working for us. Instead of saying, "you should have done this and shouldn't have done that" he should have been professional and said, "yeah I screwed up and this is what we will do to make it right". I'm really upset that I've paid them so much in interest over the years on my current mortgage.

Instead he laughed at my wife when she said we'd be homeless in two weeks. He did not apologize one time but instead an absurd level or arrogance was spewed from his end of the phone.

I am confident that had BoA not made this enormous error over a month ago that we would be near closing with another lender at this point and not facing homelessness. This is on their heads. It is time to Lawson England at Bank of America to man up and be the professional he claims to be. Do the right thing and fine an appropriate way to make it up to us.

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Ignore the Customer and They'll Go away... I Hope
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS -- My experience with Bank of America has been a nightmare. Recently we tried to take advantage of the low interest rates and refinance our mortgage with Bank of America. They already have all of our information as they are the company that currently has our home loan. After filling out the application and being approved, I asked the agent how long the process would take and was told that I could expect 2-3 weeks on average. I am a pretty patient person so I check up regularly for about 4 weeks and keep getting told that "it should only be a few more days".

After nearly 8 weeks, I am getting frustrated and am calling more often to get some answers to which I get the "I only have a few more things and it should be 24-48 hours." By almost 3 months, I've given up and started to look for another company to take our business to. Then I get a call asking to re-pull our credit report because it has expired and they can't close our loan without our permission to pull the credit.

By this time, I have been referred to another company and have started talking to them about getting our loan moved to them. I tell Bank of America that I will NOT let them re-pull our credit. Then the loan officer calls me and is furious and basically yelling at me telling me that I have "no choice" and that "I HAVE to let him re-pull our credit TODAY". I calmly tell him that I do have a choice and that I would like to talk to my wife regarding if we are going to cancel the loan (and pay the non-refundable items) and I would be back with him, to which he replied "fine, I'm going to cancel your loan".

I told him that I did not ask him to cancel it but I would like to talk to my wife. Then he told me "if you don't call me back before 5 o'clock today, I'll just cancel your loan". I told him I'd get back to him, and after speaking with my wife, I called and canceled the loan on a Monday afternoon.

We start the new loan process with the new company and after they get our credit report, we are asked to explain a few items on the credit report, one being an inquiry by Bank of America AFTER I told three separate people NOT to pull our credit report. I call the credit agency to get the inquiry removed and they say that I need a letter from Bank of America explaining the situation to get it removed. I call our agent to request the letter and do not get a response so I try the other contact information for all of the people at the office (email/other phone #) with no response.

So I contact the manager for the area and tell her the situation. She tells me that "she will get to the bottom of this" and "I will call you back before 12:30 tomorrow to let you know what I find out". 12:30 the next day comes and goes and I never get a call back so I call and leave messages for the manager and send an email and never get a response.

Now I am very angry that a complaint like this just becomes ignored so I call her boss who is the Senior VP for the area and leave a message to call me back because I am having an issue and leave my cell phone #. A few days later, I get a message from him on my home phone saying that I can "feel free to contact him anytime". Since then I have left four separate messages with no response.

I guess that they feel like if you have a problem and they ignore you long enough you will just go away. This is the worst way to handle customers and I am glad for sites like this where the consumers can let others know to avoid companies that do business like this. I plan on moving/canceling everything that we have with Bank of America, and spreading the word locally and online that Bank of America will not only take forever to help you, they will also yell at you if you try and leave, and will ignore you if you have a problem. Don't use Bank of America if you value your time or sanity.

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Bank of America's Home Loan Modification Process Is a Nightmare
By -

I am a self-supporting 64-year old single woman and I own condo in South Florida. In the last two years my equity disappeared until I was seriously "upside down." Since my debt-to-income ratio also suffered, I was excited when I read that Bank of America offered a Home Loan Modification Program which I might qualify for.

After completing an online form, I was sent an initial package of paperwork. It took some time and effort to get all of the required documents, but I sent them back. BOA replied with a package offering temporarily lowered payments (reduced by about $70 a month). Although this was a disappointingly small reduction, I was happy to get anything.

For the next eight months I continued to make the lowered payments, even though the 6-month trial had ended. Each month I spoke to a different customer service representative when I made my payment. I asked them if everything was OK. That's when things got strange. One month a representative told me that my original documents had been shredded because I didn't put my loan number on each page of documents I'd originally sent to them. She told me I had to resend everything, which I did.

The following month I made a payment, checked my status, and was told again that my new documents had been shredded because my account manager must have left the department, so they routinely shredded documents, "for privacy reasons". I faxed them again. The representative then proceeded to charge me a pay-by-phone fee in error and told me it would be credited back. It was not.

The next month I finally got a call from an account manager who told me he needed still another document. After some work and research, I got the document. Many phone calls and some time later, the information was in the hands of a man who assured me everything was proceeding on schedule. A week later I got a letter advising that I need to enter credit counselling as a condition of the reduction in my loan.

Before I got a chance to call one of the approved credit counselling agencies, I received a call advising that I need to arrange a time for a notary to come to my home so the final arrangements could be completed. I called and provided the two alternate times and dates. The next day I received another call from a different person, asking for the exact same information.

Last night I got home from work to find a FedEx package containing the documents which provide my new, permanent payment. After almost a year of frustration, aggravation, and unbelievable incompetence, Bank of America has negotiated a .02% decrease in my interest rate. The net reduction in my monthly payment? $18.00

I figure BOA must have spent hundreds of dollars in FedEx shipments, document preparation, filing (and shredding) costs, and man hours. But the important thing is that their program will now aide me in keeping my home in these hard times.

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Bank of America Home Loan Illegal Practices
By -

I fell just one month behind on my home loan. Tried several times to get a home loan modification but continually told by BOA that I had to fill out paperwork that they WOULD NOT send. Finally went to a lawyer and we fill out HAMP program paperwork and that was sent to BOA. They would NOT accept the HAMP modification paperwork. Then I made a partial payment they STILL to this day have in a partial payment account and WILL not apply that to what I owe. I have since been making large amounts of payments and they STILL REFUSE to add the portion that is in that partial payment account.

I have since paid off all my credit cards with BOA and wanted them cancelled, however they would NOT cancel them. It took me 4 days to get someone on the phone that could actually cancel the BOA MasterCard! Recently made 2 payments which my credit union says that BOA took out of my account and as of yet, it has still not posted to my BOA home loan! I have been receiving calls starting at 9:05 PM to 9:30 PM 3 days a week from an automated calling program owned by BOA. They will not stop the calls! I have since blocked that phone number from my service.

Again, every time I have been on the phone with BOA, I get a completely different story! Since my home loan is guaranteed by the VA, I did a 3 way conference call with the VA myself and BOA, and then again, on one call was told one thing, and then on another call, was told something completely different. All my financial information was messed up that they said was "corrected."

Every time you call them, they ask you if you are currently living in the residence, and I always tell them yes. So far they have sent out people to verify that I am living there and then charge that to me. When then do they always ask you if you are still living there. 2 faced it appears.

I was told on last Friday, that I even owed another 854.08 in fees when using the pay-by-phone option, and that I had not paid fees since 2006! I got my bank statements and it showed that every time I made a payment via phone, that they took out that pay-by-phone fee. After 1 hour and 20 minutes on the phone, a supervisor caught the error and had to correct it. If BOA accounting was correct, they would not have had to "correct" it.

  1. BOA is nothing more than a loan shark. 2. They charge excessive fees. 3. They do not follow laws (HAMP program). 4. The accounting system they used is extremely inaccurate. 5. Multiple stories every time you call in from customer service on one specific issue.

How Bank of America is getting away with this is simply amazing. Even the way they had treated the VA representative during our 3-way conference call is unbelievable. Now I am making payments in the thousands etc... and appears that "everything" I Pay is getting posted "late." I check my bank statements and I see them taking the money, but it doesn't post when they take it.

I even asked them to send the money back in a check for what they are holding in the partial payment account as they are not going to post it to my account, and they flatly refused. This is the WORST bank I have ever dealt with. I hope the federal government investigates them and then closes them down. I know that I cannot be the only person.

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Loan Modification Fraudulent Activity by BAC Officials
By -

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- It seems Bank of America has made it a habit to screw the America Tax Payers and try and steal homes from citizens all across this country. I had the misfortune of having a home loan from Countrywide back in 7/2006 and I guess Bank of America took over Countrywide and now I have to deal with the dishonest people of Bank of America.

In January of 2007 I lost my job and in March 2009 I was diagnosed with cancer and prior to this we were debt free and had no credit card debt - the only debt we had was our home. After losing a kidney through cancer and not being able to find a job we incurred some credit card debt and we were still keeping current on our home and credit cards. I started working 2 jobs just to feed the family and pay the mortgage payments.

Bank of America approached me and I was supposed to refinance my home in 7/2009 and the day prior to closing BAC informed me I did not qualify for the loan program I was going under due to PMI private mortgage insurance was built into my loan. This would have reduced my payment by over $225 a month. After struggling a few more months BAC suggested I get into the Loan Modification program and in November of 2009 I was approved and provided coupons for trial payments. I have paid the trial payments and have kept paying those same payments to this day while we are trying to get this modification approved.

I have called and called and of course you get different stories from BAC and they tell you "We need your financials updated," - I have provided those 8 different times and they still claim they need updated financials. I also was informed that I turned down 2 different offers but yet no offers were ever presented to me - no can they produce these offers. Then the next thing I get a letter telling me I have been turned down for not qualifying for a loan modification.

On top of all that they reported me delinquent on my mortgage in February, March, April and ever since then even though they said they would not do so. I then appealed all of their decisions and they put under review issued a letter of correcting my credit report but now almost a year later we are still playing the game with BAC. By the way due to their wrong reporting to the credit agencies most credit card companies raised my interest rates from 9-10% to 24-29% because it appeared I was delinquent which I was not.

I have filed complaints with Attorney General for the State of Tennessee and every other agency I could think of - nothing is being done. BAC took 19 billions dollars from the federal government and this is how they reward the tax payers that pay this money. I can only hope one day this bank president can experience some of the things I have experienced - loss of job, cancer and the threat of losing my home all from the dishonest dealings of Bank of America!!! This is wrong and I will fight till the bitter end for my home.

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Bank of America - Avoid Them at All Costs!
By -

I have had excellent credit for 20+ years, never had a problem paying my bills and still don't have a problem paying my bills. However -- “Bank of America" is only a disguise for thieves, crooks and an evil scourge on the planet. I can write pages on how they have tried every tactic to screw me for more than 14 months now. They are stressing me out every day of my life and taking time from my work and family to deal with them repeatedly.

I have had impeccable credit for 20+ years dealing with all sorts of businesses. All it takes is the fatal mistake of dealing with Bank of America. I have never had a problem paying my bills, and I still have no problems paying my bills, but BOA will try to steal every bit of money from you that they can, mess up your credit, and try very hard to foreclose on you and steal your property when you have never had a problem paying your mortgage.

I was faithfully paying my mortgage and always pay extra towards my principal thus reducing my balance owed and reducing the interest. I have always done this with all my creditors. When I first took the mortgage with BOA, they said if I pay early it was OK. Well I notice they started misapplying my extra principal. After a couple of months of BOA misapplying my funds, I complained to them and they apologized. Then they suddenly “lost” my address and stopped sending my bills. I tried for months for them to get my address right; I jumped through hoops calling them, mailing documents, etc., and doing everything they told me to do. They lost my documents.

I still was not getting my bills anymore or my statement summaries, so I went online to pay. They blocked me from paying online. I called them so I can pay my bills over the phone. They tried to charge me outrageous fees for paying over the phone unless I open a checking account with them too. When I asked to speak to supervisor, they put me on hold forever and I never get to speak to anyone else. Everyone I speak to there is completely incompetent. I even tried to locate a local BOA branch to pay, but their website states there is no branch within 100 miles of my zip code, and I live in New Orleans!!

I told them there is no way in hell I'd ever open any other account with them after the way they mistreat me. They refuse to let me pay my mortgage properly and now they only have my correct address for the purpose of sending me foreclosure notices!!! They block me from my faithful payments and are now trying to steal my property!!!

This is possible in the United States for a business to fraudulently screw faithful customer out of their property! They will stop at nothing to screw you and steal everything you have! Once I am done with them I will never do business with them again in any way, shape or form. I want to warn everybody to please save yourself and avoid Bank of America at all costs!!!

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B of a and Making Homes Affordable Loan
By -

I am asking, no begging for help or at least some answers that make sense to us regarding the MHA. In early July 2009, my husband and I were behind on our mortgage payment. I was very concerned about this and contacted our mortgage holder Bank of America to see if we could get on a repayment plan. I was talked out of doing this and convinced to apply for the Making Homes Affordable restructure loan. I was unaware of this program at the time and the bank representative explained it to me.

I initially had a lot of questions and inquired about the acceptance and denial process, I was assured by the bank representative that once you were accepted into the program the only way you could be denied was if you failed to meet and complete what they required of you.

First, you had to see if you were approved, so I started the process with him at that time over the phone. He wanted all financial incoming net and gross monies we received each month and an itemized list of all outgoing obligations. I provided him with all of that and was then informed I would receive something via FedEx within 30 to 45 days explaining the process and that at that time I would be required to send further documentation.

On August 10th, we received a letter from FedEx welcoming us into the program and congratulating us on doing what we needed to do to stay in our house. On August 17th, we received the exact same letter again asking for copies of our checking account, paycheck stubs and tax returns, we complied with all requests and sent them. Not once but twice as they apparently lost the first ones we sent them. They had record of them showing up but no one knew where they were. So could we send them again which we did.

I stayed in weekly and bi-weekly contact with B of A inquiring if we had completed everything on time - I was repeatedly reassured that they had all that they needed and for us to continue making our monthly house payment. Which we did. Finally, after many phone calls to B of A, we got a FedEx envelope on December 20th 2009 thanking us for our financial documentation.

We again received same said letter from them on December 24th 2009 saying that we had entered into the trial payment modification part of the program. It stated that we needed to make 3 trial payments of $1782.50 - the first on or before 2/1/2010, the second on or before 3/1/2010, and the third on or before 4/1/2010. I again called them and said I had just made December's payment and I wanted the terms of the trial modification clarified and outlined for me. The representative told me that the December payment I had made had actually constituted the first trial payment that was to be made on or before 2/1/2010.

I asked him if I needed to make another payment in January and was told, “NO, your December payment will be applied to your first trial payment.” I then said to him, “if I don't make a payment in January then I will be behind another payment,” and he said “yes you will but that it would all get worked out in the loan modification, they will either put them to the back of your loan or incorporate them into your new modified monthly payment at a lower interest rate when the process is completed.”

I stated to him that I was uncomfortable technically getting behind another payment and he then informed me that if I brought my house payment current, it would kick us out of the program. I was not to waiver from the guidelines they set forth and had to comply with all they asked exactly the way they asked or we would be out of the modification program.

I was again informed the payment I made in December was my 1st trial payment. I then said my regular monthly payment is $1780.39 and that the 3 trial payment vouchers they had sent me asked for $1782.50, it was only a couple of dollars difference so not a big deal. He then said to me, “make your 2nd trial payment on or before 3/1/2010”. I thanked him for his time, but deep down this information seemed just wrong. I waited a couple of days and called back with the same questions and once again was given the same answers, and told do not waiver from the program guidelines we set forth or you will be out of the program.

In February, when we got our taxes back, I called again and asked if I should apply them to our mortgage and was adamantly told, “NO, do not do that. It will kick you out of the program.” He did say, “I can't tell you I won't take your money but I can say it will kick you out of the program,” if I do.

I made 2nd trial payment before 3/1/2010 still keeping in constant contact with bank making sure we had crossed every t and dotted every I and jumped through all their hoops. I was repeatedly told, “yes, you have done everything we have asked, just keep making the trial payments. You are in the modification process, follow the guidelines we have given you. Do not waiver from them.

I made the 3rd trial payment before 4/1/2010. As May was approaching, I called the bank again and asked them how I needed to proceed, as the 3 trial payment vouchers they had sent us we had already used for making the 3 trial payments. I was informed that they were way behind on processing the mod loans and to continue to pay the trial amount to put loan # in memo section of our check and to continue to send $1782.50, that it may take several more months. I paid the 4th trial payment in May.

In June, I tried to make the 5th payment in the branch as I always had and it would not accept my payment. I came home and called the bank and was informed that a letter had gone out saying we were declined for the MHA modification since our current payment was not equal to or more than 31% of our total gross income… (Shouldn't that have been determined long before we were ever accepted into the program? I think so, if it had, we would never be in the position we are in right now.)

At this time, I was once again reassured that we had gone straight into an in-house program with the bank that would ultimately have the same outcome for I loan… So I paid the June payment, the 5th in this trial period only this time I had to now make payments of $1818.88. Our original house payment had gone up due to our property taxes going up. Okay, I was fine with that and was told “keep making the $1818.88 payment your still under review for in house restructuring.” Again, this was on June 18th 2010.

In a letter dated July 2nd 2010 we received a notice of intent to accelerate, I was beside myself and called them demanding to know what was going on with my loan. After speaking at great length with a representative and getting nowhere and no answers, I asked to talk to a supervisor. I did eventually get a supervisor and explained all we had been through from the beginning to currently getting her on the phone. She then stated, “your loan restructure was denied and closed on June 23rd.”

I then asked her when they planned on informing us of this, and she said, “it is not our job to keep you informed. It is your job to see where things stand.” (Are you kidding me? What did they think I had been doing throughout this whole process? It is documented how many umpteen times I had called and tried to constantly and consistently stay on top of this whole thing.)

She then very matter of factly wanted to know if I could come current by August 1st 2010 in the amount of over $7000.00. I told her I did not have that kind of money and that there was no way I could get it in basically 3 weeks. I was then advised the ONLY thing she could do would be to split the past due into 5 payments that would be added to my monthly mortgage payment thus resulting in our house payment for the next 5 months being $2926.80. This is all she could offer and the only thing that could save our home from being foreclosed on.

I had to take her deal because I had no other choice and losing or walking away from our home is not an option for us. We love it and have always had the intent of staying here and not walking away like so many other people have been forced to do. I am so disheartened, disillusioned and plain mad as hell that the bank can do this to people and get away with it. Had I gone with my original plan over a year ago, our missed payment would have long ago been caught up, but by taking their advice and doing what they requested and never waivering from the guidelines they set forth, they have screwed us.

I was 100% repeatedly in contact with them. I thought I had asked all the right questions and complied with all the terms they set forth. They had the ultimate decision to put us in the program or not. We were not aware of the 31% rule they have for their approving or declining process, someone at the bank dropped the ball big time with this and they allowed it to continue by accepting our trial payments for 5 months. Now, they expect us to be able to financially pick up the pieces of their mess and their mistake.

I was also informed during my last phone call with them that federal guidelines had not even been implemented into their program until April 12th 2010, so how then could they even start the process or expect anyone to stay within their strict guidelines if they did not even know what they would be. I also asked at that time for a copy of the agreement I made with them for the repayment plan be sent to me in writing as I felt at that time I could not and would not be able to trust a single thing I heard out of anybody working on their behalf. I am hopeful that someone on your end will be able to help us get some answers that make sense.

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