News
Bank of America stalls on mortgage help, homeowners say
307 complaints filed with attorney general
Protesters stood outside a Bank of America office complex downtown April 14 where borrowers who fall behind in their payments go to renegotiate their mortgages. Photo courtesy Jill Mangaliman / Washington CAN.
Marcus Segarra wants a place he can sit down and discuss his mortgage problems. He wants to go to a bank branch or office where the same person helps him every time, not the various people he’s been dealing with at call centers in California or Colorado who provide different answers or none at all.
That’s just one problem that Segarra says he and his wife have faced while trying to get Bank of America to modify their mortgage so they can stay in their two-bedroom Algona home. In January, the 27-year-old Segarra lost his job as a union plumber and, since then, the couple hasn’t had much luck getting the bank to reduce their terms.
That changed on April 15 when Segarra learned that Bank of America had accepted the couple into a federal loan modification program introduced last year by the Obama Administration. But Segarra says that he had to call to find out that he’d been accepted – and he only did that, he says, because of a confusing packet he got in the mail from the bank saying that some paperwork was missing, without saying what it was.
Segarra isn’t alone. Last week, he and 30 other Bank of America customers took part in a protest at the bank’s downtown Seattle offices to demand action on the run-around that they and the event’s organizers – Washington CAN and a new community-action group called OUR Washington – say the company is giving homeowners at a time when foreclosures are hitting an all-time high.
On April 15, RealtyTrac, a company that reports home foreclosure statistics, said that bank repossessions of U.S. homes increased 35 percent between the first quarter of 2010 and 2009 – the biggest quarterly jump, the company said, since it started issuing foreclosure reports in January 2005. The number of homes in pre-foreclosure proceedings also hit more than 900,000 in the first quarter, a jump of 16 percent from one year ago and 7 percent from the last three months of 2009.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America is the nation’s largest servicer of mortgage loans, in part because it acquired Countrywide Mortgage in 2008. Countrywide, in turn, was a national leader in making subprime mortgages like the one the Segarras got – an “80/20” deal in which the couple avoided making a down payment by taking out one loan for 80 percent of the home’s purchase price and another, “interest-only” loan that made up 20 percent.
The problem with interest-only loans is that they can’t be repaid. And the larger loan the couple took out was an adjustable-rate mortgage that would reset, or go up, in five years. Like many people during the subprime mortgage boom, the Segarras expected to refinance the home well before the five years were up – except now they can’t. With the recession, the value of the house has dropped below the amount they owe on it, making it impossible to refinance.
Bank of America has just accepted them into a three-month trial of the federal Home Affordable Mortgage Program, but the modification doesn’t amount to much, he says: just $37 off their existing mortgage payment. And he won’t see that in writing until the bank sends along the paperwork 30 days from now.
Segarra’s experience is typical, says Marcola Nixon, a HUD-certified mortgage counselor with Seattle nonprofit Solid Ground. Of the 50 to 70 calls that Solid Ground gets each week from people seeking loan modifications or other help, Nixon says, up to two-thirds of them are from Bank of America homeowners who are often very distraught.
They complain that the bank has lost paperwork or, like Segarra, they got a notice telling them some unidentified information is missing and, as a result, they were forced to start the whole process over.
Others have entered the three-month HAMP trial, Nixon says, and then Bank of America dropped them without saying why they weren’t converted to a permanent loan modification. The bank charges them for the difference between their original mortgage payment and what they paid during the three-month trial.
The problems are not isolated to Bank of America, Nixon says, but it is one of the more difficult banks to deal with. Statistics from the HAMP program show that, of the 1.1 million Bank of America homeowners estimated to be eligible for the program – which requires being more than two months delinquent in payment – only 26 percent had received trial or permanent modifications through the end of March, putting Bank of America in the lower third of mortgage lenders nationwide.
Nixon points out, however, that the decision to modify a loan seldom rests with Bank of America, which bundles and sells its home loans to foreign banks and investors. If the investors don’t approve of a loan modification, she says, the only thing she can tell a homeowner is to try again later in hopes they’ll change their mind.
That, however, doesn’t explain the difficulties that Segarra and others have faced. According to the state Attorney General’s Office, 307 complaints specific to Bank of America’s loan modification practices have been filed since the start of 2009. Calls to two of the bank’s offices in Seattle and Texas were not returned.
“It’s frustrating,” Segarra says of Bank of America, which he and OUR Washington are demanding open a mortgage service center in the Seattle area.“They really don’t want to give the modifications. They just want to make it look like they’re trying.”
Comments
i find it very convienent for bank of america to loose our paperwork 2 times and never get back with us!!! we have kept in contact since were unable to make a payment, tried to file a hardship, mod, etc. I injured my back, lost my insurance, was unable to work the last year. then to top off our struggle my husband looses his job due to economy!! just lovely! at the last minute they send us a denial and before i could respond our house is to be sold the 6th of april. we have not heard anything since. we are also unable to find our home on forclosures??!! hmmm…..
My mortgage was with Countrywide & then sold to Bank of America. I have been trying since 07/09 to get in loan modification program with nothing but the run around with Bank of America. I was forced to retire due to having a stroke and falling and breaking my pelvis. I’m unable to work. I have had my mortgage for 4 yrs and haven’t missed a payment or been late. Every time I call BAC I get different answers. I have filed a complain with BBB because of what they promise and then don’t carry through. I find it amazing they took the bail out money but are refusing to help homeowners who never asked to be their customers. I would rather go back to Countrywide. I really wonder about all of this….....
My name is Tamee my husband and I have lived in our home for 25 years where we raised our 3 children. In September of 2009 I found a forclosure notice on my door, I had been late on payments but did not think I was THAT late, I called Bank of America that very day to ask what I could do to stop the forclosure,they told me i had to send them a money order for $1711.00 to reinstate my mortgage. I sent it overnight mail that very day. So thinking it was all taken care of I went on with my life. Just a day ago I got a check back from them for the March payment. The letter stated that I had to send what was the total due so this morning I called them to find out the total due. They told me that my house has been in foreclosure and was sold (taken out of my name) in December. I proceeded to explain about the $1711.00 to no avail. I then was transferred to the “escuation” department the man I spoke to said that they were receiving my payments but were not posting them way the they were intended. I still dont know what that meant. I was then transfered to the foreclosure department where I found out that in September when the man told me $1711.00 would get me reinstated should have told me that it was $4000.00 to get reinstated. This was not my fault but they dont care. I could have come up with the $4000.00 just like I came up with the $1711.00. Now it is too late, they will do nothing to help me but I can buy my house back for $35000.00 by June 17th
I was not surprised when I read this news article. I work as a consultant for Truth in Lending Auditors. We are an audit company. We investigate home loans for violations of the federal laws that protect borrowers. Every day, we get calls from homeowners, our database has thousands of people who contact us because they are victims of predatory lending and predatory servicing.
What surprises me is how many homeowners do not know that the loan they have probably carries at least 30 violations of the federal laws that lenders have to follow: we’ve all heard them - TILA, RESPA, HOEPA, ECOA. Homeowners are just amazed at how often we find fraud in their loans.
And then we hear from homeowners who say that the bank told them, “Well you signed it”. How many homeowners realize that it was the lender who “created it for them to sign”? Honestly if people want to save their homes and make the banks accountable, they need to get forensics. It makes the difference. And don’t believe the banks for a minute when they try to tell you forensics will do you no good. It is just another lie. It never ceases to amaze me at the number of lies lenders tell homeowners, and sadly the homeowner believes it. Protect Yourself.
Just remember this: we didn’t end up as a nation in foreclosure because the banks were giving you a solid loan that you were going to be able to hold onto for 30 years. What did the broker tell you when he signed the loan? Did he say something like we’ll get you out of this in a year or two, into something better? Probably. So he knew it wasn’t a good deal, but he wanted that kickback the bank was going to give him.
Now the bank is actively foreclosing on homeowners, while they pretend they are going to give them a loan mod.
IT HAS BEEN ABOUT NINE MONTHS! WHERE IS MY LOAN MODIFICATION BANK OF AMERICA?
If it walks like a piggy, talks like a piggy, by golly it’s a PIGGY!
BofA and it’s CEO Brian Moynihan reminds me of that song by John Lennon and George Harrison titled “Piggies” I invite you to listen to this song on youtube and see if it appropriately fits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTmeHM-Hojg&feature=related
Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in.
Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.
In their ties with all their backing
They don’t care what goes on around
In their eyes there’s something lacking
What they need’s a damn good whacking.
Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.
John Wright vs. Bank of America Lawsuit at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20100323/bs_prweb/prweb3766544_1
When I filed my lawsuit against Bank of America, myself and United Law Group thought of the many others out there in the same situation. It was then that we decided to educate the public on what these piggy banks are doing, as well as unite us all together as one voice. Please help me turn this David vs. Goliath modification process, into a Goliath vs. Goliath.
Please stand with me and United Law Group and send an email to Bank of America that states that we will no longer tolerate their potentially illegal, fraudulent, irregular and abusive business methods.
Divided we might have fell America, but united we must stand!
Please send your email directly to Bank of America and include the following:
1. Your name
2. Your complaint concerning your experience with Bank of America.
3. Please end your email “I support John Wright vs. BofA Lawsuit!”
4. Please send a copy of your email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
5. Please send your email to both BofA link below and the CEO email
CEO Brian Moynihan:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Ihave asked for a loan mod. from B of A. since 12/5/2008. I started with Elect Group, than Legal Home Loan Solutions and now with American Residenal Law Group. The only thing I got from B.of.A. was foreclourser notice, sale date and much added expensive lawyer fee. I started with American Residental only on 3/29/2010 and can’t seem to get any answers from them eighter. They and LHLS both told me they would get the sale date removerd but nothing has been done yet. I am a widow 67 ys. old in a wheelchair and I want to STAY in my home. B of A has put a sale date on for June 2 2010. I need to find some help. I feel I have NOT been dealth truthfully with any lender I have worked with since 4 yrs ago. Is all they do is take money and one lender didn’t even give me ANY documents, but promised to get them to me in 2 wk.s. that was in over 2 yrs. ago and I still don’t have them. I NEED to stay in my home…
Bank of america will not take any offers on my home that has been for sale since Nov. of 2009.They always have an excuse.I had just called them on the 13 of may,an asked to speak to,or the phone number for B.A.C home loan President Barbera J. Desoer ,an guess what they hung up on me,called back, put me on hold.I have been i contact with them since jan. 29 of 2010,nobody has anything to tell me.???????????
This seems familar. Bank of America sold my loan to a company Called RCS. It was shortly after these MODS came out. I’ve never been late or missed a payment until this month after 9 years in my home. My loan is upside down and no help from anywhere. Everyone want money to help. I blame it on these crooks for banks. I lost my job over a year ago and continued to pay on time but now I can’t. We only depend on my wife salary now, I pray I get a job soon.
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