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Bank of America Can't Stick to Their Own Agreements
By -

This scenario I'm about to explain just might top them all... My wife and I fell on financially trying times starting back in September of 2008. After much thought and research, I contacted a friend of mine who for a reasonable and money back guaranteed fee, was able to get us a loan modification. Here is where it gets really interesting... When we started this process, our mortgage was in limbo as it was transitioning from GreenPoint Mortgage to Countrywide. What really shocked me about that was the prior news that Countrywide had already gone bankrupt.

Needless to say, we were offered a loan modification by Countrywide 5 months after starting the process, and we were on track to save a whopping $42 per month. Immediately, after that Bank of America took over, they assured me that there would be no lag in transition and that none of my information, agreements, etc., would be lost in translation/transition. Just as I was to make my very first new monthly payment (according to the signed and notarized APPROVAL we sent in), I called in to confirm the department and address to send the payment in to, only to learn that 2 days before the payment due date they notated a denial of the loan modification.

The denial stated that the "financials" don't meet their requirements. I climbed up the ladder and spoke with several managers who stated that I should send in my payments anyway so that I was not in breach of contract. At that point, I even asked the manager if he would make a payment if he were in my shoes. Had something in writing stating he was approved, but couldn't get the same information from the associates working there; and HE said "NO SIR, I WOULDN'T".

I went on to forcing this man (** was his name) to notate in the system that I was going to send in my payment with copies of the signed and notarized approval, and to notate based on other notes in his system that I WAS in fact approved for the loan modification. The manager did as requested. I know because I called in and confirmed it with a different associate later that day. On numerous phone calls that took place from 4/8/2009 through 5/7/2009, I was transferred from one department to the next.

Nobody at Bank of America was on the same page and the majority of my calls resulted in a left message in the voicemail box of some person that did not return my call(s). This trend continued into July of 2009 where at last, I had a collections manager calling me every Friday with updates, if any on the progress or lack thereof on our file.

For months, we made our new modified payments only to find that Bank of America was not honoring the written approval. They were actually applying those payments to the past dues that according to my approval letter (signed & notarized), had already been worked into the modified balance and loan terms. This was just the first Phase in which we spoke to people in the Retention Department, HOPE Department, Loan Workout Department, Customer Service Department, Foreclosure Department & Collections Department, and several managers in differing departments as well.

Going back in time just a bit, In May of 2009, I found new employment with a company that specialized in financial assistance programs which included loan modification negotiating. Figuring that the end result of our so-called loan modification offered to us in March was a result that clearly favored the interests of Bank of America, we decided to employ the company I was working for to get the job done and finalized. We started our second attempt at a modification in August 2009. Because that our mortgage was owned by Freddie Mac, we were eligible for the "Making Home Affordable€" (MHA) program.

In September, just prior to our being approved for the MHA program, we received a certified & recorded NOD (Notice of Default / Foreclosure Notice with Intent to Sell). Almost immediately after that, in October we were approved for the "Making Home Affordable Trial Modification Program". All we had to do was make our 3 "€œtrial payments"€ on-time and Bank of America would then advance into making the loan modification permanent. Nowhere in the documentation that we received, signed and sent back, did they mention ongoing negotiations and/or underwriting, etc.

We have now made 7 payments. All of them on time and all of them over the phone, in which we have recorded confirmation numbers for each payment made. Bank of America is claiming that on 5/3/2010, they denied our workout for a permanent modification due to missing documentation (that was never requested of us). I have also found out that they notated one of our trial payments as being received late, which is a blatant lie that can easily be disproved if a subpoena for their internal records was ordered. This would show the date and time that the confirmation number was issued.

The representatives at Bank of America also claim that they sent us a written request for additional documentation, however if they did, we did not receive it. We live in a condominium complex with 321 units. We are always getting mail intended for someone else and vice-versa. What is most upsetting about this is that all of the original offer(s) for a loan modification was sent FedEx (which required a signature); Isn't it safe to assume that any documentation with such a high level of importance be sent via "first class mail" / "certified mail" or the equivalent? These are just all out terrible and irresponsible business practices.

Nevertheless, the reason I found out that they denied the loan modification on 5/3/2010 along with the other aforementioned claims is because I called them again to get to the bottom of our loan modification, which I was doing because we received 13 copies (6 by certified mail) of a "Notice of Trustee's Sale" on our property. The public auction is to take place on 6/8/2010 at 10:00 AM.

Furthermore, Bank of America states that they issued an Adverse Action Letter to us to inform us of the denial, but that too has never been received. I was informed by a gal there that my home was NOT in foreclosure and that all I needed to do was sent in the "€œmissing"€ documentation, which included our 2009 signed & complete tax return, a signed 4506-T which gives Bank of America permission to access previous tax records (that they should already have on file for 2007 & 2008 because we sent that in twice already), and proof that we are currently paying our HOA dues.

When I asked why this process is taking so long, and educated her a little about the federal making home affordable guidelines that her employer is unable to adhere to, she stated that it'€™s because negotiations were still taking place. I firmly disagreed with her adding that there was nothing further to negotiate. She countered with a response pertaining to the "€œinvestor"€ needing to agree to and attend to negotiations.

I countered back stating that the investor was Freddie Mac who FINALIZED their negotiations with the Feds and the President long before they even launched the MHA program and offered it to the public; and that the MHA program we were offered was only available to us due to the FACT that the program was tailored to homeowners whose mortgages we owned by either Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or was an FHA loan. I also went on to say, “and with that said, there were no other pending negotiations, just lack of compliance, lack of follow through, lack of professionalism and stall tactics, which border on predatory business practices.”

Right, wrong or indifferent, I faxed all of the "€œrequired"€ information to Bank of America's Loan Retention Department along with a copy of the Sale Notice and called the next day to confirm that they received the documents. I figure that if I had any leverage at all, it would rest on holding up our end of the bargain. Their representative confirmed receipt of the documents and went on to tell me that in addition to our modification being denied on 5/3/2010, that they also notated on 5/5/2010 that our file needs a 2nd review for underwriting.

I asked if they could give me a time frame for the review and the gal stated they are not allowed to tell me, in which I replied, "because if you did, the feds would shut you down for lack of contractual compliance". I mean after all, aren't all those phone calls supposed to be recorded for quality assurance and training purposes? I called back later to try to find out the name of the underwriter or negotiator in possession of our file but they couldn'€™t give that to me either.

I asked to be transferred to a manager of sorts which resulted in my call being transferred in the voice mailbox of a "collections" manager who did not return my call. I bet that if somebody with enough time on their hands could get to piecing together all of the phone call recordings in chronological order, and per consumer getting the runaround by Bank of America, that Bank of America would be under Federal investigation before the Supreme Court and trying to defend a tangled web of lies and lazy business practices, in no time flat!

We'€™re still playing the waiting game with Bank of America. We'€™re on the verge of losing our home despite doing everything asked of me and then some. I also know, based on conversations with Bank of America representatives and co-workers who deal with Bank of America as a daily profession, that I can request for Bank of America to postpone the foreclosure sale date on my property.

BUT, they will not actually do anything to fulfill those requests until roughly 10 to 3 days prior to the scheduled sale date - which basically means that Bank of America is not only being unprofessional and distasteful about their modification practices, but that they'€™re simultaneously and tactfully hindering hard-working citizens from proactively saving their American Dream and their homes.

We have worked long and hard to have what little we possess, and to provide to our child. To educate, discipline, and teach our child the values of honesty and responsibility. We find comfort in knowing that our child'€™s moral compass is pointed in the proper direction. To me it'€™s unfathomable that child who still knows very little can make better morally grounded decisions than the staff at Bank of America.

Unfortunately, Bank of America isn'€™t the only villain out there. I have contacted a couple of law offices with open/active cases against Bank of America. Some small, and some class action; but all they want to do is get me to start a new lawsuit against Bank of America so that they can collect a hefty retainer fee for their services. Unfortunately, this is all turning out to be the works of a federal government who€™se congressional leaders are bribed by our President and the interest of corporate officers and shareholders.

The Feds know that Bank of America is the largest financial institution in the world and that any legal action against them that favored the hardworking AMERICAN, would result in the absolute single worst economic banking decline since 1929. The same CRAP that scared the Feds into $ Billions of bailouts to the auto industry, and other Wall Street ventures, etc.

I am going to post this on every blog I can find, and share this with as many people who will read it or listen to it. We the people are not being treated with any dignity by our government or the financial institutions reaping on the benefits of our woes. Whatever happened to: "€œWe the people, By the people, & FOR the People"€?

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It Is Never Ending
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My family was set up great we had no credit card debt and had bought a house and made higher payments to them than what was due. In 2007 my nephew was living with us and broke his ankle - "he was underage, had no insurance and his parents would not sign papers so we could put him on ours." A couple months after that my 10 month old son was taken by flight for life. Then I had a surgery that led to many more hospital stays and a lot more sickness.

All of a sudden we were in major credit card debt and completely broke. Gas at the time was $5 and $6 a gallon and the hospitals are all over 100 miles away. We fell behind when all the bills caught up with us come Aug of 09. I called Bank of America and they suggested a loan modification.

So after all the paperwork and the hardship letter was sent I received a letter stating that it would be settled in 30 to 45 days. Come Dec my home was up for foreclosure and when I called them they put an extension on it and kept doing so. When I spoke to their customer service people "I called them every week and sometimes more than that."

I was told to make payments to them and it would look better and help the modification go through so I sent in my first payment on Dec 1 2009, they sent my check back attached to a piece of paper stating that it is below the amount due so they would not accept my payment. I called them and the girl on the line says to me "No don't make payments." So I stopped.

Then in March of 2010 I receive final loan modification papers, sign them, and send them in, along with a certified check as stated in the letter. Today I received the check back with the letters stamped on it, so again I called and was told I don't know the girl said to me that they did not know where the money was supposed to go, and she left a message to my processor who has never returned a call, e-mail from me my modification company that I hired to help me or to Mrs. ** from my senator's office.

I hate the fact that I paid to bail them out and when I need them they are no help and full of excuses. I found out that my home is still in foreclosure and I may lose it because some bureaucrats are sitting on their thumbs. I am not a bad person; I have never had a late payment to them EVER until all this stuff happened. I am trying soooo hard to keep my home and am getting sick because of the stress. The biggest excuse they always tell me is that they have too many people trying to get a modification at this time, my solution HIRE MORE PEOPLE.

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Customer Services
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CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA -- In August 2009 we applied for a loan modification with Bank of America. Which was approved after months of phone calls, lost papers, collection phone calls, collection letters and notes at our door. We finally got approved for the loan modification with new terms and no payment until January 2010. According to the loan modification all late fees and missed payments were applied to the loan modification (I have to pay now longer and at the end it will cost me more than before).

In December 2009 I received a collection letter from Bank of America, telling me, we have to pay $7,000 to bring our mortgage current. I called Bank of America, after talking to one of the customer service representative and explaining the whole situation again and again. He told me to just ignore the letter and to make the new and agreed payment in January. I told him to make a note in my file that I will be making the first payment, when I am able to see the changes online. Bank of America made the changes in February 2010. I made the first Payment 02/05/2010, which was partially applied to the outstanding balance of $7,000.

I called Bank of America, explained that the payment was applied incorrectly. The Customer Service Rep told me, they are going to fix it. I made the 2nd payment on 02-10-2010, which was my February Payment. Which went missing. It was never applied to the mortgage. I called Bank of America again and explained the whole situation again. They connected me to the payment recovery Department. I was told to fax proof in that I made my payments, which I did. I was told to call back in 24 hours.

I called Bank of America back the next day, and explained the whole situation again, according to the online banking page the problem was not fixed. The lady on the phone told it was all fixed. The next day I started receiving collection calls from Bank of America Home Loans. So I called Bank of America Home Loans again and explained the whole situation again. This time I asked to speak with a supervisor. The Lady on the phone was very nice and she seemed to be really knowledgeable. "Of Course Mrs. **, we will fix the problem and there are now late fees, because you paid on time, I will take care of this right."

On March the 5th I received a collection letter from Bank of America, which was dated March the 1st. I called up Bank of America again and I asked to speak with a supervisor, which I never was able to. The Lady told me that her supervisor (**) would look into my file and call me back. According to the loan modification agreement once we started making the payments the mortgage will be reported to the credit bureaus as being current. When I asked the lady to explain to me why it hasn't been done yet. She said to take 30 days. This is another question no one can answer. ** never called me back.

So I called the President/CEO Office of Bank of America. I explain the whole situation and got connected **. He told me he will look into my file and take care of everything personally and he will call me back on 03-02-10. He never called back.

I called the President/CEO Office of Bank of America. The Lady connected me to someone else and he said that ** is in some outside house training, but he gave my file to ** and after he hangs up the phone he is emailing him and they will take care of it. I emailed ** myself. No respond either. I am very disappointed with Bank of America; even though they helped us with the mortgage modification I am giving them an A+ for connecting people to different department and an F for Customer Service. I hope that Bank of America takes note of this.

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B of A Is a Bunch of Liars
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SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA -- In Nov. 2009 we UPS'd our payment overnight. One week later we get a call that they haven't received our payment. We told them we sent it UPS overnight on the 13th. They tell us to cancel the check and pay them over the phone (banks charge $30 to cancel a check and it's only good for 6 months). We told them we need to find out what happened to our payment first. We check with UPS and they supplied us with the date it was delivered and signed for BY BANK OF AMERICA.

We call B of A and tell them we have confirmation they signed for the package. They tell us to send a copy of the check imprint and the UPS information so they can research it and it will take about 2 weeks. Constantly getting the run around I finally ask for a manager (after the 2 weeks). The manager gets my info and says she'll research it and get back to me. She calls me a week later and tells me to call and leaves a number. The number is for the regular customer service and they tell me they have no way of transferring the call and all they can do is send her an email.

After playing phone tag because they can't transfer the calls, I get a stupid response and letter of "Please send a front and back copy of the check, and a bank statement to verify the funds haven't been taken out." WTF! First how do I send a copy of a check they have lost, and second if the funds had been taken out I wouldn't be calling every week and dealing with this B.S. I should also mention that they kept marking me and my wife's credit.

I finally get fed up with their stupidity and call insisting to talk to a manager (this runaround had been going on for about 2 1/2 months). So this manager gets on the phone and tells me she's going to call research and puts me on hold for about 5 minutes, gets back on the phone and tells me she has research on the phone and will transfer me. Now it gets real good.

This jack@ss gets on the phone and tells me we sent an empty package and it was verified by 3 people. I told her if this was true why has no one contacted us prior, or the letters we've received stated this. Her reply was there was no way of knowing what account the package was to. Yet she got on the phone and came up with this excuse in a matter of 5 minutes. Not to mention the package was UPS, there's a tracking #, senders info including a name and phone number. She continued to be rude and saying we should have canceled the check and made the payment like they told us to do in the beginning and blaming us.

My wife knows for a fact the check was in the envelope, because she wraps the stub and check in a blue paper right before she puts it in the UPS package so it stands out when they open it. Then she tells me they will not fix our credit because it was my fault. Fact is they just don't want to take responsibility for losing our check.

Now I have a check that's canceled for 6 months and if someone stole it to use it fraudulently, in six months can wash the check and cash it. I wouldn't recommend ANYONE use Bank of America for anything, they are crooked and a bunch of liars. I wish our government would of let all those banks close and not bailed them out, none of them deserve it and I hope Karma hits them so hard they fall forever.

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Bank of America Review
By -

I thought that I was just the kind of customer Bank of America would want to have. I had my checking, savings, credit cards and some mortgages with them. I paid everything on time and I had money in savings. The first incident happened when I called Bank of America to ask about the interest rate on one of my mortgages. They told me that they did not service my loan even though I had obtained it with Bank of America. I told them that the property had gone down in value and that it was worth less than I owed. (Very often the case where I live.)

I said that I wanted to ask about getting the interest rate adjusted since I thought it was high. They said that they could not help me because they did not service the account. They then told me that because I had called in to say I was having trouble with the loan they would need to cut off the lines of credit on my credit cards. Now I had paid these credit cards regularly and paid extra every month. They reduced the credit lines to the amount that I owed which then hurt my credit score.

The second incident was a phone call that I received saying that I might qualify for a discount in the interest on my line of credit. They said that they needed to get some personal information. They asked me all kinds of details about my personal information. I gave it to them although I was worried about doing it. After they had gained all of my information, they told me I did not qualify for any discount in the line of credit.

The third and worst event happened after I decided that I did not want to bank with Bank of America any longer. I took the majority of my funds out of the account and opened an account somewhere else. On October 2, 2009 I discovered that several payments had gone out on my bill pay even though there were not adequate funds in the bank. I immediately wrote to customer service to tell them to close my accounts. I quickly got cash that day and went to Bank of America to pay the overdrawn balance. I talked to a bank officer and told him that I wrote to customer service on October 2, 2009 to tell them to close my account. I also canceled all payees.

I asked him to make sure that my account was closed. He said that he could not close it. The next day there were many overdraft charges on my account. I went again to the bank and paid all of the charges. I talked to another officer and asked her to make sure that my account was closed. She said that I could not close it.

I also called customer service where I asked them to please stop making payments out of this account. I again paid cash for all of the overdrafts which was about $175.00. Then that same evening I checked my account again and there was another charge for a payment that I had canceled three days before!! Of course there was another overdraft charge.

I still can't get my account closed!! So far they have managed to get 8 overdraft charges on my account. The last bill that they had charged me for was one of my Bank of America charge cards. I had canceled that payment three days earlier. I had also paid that bill from my new account so now they have received two payments on my charge card and made an overdraft fee as well. Whew... what a mess. I never knew it could be so difficult to close a bank account.

I want to warn other customers that if they are planning to close their accounts they need to delete all payees BEFORE they try to close the account. If they have allowed anyone to automatically withdraw funds from their account be sure that they are changed to a new account BEFORE you try to close an account. I assumed that I could close my account and then make the necessary changes. If you don't then Bank of America will get you like they have gotten me.

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Liars and Thieves
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Bank of America is the worst company I have ever done business with. I went through a divorce over a year ago and was trying to sell my home so I could give my ex-husband half of the equity. The house was on the market for eight months, but I received no decent offers. I called my mortgage company, which was Countrywide at the time, and they said that I could get a cash-out loan of thirty thousand dollars to pay my ex and then I could refinance the house. The catch was I had to take my house off the market for one month, so I did.

A month later I called them back and they were now owned by Bank of America. Interest rates went up during that time so I had to buy down my interest rate to get 4.5 because they wouldn't lock in the rate until the house was off the market for a month. Then I paid 400 bucks to have the house appraised. A month later they called me and told me I could only get a loan for 20 grand. My ex was unhappy, but he accepted it.

Bank of America told me I needed to modify my divorce and state that my ex would be receiving a cash-out loan of 75 percent the value of the home minus closing costs minus the payout amount, which was around 20 thousand dollars, instead of the 30 thousand I was originally promised. So I went to a legal class to have the divorce modified and I paid 100 bucks to file. It has now been almost four months since I took the house off the market and my loan still hasn't closed. I still haven't received my appraisal either even though they promised to send me a copy!

I recently received a call that because of the "declining market", I could only have a cash-out loan of 70 percent the value of the home minus closing costs minus the payoff amount, which is only 8,000 dollars! So now I have to go to my credit union to get a personal loan. I have to give them the title to my car so I can have a lower rate. My credit union said I can qualify for a twenty thousand dollar loan, which I should've done in the first place instead of dealing with Bank of America. Bank of America is now telling me I will have to modify my divorce again to say my ex only gets the 70 percent.

I told them that I absolutely refuse to do that... that he still is receiving the 75 percent but that I getting the loan somewhere else even though they are the ones who changed their minds about what percentage they'd give me, so now I'm waiting to hear back. They have demanded so much paperwork of me... 401K and 403B statements, insurance, W4's for the last two years, a letter explaining why I had the house on the market and took it off, the divorce modification, the last 4 check stubs, an MOS cancellation.

I have excellent credit... I'm in the top 0.5% of the country, and with the refinance my mortgage will actually be lower than it is now, yet they still act like I'm not going to pay them or something. I've done direct deposit the whole time I've had a mortgage and not once have I been late on a payment.

I have had enough of this company. And yet my loan still hasn't closed after four months! I know they are just waiting for my next house payment to go through so they can rip me off another 1400 bucks. Unless you want over four months of hell closing a loan on a refinance, I advise you to do business elsewhere. It wouldn't even surprise me now if they tell me they won't give me a cash-out loan at all. Screw Bank of America.

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Mortgage Modification/Incorrect Payment Processing/Incorrect Credit Reporting
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475 CROSSPOINT PARKWAY, NEW YORK -- Bank of America is extremely dishonest in everything they do! I urge anyone that can move checking account, credit card balances & mortgages to other banks to do so now!! I have Soft Second mortgage. I wrote a letter in March 09 requesting a simple interest rate reduction because I read and watched TV and thought well if all these banks are getting these funds to help homeowners, why shouldn't I try to make an interest rate request. I'm extended… full time student, full time worker, have family - private school tuition for child, credit cards due to home repairs.

I requested this because I know that I am extended on my expenses. I provided all my financials to the Loan mitigation department at BofA. They wouldn't offer a simple small interest rate reduction but would only offer to extend mortgage from 30 year to 40 year. Ultimately, taxpayer hands over tax money to stimulus to Banks and that's all they offer. I get hit 2x, as a taxpayer and then a consumer, if I take the 40 year because I'll be paying way more in interest for mortgage and yet my property value has plummeted to depths of hell! I declined the modification offer.

Since then, I no longer receive my monthly mortgage statements. BofA started sending me late notices and foreclosure notice letters. I've called about 5x/weekly and also go into the branch now to pay my mortgage. I have never been late and never behind on my mortgage at all. I have all my bank statements showing that Bank of America takes funds every single month before or on the 15th of month but they show my payment history as processing after the 15th of the month. BoA reported me as delinquent on my mortgage back to May 09 to all 4 credit bureaus.

I have been in constant contact with reps. I have spoken minimum of 15 times since March 09 to current. Every representative stated, "Oh, we have you as good customer and paying on time. There is no issue." It wasn't until I prodded and kept asking questions that I got more info. The receipt of late notices raised a red flag for me and I was proactive and requested a payment history for both mortgages ranging all way back to origination of mortgage 2006.

I also demanded letters from BofA explaining why I'm receiving late notices when I'm not late or behind on my mortgage. I have never been late but found that they marked me late 3-5 times on both accounts. I pulled all of my bank statement including cancelled checks where BofA stamped the date. Every cancelled check is stamped prior or on the 15th of month.

This really affected me. I was so worried about receiving wrong late notice/FORECLOSURE LETTERS incorrectly. I felt that they could put a lien on my house for my credit card. I think that they are strategically working to hit people with fees and even taking peoples homes. I decided to transfer my BofA credit balances to another credit card company.

The other credit card company decreased original credit limit by $500 because I learned that BofA reported me delinquent on my MORTGAGE going back to May 09 and it's now July 09! I unknowingly paid with the Chase transfer check to BofA and then that check got denied by Chase. But, BofA sent me my latest credit card statement making it look like they processed my credit card payment. So I better make a payment prior to my regular period and more than the usual payment just in case.

I have filed formal complaints with Attorney General, Bank of Commerce, www.helpwithmybank.gov. I've also contacted my congressmen complaining about this dishonest bank. You may be saying to yourself, "there's more to her story… she must be late or behind on mortgage." I swear and speak honestly, I am not behind or late on my mortgage. My neighbor had Countrywide and was then bought out by Bank of America. Neighbor never received notice to mail payments to BofA. They continued to pay mortgage to Countrywide. Then BofA started out sending late notices and foreclosure notices to neighbor.

That's how it started for my neighbor too. They received late notices/foreclosure notices. Neighbor shows that checks were cashed but BofA kept stating that neighbor didn't make payments. They have told me same thing with me. One day, I'll speak with one representative that will say, "you're showing late." Next day, I'll speak with representative and they'll say, "You're good customer. We show you paying on time and current".

My neighbor got Real Estate attorney and BofA even stopped speaking with RE attorney. 4th of July weekend, my neighbors moved out of home… left home and turned the home over to BofA. This was their 1st home… lived there since 2003. They were family of 4 with 2 small kids. My neighbor is a City cop, both work and are respectable. I thought there was more to their story too, until I started getting wrong late/foreclosure notices too!

Please, if you are having issues with BofA like these, go to the website I provided www.problemswithmybank.gov. Write your state attorney general and report to every agency that you can. I also reported formally to the Bank of Commerce. I also contacted my congressman of my area. I will also try to find CEO of BofA, write him letter too. This is not OK. We have the power individually and as a group of American Consumers by pulling our personal accounts out of Bank of America all together. The only way that we have to fight back right now is by our consumerism.

On all accounts, if you want to have a job, we have to stop buying China and every other country that ships into us but doesn't allow us to ship our goods into their countries. We have to send a message to government and these dishonest corporations that we have power and we as American PEOPLE are taking the rest of our power back. This includes the future of our country, our jobs and our personal finances. If anything I have learned recently… "as a borrower, you are slave to the lender". I will work hard to get out of debt and never rely on a credit card or borrow from any bank ever again.

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The PMI Scam
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Recently I paid Bank of America an excess of $450 for THEIR approved appraiser to conduct an appraisal on my single family house with an additional detached house in the rear of property (aka as in-law quarters). They sent out a trainee from a sister city market... this in itself goes against the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practices' Competency Rule.

Sending a trainee out to such a complex appraisal should have never happened, let alone someone from a totally different real estate market. Also, it should have sent up warning flags the moment he asked what the purpose of the loan was and what the mortgage balance is. What the heck does that have to do with getting the true value on my property? Very fishy if you ask me.

Having some working knowledge of what to look for in appraisals I noticed straight away discrepancies when I received the documents. One major issue is that he used duplexes as comps and two of the comps were in excess of 5 miles from my property which far exceeds Fannie Mae's 1 mile desirable comp. area.

I swiftly hired an independent appraisal firm to do a desktop review of the appraisal I received from BOA. The findings were SHOCKING to say the least. This "trainee" should not be getting his license and the supervisor who signed off on it should lose hers. The appraiser I hired found 5 comps all within one mile radius and the range of values were found to be 20-70k above the value the BOA appraiser gave GO FIGURE. My appraiser used the very same style of properties as mine for comps (all single family homes with detached single family homes or rentals in the rear of the property).

What upsets me is that they sent out a trainee from another market who has no knowledge of this area. He used the wrong form, gave wrong comps and did not even follow basic appraisal guidelines in doing so. Bank of America needs to have a department that oversees these appraisers and monitors their practices. Without that thousands of their customers could potentially be getting defrauded.

What it boils down to is a mere $1200 separates me from getting out of PMI based on BOA's appraised value. Their customer service is totally incompetent. To make matters worse after I sent the findings of my appraiser to the dispute dept they in turn simply just forwarded it to the ORIGINAL appraiser for review. Can you believe it??? They are not even opening an internal investigation on his practices? Of course this guy is not going to agree with the findings of MY appraiser. Do you think he wants to lose his job?

So guess what: This guy came back after reviewing my desktop review and advised he is sticking by his original appraisal, are you Kidding me?? And that is the final answer? Wow!! The very person who made at least 7 major mistakes on the appraisal won't even agree that some errors occurred. And of course Bank of America has not one trained person willing to call me and go over my concerns. Nadda ONE. Let alone one trained person to oversee the appraisals that are being sent out.

If a multi Billion Dollar Corp does not invest in any trained in house people to look over erroneous appraisals and to set forth basic standards of conduct for the sub contractors they hire, then they should not be in business at all. So much for standing by one of their core values "Doing the Right Thing for The Customer." I have spent more than 15 hours calling, writing on and researching this matter. Do you think I will at the very least get my money back for this bunk appraisal? Doubtful. Let's not forget to mention the additional out of pocket I paid to an independent appraiser for his work. I wonder how many other people this is happening to.

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Bank of America Mortgage Practices
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Yet another reason to not get another account at BoA. On Friday of last week, I received my refund of my overpayment of my escrow account. I purchased this home in June of 2011 and told BoA that my taxes would be less than $100, as I am a disabled veteran in the State of **, and they provide a large discount for property taxes.

BoA stated that they wouldn't be able to do anything about it until my tax bill came due, and they had proof of it. No problem, I'm used to corporations feeling that they are superior to everyone, and that no one they deal with has a shred of decency or honesty... particularly bankers, as they tend to spend time around other bankers and see such traits. BoA further stated that they wouldn't send my tax payment to the county until they received the bill.

In October, I received my tax statement (showing I owed $61.00 in taxes... that is not a misprint, it is sixty-one) and dutifully sent it to BoA (expecting them to receive it three days after I sent it... after all, BoA states the same thing about anything THEY send). Apparently, in my ignorance, I didn't send it certified mail.

In December, my wife sent an email asking if BoA had received the tax statement, and paid the taxes. BoA claimed they did not receive the statements, but without ANY documentation of any kind, decided to send the full amount in my escrow ($3800+) to the county. They further stated that if I wanted the overage to be returned, I would have to deal with the county.

So, I called the county. They stated that if they received an overage, they would cash the check, apply whatever is required to my tax bill, and then send a letter to BoA asking them what to do with the overage. BoA would then fill out a form, send it back to the County, and request the overage be sent to them. The County would then send the money back to BoA (presumably, BoA would not receive it, but just in case they did), BoA would then eventually issue me a check.

That scenario was entirely unacceptable, so I called BoA, and spoke to a gentleman named **, who took ownership of the problem. He corrected my tax bill, he corrected my escrow to reflect the correct amount of my taxes, and managed to get the refund check to me on Friday, Dec 23.

So now, I took the check to the local BoA branch. After having to prove my identity through four pieces of ID, my wife and I got the check cashed. Only to be told, that because we don't have a checking account with BoA, we would be charged six dollars. Now six dollars isn't going to break me, but let me point something out to you. BoA has my mortgage of $195,000 (not by my choice, but BoA bought it from someone else, and presumably felt they could make a profit off of it). The interest rate on the mortgage is five percent. Over the life of the mortgage, BoA will PROFIT nearly $100,000.

Further, we have a credit card with BoA. Its interest rate about 9%. We use that regularly, and rarely pay off the monthly balance. On top of all that, you kept my additional tax payment (of $3800) in escrow for six months... not paying interest to me on it. So here's what's bugging me. You can take the six dollar service fee, and stuff it **. You can further be assured, that in the interest of full disclosure, I will contact every person I know, pass by, or can contact through email, telephone, telegraph, carrier pigeon, smoke signal, or hieroglyphics, and let them know my opinion of Bank of America.

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Bank of America Will Not Give Me My 1098 For A Loan That Has Been Paid Off For Months
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As everyone else in America, I have been quietly collecting all of my tax paperwork to file my taxes. All of the other resources that owed me tax information, managed to provide me with the information that I needed by the deadline of 1/31/2011. All EXCEPT Bank of America. BUT, they sent me an email indicating that I could go online and print off my tax statements so I am thinking, this is good! UNTIL, I went online and realized that I could only get my current mortgage tax statement.

The account that I am still waiting for my 1098 for on 2/11/2011 is for a loan that was paid off by a refinance. That kind of information is not made available online. See, I refinanced to get a better rate and get away from them as loan servicers because I simply don't like their "customer service" and think that they are idiots who can't even use calculators. They managed to screw up my tax payments twice and adjusting my "escrow" account and temporarily driving up my mortgage in this economy during the process. But, the idiots turned around and purchased my refinanced loan.

So, I am still stuck with these idiots who can't seem to simply send me my tax statement. However, I have gotten off the beaten path, please forgive me as I am beyond angry right now. So, after having a customer service representative explain to me why the information isn't online. She indicated that it was mailed to me on 12/11/2010. At the time of this conversation, the date was 1/16/2011. I indicated that I clearly didn't receive it and would like to order another one. I was quickly informed that I would have to wait until 2/1/2011 to request another statement.

Through all of this absolute ridiculousness, I maintained my composure and just said alright. So, on Feb 1, 2011, bright and early, I called the BOA customer service number to request "another" copy of this statement. I also requested a letter indicating that this particular loan had been paid off because I never received one from BOA. I also explain at this time that I have an appointment with an accountant to get my taxes done on 2/12/2011 so it is imperative that I get this information prior to then. Basically hinting that you need to go ahead and mail me my statement today and not do the cheap thing and wait for a bulk mailing.

The customer service representative indicated that it should arrive in plenty of time. So, the rest of that week rolls around. I receive the letter that I requested AFTER my 1098 indicating that the loan was paid in full on Monday, Feb 7th, I didn't understand why the 1098 wasn't included in that same batch of mail but thought, it will be tomorrow's mail, no big deal. Well Tuesday passes, then Wednesday passes and I am getting really nervous so I give them another call asking what the hold up is. It isn't rocket science to know that it doesn't take 7 days to mail a letter.

At this time, the customer service representative indicates that their "system" states that I should receive the letter by Friday, February 11th. Okay, you seriously want me to believe that there is any place in the USA where you can mail a LETTER and it takes 10 days for it to get to its location, well 9 days removing the Sunday. Seriously! So, today is February 11th and you guessed it, THERE WAS NO LETTER IN MY MAILBOX TODAY!!! This leads me to believe that this tax information was not mailed on December 11th either. These people never sent me my tax information.

So, I have to now wait to get another 11 days or so to get my 1098, IF it shows up then which I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE that it will. I can't really schedule another appointment with my accountant until April as he is booked up which is why I scheduled my appointment a month in advance. I call BOA thinking that they would actually try to make this right due to the seriousness of this mistake that was made. STUPID ME, I got a bunch of phony "I am Sorries", poor excuses as to why they couldn't email me or place in my inbox on the website a PDF version of the 1098.

An even sorrier manager who didn't even pretend to try to do anything to help. Now I am desperately trying to find out what recourse I have to get my 1098. They are holding it hostage! Legally they were obligated to send it to me by 1/31/2011 and they have failed to do so. I believe that this is unethical and illegal. The mere fact that I received the letter but not the 1098 dispells any "address" issue. I just don't think that they ever sent the tax statement out and have been lying to me all of this time. Someone dropped the ball and I am sure of it!

I hate this company and would never voluntarily do any business with them. I have a previous history with them as well where they withheld money that I deposited in my then account with them through a cashier's check from my credit union. This money was specifically for my vacation but I ended up spending half of my vacation arguing with them about my money.

When we left the bank, they had credited the money directly to our account and gave us a receipt indicating that the amount was in the account since it was a cashier's check. But decided to place the check on hold after we set out for our vacation. As a result, I spent half of my vacation trying to get our funds released. If this bank was the last one on earth, I would save my money in a mattress.

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1.1 out of 5, based on 21 ratings and
144 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Bank of America
100 North Tryon Street, 18th Floor
Charlotte, NC 28255
888-279-3457 (ph)
704-386-4578 (fax)
www.bankofamerica.com
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