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Kevin of Burlingame CA (07/16/08)
My Annual Flood insurance was required by the bank at liability level of $222,600 for my house. I found difficult to understand why I had to increase the liability from $202,400 (last years level) to$222,600 on property that lost value during the previous year. Oh well you cant fight the banks so I increased the policy over last year to their required level and forwarded copies to Bank of America. This policy coverage was for one year dating from 2/22/2008 and expiring on 2/22/2009. This was done in March after I found out I need to do the increase. I received a confirmation letter on April 11, 2008 acknowledging my compliance.
In May they stated I needed to increase my levels even more. I do not feel it's ethical to request additional insurance levels after I have complied and have a current and active policy. I do understand when the policy comes up for renewal I would be required to pay the required increases. So according to my Flood Policy Declarations Replacement cost is 184,000 and per the bank requirements I put the additional $20,200 in coverage. And then one month after the compliance letter they requested an immediate increase of $27,400. I feel a 23% increase in a two month period is unsubstantiated especially with the property values dropping daily during that time in the double digits.
Please advise me of my rights and if possible a contact to discuss why I am in the highest risk zone under FEMA. The only flooding in the past thirty years was when the sewer system failed (25+ Years ago) to keep up with the new construction in the hills above my street. Since then millions of dollars of work has occurred and now have and updated system. During the seventy six years my house has existed there has not been a claim nor needed a claims. This destroys my cash flow every year being required to pay $1,400 in flood insurance and I only pay $1,200 for fire and hazard insurance at higher liability levels. I feel this is a gross abuse of a government system and I would like to know if I have any chance of fighting this.
Additional 143.85 on top of current insurance level premium of $1,279.00
Valerie of Dallas TX (06/05/08)
I explained to the BOA agent that I was calling about a letter we received which was drafted on May 27, 2008, eight days after our insurance agent had contacted them about a previous letter. The previous letter stated that BOA had not received a copy of our Homeowners Insurance Policy, and that it needed to be submitted right away. I called our agent (State Farm) and spoke with Jean. Sending the renewed policy is a matter of procedure for them, and she confirmed that it had already been sent, but that she would fax another copy to the number indicated on the BOA letter.
Weeks later, we received another letter from BOA stating that they still had not received a copy of the policy. I called State Farm and spoke with Jean. She said that not only did she fax the policy on May 19, but that she also called to follow up to be certain it was received. She spoke with a Ms. Chant, who claimed that the information had been entered in the computer. So I elected to call Bank of America myself to try to get to the heart of the problem. I explained the history in the way it is described above. I was speaking with an agent named Sonja. When I told her that Chante told the agent that the information was in the computer. She replied I dont know why she said that because it can take 24 hrs for a fax to be entered into our system. She added, we receive and send so many faxes that a lot of times they get lost. Theres so much things get lost.
I mean, this is what BOA DOES receive and process information. Our private information, scattered to the winds, not once, but twice now, within the confines of BOAs offices. After I was assured that Sonja would take care of the problem, I was passed on to a survey. I was on hold for eight minutes waiting to be connected. When I finally was, I was asked by recorded message to enter the five-digit agent number. I was not provided with a number! The call then disconnected after saying thank you for your feedback.
So I go on the web and there is no Consumer Relations department in BOA. There is no recourse, other than to go through the incompetent channels weve already traversed.
A car loan we once had with BOA was paid off before we ever received a payment book (I believe it arrived two months prior to the payoff month of the loan and we asked repeatedly for it to be provided) and dont even ask my husband why he doesnt have a debit card with them. This is the worst bank Ive ever dealt with in the competence and customer service arena.
No damage as yet, but the most recent letter did imply that BOA would begin to charge their OWN insurance fee if the information was not received within 28 days of the date of the letter (to the tune of $516.)
William of Gilbert AZ (05/17/08)
I was in underwriting and had been approved by a local Arizona Lender for a 95% LTV loan at 6.5% 30 year fixed. I called a NH Bank Of America loan officer, just to shop and they (Jamie) told me that the loan that I was getting ready to close on was paying 2% back to the broker and charging me for it. (This was not the case I later found out) Jamie from Bank of America told me that BOA does not charge back end to their customers and if I gave her my business they would put me in a 95% LTV, 6.375%, 30 year fixed NO MI,lender paid closing cost loan with 1.57% in points only. Jamie sent me the Good Faith Estimate, submitted my loan and told me that was it. I asked her what else I need to provide and she told me that with my good credit and history, just my drivers license number and expiration date. I thanked her for wonderful service and called my local loan broker and told them I was withdrawing my application and going with Bank of America. They were very upset with me and stated that I was set to close and had already received clear to close commitment. I told them I didn't care, Bank of America was giving me a better deal with NO Hassle.
A few days later, in the mail I received my Bank of America disclosures and commitments. I called Jamie and asked why the loan commitment showed a 90% LTV approval. Jamie from Bank of America told me that, I might have to pay 10% down because I could be in a declining market. I told Jamie that I had already been approved at 95% with a local lender. Jamie explained that it will be off the appraisal. My appraisal had already been done. Both my appraisals had been valued at purchase contract price. I objected to the deal and Jamie said she would take care of it, not a problem. She changed my loan on-line and sent me emails saying the bosses were aware and it would be fixed. Jamie asked me to put at least 5% of the purchase price in a Bank of America account. I did that within an hour of her asking me to.
Days passed, I inquired, nothing. Her Boss Derek Sawyer the sales manager for Bank of America loans called me and said he would personally take over the loan and see that it got done right. I never got a call back from him within 24 hours like he said he would. I sent him an email for an update and within an hour I had a phone call from Jamie again at Bank of America apologizing to me that the bank guidelines were for my loan to be at 90% and there was nothing she could do. Jamie said that she could call a local branch in Arizona and see if they could do a 95% FHA loan for me. I asked her to send along all the guidance she had received from above her and I would be following up with legal process
Well, first...I've been called to active-duty deployed on the US/Mexico border. I needed to have my family in a home and mortgage that did not require such a large upfront payment. I have had sleepless nights when I should be getting my rest for military duty because I was stressed out about this loan. The stress of having to put so much cash into a loan that I was not sold in the first place is unbearable. This was a bait and switch deal. I have the 95% GFE from BOA and emails to prove it. I have the documents from the other Lender proving I was closing on the 95% LTV loan with them. I have email conversations that outlines, Jamie telling me that the other loan was a bad one and I should go with her bank, Bank of America.
My wife is beside herself that we have to empty our saving account and we still have to move across country at our own expense and were suppose to buy another car. I'm leaving for Iraq again soon and we will be in financial hardship because I was told and sold something that was not delivered and I believe Bank of America Mortgage Employees deliberately defrauded me into using Bank of America, by lying to me, providing official loan documents that were fraudulent, keeping the Official BOA On line Mortgage Tracker showing my loan closing on a 95% LTV loan all the way to the end. Bank of America representatives used inaccurate, false, and fraudulent efforts to lure me away from another lender and trap me into a loan I did not wish to be in.
Lee of Climax GA (05/09/08)
my son is attempting to purchase a house. he is self employed, he told the bank up front he was self employed and how much he makes. the bank said no problem they could loan him the money. this was 6 weeks ago and every week since then they have told him he needs something else. first bank statements then w-2's then his tax returns now they want a co-signer .
if all of this had been told up-front this would not be a problem but when they wait until the work day before closing this now becomes a problem. i gave the bank my personal info so i could co-sign. bank said ok now bank tells me i have to send tax returns, w-2;s and pay stubs.
B. of Natick MA (05/08/08)
I took out two mortgages last summer with Bank of America, and it has been quite a ride since then. First, they gave me high rates (7.5 and 9.875). Then, after three separate calls in September to make 100% sure they would be paying out my Real Estate taxes in October, the condo building own nastily tells me in November that the taxes were not paid, and he will send a lawyer after me. Turns out that my condo unit is being assessed as part of the building and not as an individual unit just yet. The city is not planning to re-assess for a year, says the building owner. I make gosh-knows how many calls to get the situation straightened out, but they still won't budge.
Meanwhile, the building owner is making threats, and he wants me to pay twice. I finally stop paying the taxes with my mortgage payments to BOA, and they start fining me. I spent more time on the phone and on hold -- until they finally agree they will pay the taxes if I give them a copy of the invoice and the percentage I owe. In the meantime, they sent out mail to the wrong address, and they even sent me a statement saying they sent my taxes to Baltimore instead of Boston. Then after that situation was supposedly worked out, they started sending notices threatening to harm my credit report because they said my mortgage was late. I pay early each month!
Finally, again, after many phone calls and much time speaking with supervisors and on hold, they finally acknowledged that they had applied my payment incorrectly, but it is still showing up as late online. And forget their credit card: Now, I'm getting hit with a $144 finance charge, when I just made a $900 payment (over $500 more than the minimum). And they won't lower my interest rate. They are criminals, in my book. And incompetent. I am going to find a way to pay down this card, and get refinanced with someone else as soon as possible. Don't do business with this bank.
I have been so upset time and time again from all of their incompetencies. Every time I give them my mailing address, they send things out to the wrong address. They don't let one supervisor get to know you and the problems. You have to tell the whole story over and over again...and they have the nerve to ask How can I exceed your expectations today? They have stressed me out so bad at times, I've felt ill.
I'm just a faceless set of numbers to this organization. They do strange things, like change the credit payment due date, which is another stressful situation. If they waste your time or cause you headaches or emotional harm, you get nothing. If you are slightly late on something or perceived late, they can assess tremendous fees. I don't understand why our time and sanity isn't worth anything these days in the eyes of this bank.
C. of Kansascity MO (05/06/08)
I applied for a mortgage loan with BOA last year and they went through Fannie Mae. I have 4 different applications with 4 intentionally misspelled names and addresses. Fannie Mae regulator made them speak to me. Fannie Mae says I do not have a loan because they cannot find my correct name and address. The four loan applications i never signed. I worked with a Broker first time and she lived 70 miles away. Recommended by Realtor. Appraisal was falsified. BOA declined first loan with a falsfied statement saying lender seller credits were exceeding closing costs. Seller was in short sale she had no money. I saw fannie mae findings and there were no seller credits.
BOA now tells me they have no final documents for fannie mae loan. My income BOA stated they verified was intentionally inflated $300 to get me into a loan I could not repay. Don't file complaints with OCC. They are worthless. I have had better luck with state agencies. These are falsified signatures and initials on loan documents and deed, note, etc. We have a falsified HUD-1 form, cutup and altered. The worst part is I have been a loyal and trust BOA have been with them 15 years and they spit in my face. It took them over 3 months to respond to OCC and OCC would not nothing about it. It is a real joke. BOA had violated so many state, Federal and other violations and I do have a lawyer but he is a civil lawyer and I think I need a criminal lawyer.
I am physically and emotionally drained from the discriminatory way I have been treated with BOA. They used to be quality and now they are quantity and greed and it makes me sick. They would not work with me at all let alone talk to me. My mental status has deteriorated because all BOA had to do was use due diligence and take care of this matter to begin with. I think they prey on the older lower-income women.
I was supposed to put 5% down and they made me pay in the end 20%. I did not get the EA TPR loan I was supposed to get. Why don't borrowers who are abused stand up to BOA? Are people afraid of them? That is why they are getting away with treating people like this. BOA thinks they do not have to speak to me but they will have to speak to the judge in court.
Rhonda of Panama City Beach FL (05/05/08)
I asked for a 30 year fixed mortgage. I got to the closing and was presented with an ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE to adjust in five years. I called the lender...received voice mail. He later told me you can re finance, no problem. No BOA will not refinance or fix the problem. And OF COURSE i signed the papers at closing...I had no where else to live !
Karyn of Charlotte NC (04/21/08)
I went into the branch to make my Bank of America mortgage payment on November 17th of last year, due on December 1st. I included a payment coupon and wrote my mortgage account number on the check. I received my receipt and thought all was well. A week or so later, I received my credit card statement (issued by Bank of America) and saw that the exact amount of my mortgage payment showed as a payment to this card. Cold chills. I called the credit card immediately and the man I spoke with was, of course, completely unsympathetic and no help whatsoever. He said they could refund the amount to me but that I would be charged a balance transfer fee equal to 3% of the transaction amount! I pointed out that this was Bank of America error but he was, of course, firm that there was absolutely no other way. I drove back to the branch and talked to a supervisor. To her credit, she acknowledged that it was a teller error (and pointed out that my receipt had a tiny, faint, CDT printed on in rather than MTG). She called the credit card company for me and they agreed to refund the payment at no charge - however, I would need to wait 7-10 days for a paper check by mail.
Apparently, there was no way AT ALL for them to transfer it to my bank account with incurring a balance transfer fee. I received the check in time, fortunately, to get my mortgage payment in by the grace period, no problem. Also, I was assured that since this card was a 0% balance transfer card (and all I was using it for) that I would not be charged interest on this refund. Naturally, the next billing cycle, my credit card statement showed a purchase of the amount of my refund and was accruing interest. I had a $5,000 balance on the card already due to 0% balance transfers so, obviously, this relatively small dollar amount of interest will quickly add us since payments are applied to lowest interest balance first. I called the number on my card, explained the sitation, spoke to a supervisor who was very polite and helpful and she assured my that the amount showing in purchases would be recategorized and the interest would be refunded.
Well, the interest was refunded but the next month the refund had STILL not been recategorized! I called again and spoke to a little punk who did what I asked but made a smart little comment about the money I was making off of them (bless their little hearts!) by getting the interest refunded to my account yet again. So far, everything has been okay since. The most frustrating thing to me is simply the idiot bank teller who started the whole problem requiring miles on my car and hours on the phone. With all the supporting documentation and account numbers provided when I made the mortgage payment in the first place, there is no reason why she applied it to the wrong account other than pure carelessness and poor customer service.
Dan of Chico CA (03/22/08)
Bank of America has just put a hold on my home equity line of credit account without notifying me. My credit score remains a solid 700-plus with no recent changes. My payment history is absolutely perfect. I have never had a late or missed payment on anything my entire life. I have been doing business with BofA since 1993. They have my first mortgage, my home equity line, 2 personal checking accounts, my corporate checking, corporate savings, and a corporate SBA express line of credit. They say they cancelled my home equity line simply because the recession and mortgage crisis have lowered my property value and the loan to value is now to high. I asked why they didn't notify me and they said that a letter was just put in the mail yesterday. Yesterday doesn't cut it! Why not just pick up the phone?
It just so happened that I was in the bank trying make a transfer from equity to cover a business improvement that I already made, and I thought I was using money that I could count on. It also happened to be payday for my employees and the business account was not OK. Not a nice feeling when the teller says your account is frozen in front of other tellers and customers. I also had to race to stop my contractor from continuing a structural change on my home add-on that we were financing through this line. I lost a half of a day during business hours trying to shake down accounts receivables and basically embarrassing myself in front of my customers. I had to tell them that they were not late but I needed the money. All the while my business was running at half rate with the boss gone.
The amount of financial stress I went through was indescribable. I have plenty of financial resources but everything takes planning. I should not have been put on the spot like that. The last point I need to make is that my home value has not dropped as much as they think. They never gave me a chance to re-appraise. Since the last time they appraised me I have completely landscaped, redwood fenced, planted 5 large trees and 20 shrubs, installed auto sprinklers, completely remodeled the mother in-law suite (top of the line), and added on a cathedral ceiling/ glassed in patio room. My home value has not dropped nearly as much as they think. They just never asked.
Humiliated, Embarrassed, Stressed. Maybe $1000.00 or so in lost income for the day. And stuck with $4000.00 or so in business improvements that I would not have made otherwise.
Felicia of Highland CA (03/03/08)
I want Bank of America to make my house payment now and here is why. I have a notice of default that expires on March 5, 2008. My tax return was what I was using to catch up my house payments and now I don't know where it is because of what B OF A did. On Mon. Feb 25, 2008 the federal tax return was deposited via ATM at Bank of America. I have banked with B OF A for nearly 14 years and for the years of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 the tax returns have always been deposited via ATM and have always been honored. B OF A has never said anything to me about depositing them that way. On Tues. the 26th, I called to see if it had cleared and to my utter disbelief it was not in the account. When I inquired as to what happened to my deposit, I was told that the check was mailed back to my address because my husband's name is not on my account but it was on the check. Mind you his name along with mine, has been on all deposited and honored tax returns from 99 to 06. I HAVE NOT RECEIVED THAT CHECK BACK AND IT LOOKS LIKE I'M ABOUT TO LOSE MY HOUSE BECAUSE B OF A was irresponsible with my money.
How stupid is it to send a check that has been endorsed in the US mail? As a banking institution I expect a higher degree of professionalism, responsibility and trust. That check was for more than $11,000 and I haven't received it back. If I don't get it by the 3rd. of March I feel it's only right that B OF A make my house payment to cure the default. B OF A could have used Fed Ex or priority overnight mail with the US Postal Service. PLEASE HELP ME. I called the mortgage company on Feb. 20th to see if there was anything that could be done. The rep said that we pre qualified for a loan modification but that didn't mean that we were approved and that approval can take months. She also said that a letter of intent to foreclose was mailed if the loan isn't brought current on March 5th. Please what do I do? Thank you for your time.
I may lose my house because of B OF A's negligence. I have a notice of default that expires on March 5, 2008 and because B OF A seems to have misplaced my $11,000 + check, I'm facing foreclosure.
Stacy of Cameron Park CA (03/02/08)
I've been trying to get my mortgage loan account straightened out for 6 months. BofA made two errors on my account, and it's now costing me $300 to get an amended tax return as a result. The first mistake they made was paying the incorrect insurance company out of my escrow account. When I phoned customer service they told me I had to recover the payment from that insurance company and pay the correct one myself because they absolutely would not make a second payment from my escrow account for insurance. They then did just that, thus shorting my escrow account by $1600. I received a statement to reimburse my escrow account, which I did after verifying the address was appropriate with yet another customer service person. My check was cashed, but I didn't find out until 2 months later that they never recorded the check into my escrow account, but instead used it as a prepayment to my mortgage loan. I received a statement saying my escrow account was still short and that if I didn't pay them the $1600, that my mortgage payments would increase for the year by $120 per month!
When I contacted them (again), they found their mistake and fixed it, resulting in a corrected tax form. My problem is that my taxes were already filed, and now I have to pay $300 to have them amended. Bank of America's customer service people could not have cared less about my problem and actually blamed me for not catching the error sooner, though they still deny any wrongdoing on their part.
I lost several months' worth of interest on money that should have been deposited into my escrow account, and I have to pay $300 to have income tax amendments filed.
Lisa of Hawley PA (02/28/08)
My ex-Husband and I had refinanced an equity loan on our then home. I had no income and bad credit. The original loan was in his name. We both signed the mortgage papers at the bank because my name was on the deed. Nothing was to be different except the equity line was being increased. A few months later as I was looking over the documents again, I realized that the loan was put into my name not my husband's. I called the bank and asked why was this done. They had no answer. I told them I had no income, and why would it now be in my name with bad credit and no job and not in my husbands who had good credit and a career? No one could do anything and told me that is how it is, and we would have to refile to fix it and pay the money to redo the loan. We were divorced in Dec. of 2005. I signed the house over to my ex in exchange for him to take over mortgage and payments. I have a court order signed by a judge where ex agreed to do so and not hold me liable.
April of 2007 house was foreclosed and sold at sheriff's auction. Ex-husband failed to follow court order and remove the mortgage from my name and put into his. A $212,000 foreclosure is now on my credit report and is causing me great damage to credit. Bank of America/Fleet would NOT do anything to correct the error. They gave a mortgage to someone who has bad credit, as I did, and no income what-so-ever. What were they thinking? I now have my credit ruined when my ex had his name on the original documents, and Bank of America/Fleet messed it up and put mine instead!
Eric of Greenville SC (02/25/08)
We were supposed to close on a home loan on Oct 30th but were not able to because they called me that morning saying they forgot to get the house inspected. We closed on Nov 2nd, but the loan amount we agreed to more than a month earlier was lowered because they changed their minds on letting me do add-ons such as TV and refrigerator. I was given less than 24 hours notice on this. Bank of America has a close-on-time guarantee. If they don't close on time, they are supposed to make the first mortgage payment. They have ignored and delayed me on getting this done. Now they are telling me they can't do it because more than 30 days has passed since the closing and that the closing amount changed. BOA changed the amount; not me! I also submitted a letter of complaint right after the closing (much less than 30 days after the signing).
This would come to $806.05. This is the mortgage payment minus tax and insurance. We had also talked about using the $1000 from the seller to buy down the rate. When I went to sign, they also had me paying an additional $750 to buy down the rate. I may have over looked this in all the paper work, but I don't remember us ever discussing this beforehand. I am very frustrated that I cannot get any progress made on these issues in over 3 months.
Jernita of Alexandria VA (02/18/08)
I was pre-qualified for a $295,000 loan through the use of undocumented income. My builder accepted the letter from Bank of America, and I asked me for $4425 for the earnest deposit. Well, when I went to get qualified for the loan, I was told that they no longer loans through the use of undocumented income; and now I need a co-signer. I cannot find a co-signer, and my builder wants another $4425 from me because they claim that I am in default of my contract agreement because I won't have the funds to go to settlement. So basically I am a first time home buyer who spent $8000 +, and I have no place to live because Bank of America changed the rules of the game once I invested my $4425 into my condo unit. I owe another $4425 .
David of Piedmont OK (02/11/08)
Major mortgage problems with Bank of America. My wife and I began to build a new home in April 2006 after getting approval for a mortgage from Bank of America. My builder was very up front about the fact he didn't trust Bank of America and wanted us to switch to some of his other preferred lenders. We evaluated what they had to offer and decided Bank of America at the time was still a better option. All was well until 1 week before closing and our first Bank of America appraisal was 10K less than the actual build price. My builder again pushed for using his lenders saying he could still get the deal closed in time if we hurried, plus he trusted the appraisal would be fair. My builder was also upset that the appraiser would not use provided specs for comparison properties and found properties over 2 miles from my house location to bring the value down. I demanded Bank of America get a second appraisal that still came up short by 4K. The second appraiser would not work with my builder to help determine property values either in the area. I eventually agreed to pay the difference at closing, which was 4K, and my builder ate the cost of about 2K in upgrades we still owed to get the loan closed on time.
Of note, my house is the only one our builder has built that has under-appraised, and he's been building homes for over 25 years. According to him, it is also the only time BofA has made it to closing on one of his homes. At closing, after all papers where signed, my builder comes back to the room to notify us Bank of America won't release the funds to close the loan. After 3 hours at the title company making phone call after phone call we find out Bank of America forgot to verify the home had been completed and wouldn't release any funds until they send a rep to the property to visually verify the home was ready to move in. At this point my builder closed on 2 other properties while we waited in the waiting room for our money to get released. He even showed us the house he closed on after us and how a VA appraisal on it was for more per square foot than BofA would give us on our custom build. This house was in our same neighborhood. Finally the money came through and BofA just acted like they did us a favor and never apologized for the screw up.
Now, 14 months later, BofA wants $2400 in escrow shortage because they only calculated a vacant lot property tax into our mortgage payment last year. On top of that, our house appraised by the county assessor for within 500 of what we payed for it 5 months after closing. I to this day believe BofA pressured the appraisals to be low. Overall working with them has been a nightmare. I'll be cutting all ties with BofA as soon as possible.
At closing, cost over 4K more out of pocket due to low appraisal as well as sitting for 3 hours at title company so mistake could be fixed. $2400 now owed for escrow shortage. Increase in monthly payment by $150 if escrow shortage payed in full, or $350 if payed out over next 12 payments.
Debra of Lees Summit MO (02/09/08)
When we were looking to purchase a house, we asked Bank of America what our payment would be if we bought this particular house. Since that was an affordable amount, we sat down signed papers and closed. They told us our payment was $1862.00 per month including taxes and insurance. Now it is February 2008, and we get a letter stating that our escrow account is severely short; and we will have to come up with the 2007 shortage of escrow, and our house payment will be going up $500.00.
We looked back at the paper work, and the mistake THEY made was that they wrote down our old property taxes on our previous house ($2400.00) instead of the new house ($4200.00). I feel this is very unfair. If we would have known our payment would have been so high, we probably would not have signed on this home. They also wrote the previous city on the paper work, too. Is there anything that we can do about this?
Murtadha of Fullerton CA (01/22/08)
I changed my insurance specs with Farmers Insurance to include stolen jewelery. I have a mortgage with Bank of America. When the insurance with Farmers was changed, Bank of America sent me a letter to notify me that if I did not have wind insurance coverage, I would have to get their insurance (if I did not settle the discrepancy with my Farmers policy within 3 months). Their (Bank of America) insurance would cost $3981 a year. Farmers Insurance contacted Bank of America and sorted out the wind coverage with them. My Farmer's policy costs me $973 a year.
I am concerned that I would have had to pay not twice, but four times as much, to cover my house with Farmers and am troubled about the greed that a corporate company such as Bank of America has gotten into. My mortgage loan has been paid back with no missing payments, and my credit rating is excellent, so I feel Bank of America is asking too much if Farmers would have failed and had not provided a safety net for the consumer. BOA is on the hunt for consumers to pay them more if given the opportunity, rather than serving the consumer. This policy should be investigated to protect the consumer regarding Mortgage associated house insurances.
Robin of Pine CO (01/02/08)
I purchased a home in May of 2007. Never late on a payment. Unfortunately, my husband and I did not qualify, and the house is in my son's name. We have the house on the market to sell, and currently have renters living in the home. We have always made our payments on time, but the problem is they contacted my son saying we were 3 months behind and threatened foreclosure. They said we were more than $3,000 behind. This is absolutely NOT true. I looked at the bank statements, and then on Bank of Americas website and found SEVERAL of our payments to be sitting in a FUNDS TO SUSPENSE account. The only reason I can notice is that we were making bi-weekly payments and sometimes weekly payments, but were actually paying more than what our mo. mortgage was. I'm not sure if this is legal or not and do not know how to force B of A to release my money. Any FULL payment we've made shows as Payment Applied.
My son was trying to purchase a vehicle and was turned down due to Bank of America reporting him as more than 90 days late on his mortgage payment. My understanding is that this could be reversed and his credit repaired as a Bank error.
E. of North Augusta SC (12/28/07)
Bank of America misapplied payments to 3 mortgage accounts we have. It has taken my wife a solid year for the Mortgage department to finally admit they made a mistake with applying payments from a year ago. They stated they would credit all late fees, but we have not seen any type of written indication of the monetary amount of that credit or a letter of apology. Mortgage department stated they would send a letter to the credit agencies.
Damaged my credit rating to where I was unable to get refinancing on 2 separate financial transactions with my personal bank, Security Federal. Falsely reported on my credit rating that I was delinquent on payments when I was not.
Patricia of Berwyn IL (12/01/07)
I just bought my first house one year ago. At closing I was so happy and proud until I found out later that Bank of America was paying taxes they were not supposed to pay for my property. The previous owner was responsible for paying the taxes for when he still resided there. BofA knew that. All of a sudden I received a new payment booklet from Bank of America saying my new mortgage payment was $2400.00 dollars because I owed over $8000.00 dollars worth of taxes that I was not even responsible for. They took it upon themselves to pay taxes for a property that I did not even live in. I had my lawyer step in. When I asked to meet with a representative to discuss this sloppy mess, they said, well, we are in New York city and unfortunately the individual branches cannot help, only the mortgage department can deal with this. I have missed work on account of this and am in complete emotional distress for fear that I might lose my house.
I have spoken to so many BOA mortgage reps about this and each one has a different response. They all sound like robots. I would so much like to talk to the CEO about this problem. Why should I have to request all these refunds from Cook County Treasurer's office in Chicago, Illinois? BofA made the mistake; they should remedy the situation.
Evonne of Crandall, GA (09/06/07)
We recently refinanced our home with Bank of America. We thought since we currently had our mortgage there, that it would be easier to refinance with them. We had a terrible experience.
There were about 5 different departments handling our loan. We were unable to get call backs after messages were left. They made many mistakes (re:escrow, income, debts). We were told something different every time we talked to someone different.
We had a 1-hour notice on the closing, and even then when we got to the lawyers office, some of the paper work was incorrect. We were having to call the bank from the lawyers office.
It was a terrible experience.
Thomas of Northfield NJ (08/01/07)
I made many additional principal payments on my mortgage in order to save interest. The mortgage required PMI insurance. Federal PMI regulations state that PMI should be calculated as .5% of the previous years mortgage balance. Bank of America refused to recalculate the PMI and charged me PMI based on the original amortization schedule. As a result, my PMI payments were approximately 1 1/2% of the previous years average balance instead of the half a percent it should have been.
I paid a couple thousand dollars more for PMI than I should have.
Frank of Hillsborough NJ (08/02/06)
We refinanced with BOA in March of 2006 and, after reporting our previous real estate taxes (which did not rise this year) were given an estimated monthly payment a little over $1700.00. We paid on time through May, June, and July, but when I went online to pay the August payment, it was reported as being around $2065.00. After checking with the Hillsborough, NJ tax assessor's office to make sure there had been no increase, I approached the Hillsborough branch of BOA. A helpful employee there contacted the mortgage department and informed me that the difference was because of the initial estimate (based upon our reporting of previous taxes, remember) was more than $300.00 short and that the bank, in accepting our $1700.00 payments, had run us about $1400.00 into escrow debt and had to reclaim the money by upping our payment. We were not informed in time of the bank's mistake and would not have been informed at all, had I not gone to the branch and had an inquiry made.
We are stuck with a 350.00 extra payment for at least a year. It won't force us into bankruptcy, but it will sure cause me to look into another refinance (vey carefully) and also open me to the possibility of switching banks.
Les of Alpharetta, GA (03/13/06)
After being pre-qualified and paying $200 for a credit check, we had very sporadic communications with B of A prior to closing on a home in Leesburg, FL. We were told that we were locked in at an interest rate of around 6.5% and there would be closing costs. The calls continued right up to the last minute, when we were told we needed closing costs of $7500.
Just prior to the closing, we were informed that closing costs would now be $8000, and that some things they had "just" found on our credit report would cause our interest rate to go up to 7.5%. We were also told to come up with $2200+ to pay items that they were uncomfortable with on our credit report.
So, our interest rate when up a full percent after we were told we were locked in; our closing costs were increased the morning of the closing; we were asked for an additional $2200+ at the closing, and we had to light a fire under the B of A rep just for the closing to take place on the day it was scheduled, since we had drive over 6 hrs from GA to FL.
Esperanza of Houston TX (10/26/05)
I called Bank of America Mortgage to make arrangements to postpone payment after my house and health were seriously affected by the recent storms in Texas. They said that they would not draft any money until I told them later this year. The next day, they drafted the payment anyway. I called to ask why the draft was done and they were very rude and sarcastic in their replies.
The employees transferred me around and said that they had no record of the payment arrangements, and they "could not refund the money" because I needed more technical information about how the payments are done. When I asked to be connected to the customer satisfaction survey, they transfer me to the checking department.
Sandra of Frisco TX (5/17/05):
We refinanced our mortgage and the bank left out some taxes out. We found out a year later and we had a shortage that we had to pay asap. Our mortgage payment went from $1100 to $1460.
Curtis of Cocoa FL (1/5/05):
I applied for a mortgage with Becky at the Titusville, FL, Barna Avenue branch. She made a mistake that is costing my wife and me thousands of dollars. She told me that I would need $141,598.50 for an October 25, 2004 closing. I was surprised that I would need that much for a closing before the builder had a permit to clear the lot. I expected the closing to be sixty to ninety days before moving into the house, since that was what other mortgage companies offered.
In order to raise the $141,598.50 I had to borrow $50,000.00 from my 401 K and money from other investments. Late afternoon before closing Becky advised me that she had made a mistake that I only needed $28,788.94 for the closing. I told her that I wish she had told me that before I borrowed the $50,000.00 and withdrew the money from other investments. She said she was sorry that she made a mistake.
As a result of Becky's mistake, I am paying $405.00 per month on the $50,000.00 loan. So it is now costing us rather than making money. I had to stop putting the money into my 401 K so I could afford to make the payments. The decreased contribution caused an increase in my Federal income tax. It adds up to an expensive mistake.
We originally planned to borrow the $50,000.00 from my 401 k for a much later closing after I had used other available funds. I only planned to make a few payments before paying the loan with proceeds from the sale of our present home. We did not want to sell our home until the new home was built. My builder said he was very surprised that this happened to us since he recommended Becky. He also said Bank of America should do something about it since it was the their mistake that caused it.
I cannot get anyone at Bank of America to talk to me or respond to my letters.
Minawatee of Rosedle, NY, writes (6/21/01):
It all started when I sent out my mortgage payment on july of 2000, in the amount of $1,413.89, and the Bank of America tried to collect $5,413.89 from my bankwhich is Chase Manhattan Bank. For obvious reasons the check was retruned to Bank of America un paid. To my surprise they re-deposited the check again for $5,413.99, instead of $1,413.99. In the mean time Chase is changing my account for insufficient funds, now to top it all off Bank of America is trying to collect late payment charges in the amount of $59.31 from me. I have copies of all correspondents I sent to the Bank of America along with cancelled checks, and charges from Chase.
Melissa & Brian of Appleton, WI, write:
Our mortgage was sold to Bank of America Mortgage with the first payment due August 1, 1999. Monthly payments go to Texas although the customer service number is out of New York. It seems the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing!
On October 21, 1999 a letter was received from Bank of America stating that our monthly mortgage payment was not received and if the payment is received more than 30 days after the due date the loan may be reported to the credit bureau and a field representative may be engaged to inspect the collateral and conduct an interview regarding the delinquency. A fee for the inspection service would be assessed to the loan.
I called Bank of America on October 26, 1999 and spoke with Jackie regarding the issue and discovered that there was a discrepancy with the August payment. My bank statement indicated that Bank of America did in fact cash all of the checks from August to the present; however, Jackie required proof (copies of cancelled checks) before an investigation could be done. Jackie also said she would refund the bank copy fee. This is ludicrous since they had my money and someone would need to look into it anyway.
I went to our bank where copies of the checks showed Bank of America had deposited them in August. On November 4, 1999 I faxed Bank of America, Attention Dan, copies of my cancelled checks, a receipt for copy fee from my credit union in the amount of $4.00, and a letter requesting a recap of the account. I requested receipts from Bank of America in the future so that I would know the payments have been received. The faxed document was confirmed received by Bank of America.
November 10th I received a very generic letter from Bank of America, Robyn D., indicating that adjustments have been made to the account. There was no acknowledgement of my requests of a recap, future receipts or reimbursement.
I followed up on November 16, 1999 and was told to call back in a week if I did not receive payment. This was unacceptable to me so I called back and spoke with Joanne, who said she would send a recap, note the system and follow up for the reimbursement.
November 18th, B.o.A. letter with a payment history, current only to the10th!
December 27, 1999 phone call with Bank of America, Sara H., confirmed that additional principal payments went directly to the escrow, another unacceptable mistake. The $4.00 fee had not been processed yet nor had the taxes been paid. In addition my husband was told to fax all the information from November 4th again, since it was lost. (We had a fax confirmation and the November 8, 1999 letter stating they adjusted the account. How many times must one send in documentation??)
December 27, 1999 phone call with Bank of America, Beverly V., explained escrow disbursement procedures that Universal Mortgage Corporation should have notified the county and insurance company of change in lenders.
My question is: How do I know this has been done? Ms. V. said she would forward for processing. I repeatedly asked to speak with a supervisor. Ms V. assured me that her supervisor would call back in 24 to 48 hours.
December 29th we receive yet another letter from B.o.A., Beverly Vickers, with another payment history, this time only current to the 2nd of December!
As of December 30, 1999 the taxes had not yet been paid. Pam N., Supervisor at Bank of America has not returned the phone call.
Surprised?!! We financed our first home in 1983 and have never once been late with a payment. I resent having my credit history threatened by a company, which refuses to look into a situation until I prove that they are wrong!!
Bank of America will need to take a good look at their accounting methods in the future if they wish to compete in the market.
The only equitable remedy at this point would be to remit the $4.00, deducte all finance charges back to the first screw up and provide up to date monthly statements.
We recommended to Melissa and Brian that they sue BofA in Small Claims Court for the fees, copying costs, misappropriated funds, etc., rather than continuing to spend time and energy on the phone. They didn't seem to like that answer:
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July 20 2008
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