Bank of America Mortgages Consumer Reviews - Page 4

CALIFORNIA -- I decided to buy a home in my neighborhood and applied to Bank of America for a mortgage because I had banked with them for 20+ years. I have an average credit score of over 800, own other properties, have adequate savings, and enough cash to make a 20% down. My loan officer got a lot of details wrong, but the application was finally correct and submitted and I submitted everything very promptly. Shortly after, I was told in an email that my loan was approved. Not conditionally approved, but approved.

Then an underwriter decided to demand information about things like insurance and taxes on a rental that is paid off, and challenged the motives for why I wanted to buy another, similar home in my neighborhood. At this point, after some very testy emails and phone calls, I learned that my application is being sent up the underwriter supervisor ladder and may be countered (code for higher interest rate?) - and my deal is in jeopardy.

I think this Bank doesn't really want to lend money as I am the ideal candidate and they are asking for data that is irrelevant to the loan, stretching out the process, and fabricating reason not to lend on the original quoted interest rate.

Update: I finally got the mortgage approved, but not without submitting materials multiple times, meeting some very intrusive or excessive demands by underwriting for proof that I was not an investor but an occupier. After meeting all of the "conditions" the loan was still untimely, but the sellers didn't care, they just wanted me to get the loan. I not only don't recommend BofA, I think the experts are correct when they advise to go to a regional or local bank because Bank of America acts like a bureaucratic governmental as a way to frustrate the purpose in getting a loan. I felt like I was being accused like a criminal all too many steps along the way.

New update: When I wrote the update I was unaware it would take another few weeks to get them to reappraise, get the correct language in the appraisal, etc. The only excuses left for delay was that the bank ran out of money and a tsunami fried the computer. I learned today it was finally funded. Truly a horrible experience and one that tells me even more so that BofA doesn't value its customers.

SUNRISE, FLORIDA -- I, like many other reviewers, have been given the runaround by Bank of America. I too applied for the Making Homes Affordable program after having lost my job. After several months of waiting to receive my paperwork, I turned in all the documents they requested. Months later I received a piece of mail from BoA saying that they are still waiting for me to submit my paperwork. I knew there had to be some mistake. But after making a dozen or so fruitless phone calls to various departments AND third-party companies (some of which I had never heard of), I appallingly realized this wasn't a mistake. It was a scam.

The phone number on the mail correspondence they sent was to a company I'd never heard of before. They were supposedly the company that is supposed to handle the paperwork. They had no information about me whatsoever and claimed they did not have my paperwork.

I was told to call BoA again so that's what I did. BoA said they didn't have my paperwork and that I need to call another #. The # they gave me was to the third party company I'd already called (only it was a different # than what was listed on the mail document). I went back and forth with both BoA and the other company for HOURS to no avail. It's been weeks and I still don't know who has my paperwork.

Not only that, about a year or two ago I received a notice that my home had been rezoned for flooding and would now require flood insurance. I was not in a flood zone when I purchased my home. But I went along with it and purchased flood insurance. A month ago, BoA sent me a notice that I needed to increase my flood insurance. I called my insurance agent and was told that I am not in a flood zone and have never been. They even did additional research just to be sure. Called BoA with this information.

They are claiming that my property is in the highest tier flood zone. How the heck can my home go from not being in a flood zone at all, to suddenly being in the "highest tier?" My property had survived Hurricanes Rita & Ike with no high water on my street at all, but I'm in the highest tier? Bull. Bank of America is crooked.

Make note, I have been a customer with this bank BEFORE they were BoA; back when it was NationsBank. I have several accounts with them and I've been a good customer (i.e. no overdrafts, no late payments, etc) so why doesn't that count for anything? Something needs to be done about this bank. I'm planning to take all my money out and go to one of the "lesser evil" financial institutions - if there is such a thing.

Please Please I beg of everyone to NOT EVER, EVER, EVER use this company. They took over my home loan by no choice of mine. They must have mailed me multiple sets of documents for my loan only they had another woman's name, social security number, and personal information in my place! To this day they still have not corrected this. They tell me it is my fault and I have to go into a bank and prove myself. Why should I go and prove myself to be myself? Who is this other person!! I have all of the original mortgage loan documents through the real place I had my loan with... So you tell me who this stranger is?

I know she is a real person and I am about to contact her and let her know that this company has given her info to me and who knows how many others?! Is your information safe? Who may have it? How can you have someone else personal information and mail it to other people and not be accountable for this!!! I called only to sit on hold and be hung up on for 3 months straight everyday. You sit in a loop for about 15 minutes before you can get a live person. Once you do they tell you they cannot find your account or they have to transfer you. When you are transferred, they hang up on you! Only for you to call back and start all over again.

I have spent at least 85 minutes a day doing this same mad loop of disservice!! I am so upset right now! Then they had my cell phone number, and every weekend Friday night through Sunday night, they called my phone about 15-20 minutes apart ALL DAY AND NIGHT. Now, mind you their office is closed, so you cannot tell anyone to STOP waking you all night. When I answer the phone it hangs up on me and then calls right back. I have written letters to the CEO and he has not one care in the World.

Meanwhile I have personal information for a poor strange girl. God Forbid I was not the person I am and I used this information to ruin her identity! And again this awful place does NOT care. So again today, I spent 2 hours on the phone with them, nothing was accomplished. Still, they are fraudulently using another woman's information on MY home mortgage loan. Well, they have 4 weeks to get everything straight: I will be contacting an attorney and I will also have another lender buy this account from them. I do NOT EVER want to see this company again. Let's band together and remove our accounts and force them to bankruptcy!

Previously had a countrywide mortgage and had no problems with them. Bank of America is a completely different company, however. I have NEVER had worst customer service. I cancelled my mortgage draft several months ago and paid my mortgage online every month. March was no exception. I went online, saw no scheduled payments, and paid it. Well, my draft kicked back in for whatever reason that they could not tell me AND my online payment went through. I sent an email notifying them of the extra payment and requesting it back, providing the Trace numbers for both.

According to the website, I would receive info back in 1 to 2 days. Two days later, still nothing, I sent another email and then called in only to be told I had to fax in my bank statement directly from my bank where both payments cleared my account. I went down to my bank the next business day to have that done. The fax number was busy for TWO HOURS! I called into their HORRIBLE automated system only to be told that Mondays are busy and that dept gets a lot of faxes.

I finally get another fax number and guess what?? It's busy too! Call in AGAIN and go through all of that crap, get a fax number directly to a guy in the Payment Research dept. I go to UPS to fax to make sure it goes through, get a confirmation that it was sent properly and wait to get the phone call. I am told I will get once it is received or if there is a problem. Nothing once again. I call the next day and am told a problem has been opened but that the fax has not been attached and that's probably because they get thousands of faxes a day.

I call back the next day and am told that it has been received and the extra payment should go into my account that Friday night, The following Monday at the latest. SUrprise! Its Wednesday and still not there!! I call back in and go through all of it again only to be told that the fax has not been received!! Now I have to go back to get it faxed only to (hopefully) get my money back into my account within 48 hours at the earliest! The ENTIRE payment research dept is "offline" so they can't check with anyone to find out why my fax has been ignored!!!

If you want a mortgage, go to ANY COMPANY other than Bank of America!! Oh yeah, and on each call with the exception of this last one they tried to sell me something!! Are they crazy??? Why would I want any other accounts with them when they can't take care of the ONE I have now??

What I have to say is not new to anyone who had a Countrywide mortgage modification. All people I have talked to on this issue has said the same thing. Bank of America has refused to accept ANY of Countrywide's mortgage modifications. The California Attorney General sued Countrywide for its mortgage loans made from 2007 because everything about the loan was not disclosed and they even enticed borrowers to accept loans their incomes could not afford. Part of the settlement agreement was for Countrywide to make mortgage modifications to its customers. That is why I got a mortgage modification.

Bank of America acknowledged receipt of the signed and notarized contract received by Countrywide but decided to decline it. This was a lawsuit settlement case, not a request made to B of A. Thus, Bank of America is and has been operating illegally in my case since May, 2009. My congressman wrote a letter on my behalf to B of A's CEO. However, Bank of America is ignoring the congressman just as they are ignoring California's State Attorney and the legally binding Lawsuit Settlement.

I am now going to have to resort to suing Bank of America. I know that should I Win the case, Bank of America will ignore court orders as they are now. However, I must continue to fight to keep a roof over my head. I am a widow with very little - just my house. Bank of America is doing so much wrong, I cannot see how it manages to show profits to its investors. So, once again I will write my congressman and request there be a Congressional Inquiry into Bank of America's business practices. Therefore, I would like anyone who will, write or email their congressman concerning the issues he or she is experiencing in doing business with Bank of America. Thank you.

Beware all Bank of America home loan borrowers, especially those former Countrywide customers, especially re excess escrow charges. B of A had been charging my mortgage account more than $200 per month in excess of my $1335 monthly payment, and had been doing this for a while with no notice to me. My regular payments were accepted, and no notices of any shortages were mailed. (I do not get paper statements, only email notifications, usually to tell me my payment was timely received and reminding me of upcoming payment). They reported to the credit bureaus in November 2009, and first sent me a paper statement for the increased amount in Dec. 2009.

In Dec., their representative said I had an escrow deficiency and that if I made phone payment they would waive late charge & that effective Jan. 2010 my new monthly payment amount would decrease to less than $1200. I made the payment and began decreased payment in Jan. I just received a Jan 2010 notice that I was back on partial payment status because my most recent payment was short. As it turns out, B of A did not update escrow analysis from Feb 2009 when they had placed and then removed a flood insurance policy when my condo assoc. provided insurance documentation.

Plus, my property taxes had gone down each of the last 2 years. As it turns out, I had been paying excess escrow every month during 2009, and I never had an escrow shortage. At it turns out, Bank owes me almost $2000 for excess escrow collected during 2009 and for my additional payment in Dec. They say they will reverse bad credit report. This took a lot of wrangling, two different phone calls with four different representatives, after being provided no information or bad information.

The last call commenced with the rep's request to take a phone payment for an additional $2k, when it is I who am owed this money. Mind you - not one of them ever thank me for the use of my money, much less apologized for the error or for the inconvenience to me.

ILLINOIS -- When interest rates went below 5% I thought this would be a great time to refinance my house at a lower interest rate and knock a few years off my loan. On February 11, 2009 I went to Bank of America that my loan was originally with and they quoted me a rate of 4.75% on a 10 yr note and $1900 closing fee. I would have to come up with {a undisclosed amount} to lock in this rate. I paid this on that date. On March 9 I checked on my loan through their processing center and was told the loan had never been locked in and that they would do it that day.

I received a letter saying that: The interest rates and points are locked effective 03/09/2009, and will expire 05/07/2009. This loan must close and disburse by this date. The amount I was refinancing was less than 50% of my home value. I have a good credit history and have never made a late payment. By the end of May the girl at the main bank was apologetic about how long my loan was taking to close. By July I was consistently told that it was not my fault that the loan was taking so long and that they were really behind. I was even told that there were other loans that were more important than mine like houses being bought and sold were being moved ahead of mine.

In July was told that another bank required a processing fee on a 2nd mortgage that I had. This turned out to be a subordination agreement to make B of A my primary loan. I disputed this extra charge but paid it. I was told that if I pay this that I would get this back plus one hundred dollars at closing that never happened.

To make a long story short we finally closed on our loan on August 6, 2009 and which on August 10 they continued to make a withdrawal transaction out of my checking account under the old loan. I had my checking account bank stop it. I am still going back and forth on this without any results as of 09/10/2009. The bottom line I chose the right time to refinance my house but the wrong bank to refinance with. By going through Bank of America this loan cost me a lot extra in time, money, interest payments and fees than if I would have chosen another bank to refinance with.

It is not news that there are hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners in the country. It is not even news that the lenders refuse most who request help. But, are you aware of the fraudulent practices that the lenders are using to deny loan modifications?

Here is my story: In July 2007, we re-financed with Countrywide in order to get out of an ARM that was about to go up astronomically. In order to get the loan through, the value of our home was appraised over what it was really worth. In addition, only my husband's name was put on the loan since the credit cards are in my name. The loan is an interest only ARM that does not include taxes and insurance. The payment is $3407 and my husband takes home $1300 per week. I am a stay at home mom with 2 young children.

In September of 2008, we were struggling to pay our bills. The value of our home was plummeting. We weren't behind yet, but were about to be. We pro-actively contacted Countrywide in October 2008 and asked for help. Here is a time-line of events: October 2008 - Sent Countrywide hardship letter. Husband withdraws $25K from his retirement fund to pay bills. This money must be repaid quarterly - $1000. December 2008 - Countrywide refuses loan mod without a reason.

March 2009 - Obama plan underway. Contact Countrywide again. They say they can't help because we make too much money. Because they added husband's net income to his gross income and used that figure! Request that they re-open our case. May 2009 - Told by Bank of America representative that they will not help us since it is not their fault we are over-extended. July 2009 - Contact Bank of America's Office of the President to request a loan mod. Cannot pay August mortgage payment. Faxed new hardship letter and required documents.

August 2009 - Assigned Bank of America Negotiator. August 21, 2009 - BOA negotiator calls to inform me that our request is being denied. She informed that we meet all of the requirements under President Obama's HAMP program, however, because my husband borrowed money from his retirement plan (which is depleted and we are still repaying), we do not qualify for a loan modification. She said that we are current on credit cards and car payments and therefore do not fall under the guidelines for assistance.

This is outright fraud. The HAMP stipulates that retirement accounts cannot be used to determine financial status and in addition, being behind on anything (credit cards, mortgage, etc.) is not a HAMP requirement. Think I am only one person? Wrong, go out to ** and read the thousands of horror stories. The lenders' feet must be held to the fire! If we continue to let this happen, our country will be in worse shape than it is now!

VERO BEACH, FLORIDA -- BOA is one of the biggest crooks on the planet and any scheme they come up with should be looked at with great scrutiny and a great deal of skepticism. These greedy creeps participated in the biggest mortgage scheme of the century that helped to put us into an economic and housing crisis that will last for at least a decade. Yet, as any of you have ever tried to get a mortgage from them lately know, they now treat their customers and potential customers as if THEY were the crooks!

We are trying to get a mortgage and have credit scores of over 800, own a home that is paid off, have solid work histories for over 30 years, pay off our credit card in full each month and only have a car payment each month. We've never filed bankruptcy or had a judgment against us. We collect rent on our paid off home and are in the process of buying another home in Florida. We put down 25% as the down payment and the Loan-to-Value ratio is only 75%. But BOA is treating us like we are trying to rob them of the $135K instead of borrowing it.

Each day I awaken to another litany of unreasonable and often silly demands for documentation that proves nothing more than the documentation they already have which includes 3 years of tax returns and letters of explanation for just about every deposit into our checking account that is over $1,000 for the past 3 months. We're supposed to close on our new house in a few days and they still have not given us final approval for the loan.

The stress has been incredible. IF THERE IS EVER AN INDUSTRY IN NEED OF REGULATING IT IS THE BANKING INDUSTRY. But we'll never see it in our lifetime and there is very little people in the 99% can do about it. The bank that was too big to fail took taxpayer money to save it, paid out millions in bonuses to their executives and is doing nothing to help get us out of this mess that they helped to create... unless, of course, it is a plan that benefits them first.

CINCINNATIE, OHIO -- I am not kidding - our family has been held in home loan approval hell for THREE months!! We began our honest journey to obtain a home loan on November 30, 2011. Today is February 16, 2012. As of today, our loan continues to be delayed due to EXCESSIVE PAPERWORK issues and "conditions not yet met."

Mind you, my husband and I have fantastic credit (both of us over 840), we have investments worth far more than the loan we are seeking, and the loan we are seeking is much less than what we were "pre-approved" for. We began by completing and sending in the loan paperwork that was provided to us. It sits around at Bank of America. We call to ask why the hold-up. They suddenly decide to review the paperwork. OH! They need more information. We send it in ASAP.

It goes to the all-mysterious Underwriter who sits on it for a very long time. The paperwork comes back - but it is "incomplete." However, we don't know this because Bank of America doesn't call us - we have to call them - asking "what is going on." OH! They need more information... This goes on and on and on. Delay after delay after delay.

Bank of America will make you feel like a dirty criminal. Bank of America will treat you and your spouse like liars and cheats. My husband and I are honest people who live with honor and integrity and we deeply resent the implication that the information that we have submitted (and it has been LOTS and LOTS) is untrue or that we are trying to pull one over on them. Be WARNED. Even when you do call, you will not get through. You can expect to leave a message. Do not expect a return call, not even as a courtesy.

I feel that Bank of America is completely incompetent and fails (epically) to treat its customers with respect. Three months, numerous documents submitted, and no clear end in sight. I don't know what to do. Starting over is not an option for our timeline. Avoid Bank of America. Avoid them like the plague.