Bank of America review: loan modification 126

CSN stores shipped a deep fryer that I had ordered from Walmart via Fed-X last week. They didn't bother to wrap it in any protective covering(brown paper anything!). Fed X delivered it to the wrong address, although my address was clearly visible. Thankfully the person they delivered it to was honest and brought it to our home. However my husband was the one they gave it to. It was to be his Christmas gift. Spent a lot on it and now any joy I could have had at giving it to him is ruined. WE're adults. I understand things can happen like that. However if I had been a mom who had bought Christmas toys for her children and had this happen, their Christmas would have been ruined.Shame on CSN stores. Will not be ordering from Walmart again..

And one more comment, if your income dropped drastically, I mean truly drastically, could you afford your home? Your car? Your health insurance? Your child's needs? Food? We are not a union family so we have no guarantees for ANYTHING. We paid for our own dental insurance, the owner cancelled it because he didn't want to do the paperwork any longer. Since July 2008 looking for work but isn't better to have income than none at all? And we've never taken a dime in government "assistance", unemployment or any such thing.

As the wife I'd like to add that the author of the comment above must have never had a drop in income and I hope he/she never does. It is hell on earth. Perhaps you don't live in California. Our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the US. As for doing work 'beneath' us. One needs to actually get hired to do any sort of work and the key word here is HIRED. Applying for over 100 jobs with no results has some bearing on the circumstances don't you think.? Judge not lest ye be judged. And yes, when we purchased the home we could afford it, we suffered a $40, 000 per year income loss. Could you maintain your lifestyle with that kind of change? If so, bless you since you are quite fortunate to have a large income. Taking action against the employer has happened but alas, no money came from it. Wanting something for nothing? Oh again, do not judge unless you are willing to be judged on your life right back. Paying every single debt on time for 25 years speaks volumes about character and should give you some insight into the kind of responsible folks we are. Again, I do pray you never feel this helplessness and never suffer the losses we've suffered. And by the way, we were just trying to take part in programs our government put in place, with our tax dollars. It's quite easy to give advice, judge & dismiss when you are not faced with the same reality, and for the record, work is not always out there. Not always. And cockamamie? Really? Bank of America did lie, did give us the run around and quite frankly, when we said we'll just start paying payments, etc, they didn't want the money. Hmmm, what do you make of that? Again, do not ever judge.

The purpose of this letter was to share with people about the unlawful tactics Bank of America is putting families through. I understand you roll with the punches in life and every one's got battles to tackle. We will be moving on after all this is just a house right? Family and friends are the most important things in life. P.S. We both work and "I" make a great income. I'm just upset about how the bank led us on for so long with false promises to the point of no return. Thanks for the comment!

This is the letter we sent to the attorney general that explains our modification scam.

:::::::::::This is my third complaint against Bank Of America Home loans. My husband and I purchased a home on, April 27, 2007. This was with, Countrywide. Everything was fine with our loans/payments until my husband lost his job due to being laid off on, May 19, 2009. We had enough money to sustain our bills until about August 2009. By this time he had still not found work and we were living off of unemployment, which was 1600k a month and my small income from working. Once, August, hit we started having a hard time paying our mortgage. We continued to pay but we were paying a month behind. Thus, once September 1st came, we started receiving phone calls for our late payment, for August. We did the best we could in keeping up with the payments. So, for August, September, October of 2009 we incurred late fees. When, November 1st, hit we had still not made our October 2009 payment. My husband explained to a representative that we were going through some hard times and were trying our best. We NEVER avoided their phone calls and had stayed in contact with them. This representative told my husband that he would set us up with a modification program. He said we would NOT need to pay out October payment because it would go to the very end of our loan. So, October 2009, was the ONLY payment we missed. This representative set up automatic withdraw payments directly from our bank account. Our mortgage was due on the 1st every month, and was considered late after the 14th every month. The representative set up partial payments for the 17th of every month.Thus making it a late payment. Our normal mortgage payment was 670.00$ per month. He told us we would need to pay 570.00$ of automatic payments for three months and if we did that we would be able to have our loan modified for this particular mortgage. My husband agreed and set up the automatic payments. We still received collection calls and letters. He would speak to them EVERY TIME a representative would call or he would call every time we would get a letter in the mail. From November to January EVERY SINGLE representative that he had spoken with told him that everything was fine and that they would just continue to call until the modification was set in stone. Once, January, came around we received a letter stating we were four months behind and could face foreclosure of our home. He called and spoke with a representative who informed him that our modification paperwork was never submitted. So, we were told not to pay October, and had late/partial payments from November until January. The representative he spoke with in January of 2010 told him that she was going to sent up the modification, we would now only be paying 470.00$ a month for three months of automatic payments. She also said she would fax/email him a copy of the information. We still received collection calls and then once the end of Febuary came around we were told once again that we were not set up in any program. So, from January until February we were now paying 200 dollars less then our original mortgage and it was also considered late. I then contacted the Attorney General and by doing so we FINALLY got some headway with a real modification program. Complete with documents, letters, emails, calls, underwriters, advocates etc. But from November 2009-to February 2010 we incurred late fees due to the faulty information given to us by Bank Of America representative. Bank of America still has not credited us back any late fees during that time. Keep in mind, the ONLY payment we HAD NOT paid was October. This was told not to pay.
During this whole entire time my husband was still unemployed. Every document we sent in had his unemployment information. Bank of America knew he did not have a job. They never said one thing about it. Towards the end of July, 2010 my husband started working. He was able to fax two pay stubs for completion of our modification paperwork. Two weeks before our paperwork was due, he was told that he did not qualify unless he was working. This was told to him in July. This was NEVER told to him at any other time. Thankfully, he had just finally started to work. He faxed them his two and only two pay stubs that he had. This was in July of 2010. We finally received a letter on November 2, 2011 stated that we did not qualify for a home modification due to the fact that he made to much money. Bank of America has been giving us the run around for an entire year. We were lied to for over 5 months about being modified. They set up payments after they are considered late and set up automatic payments of a smaller amount, thus we incurred THOUSANDS of dollars worth the fees and partial payments (for an entire year). We have faxed them every document they asked, only to be told they never received certain documents, then we had to fax them over and over again. We have kept in contact with them throughout this whole process. During our "real" trial modification we NEVER missed a payment, in fact we payed all of our payments before they were due on the first of every month. Now, we are disqualified for a modification because he makes to much money, when he had only been working two weeks. Now, we are being told that we are considered 6 months behind because we were only paying 700$ monthly for 5 months during our real modification. We had to set up an escrow account to even be considered for the program, which brought our "normal" mortgage up to 1000k monthly. So we have an extra 300$ x's five months to come up with and we still are being tact on late fees because they only apply payments to back pay and they apparently hole our payments until they add up to 1000k and apply them to our loan. So, every other month we are incurring fees. We cannot get on any pay back plan or forbearance program because we are considered to far behind on our mortgage. So, we owe 5k worth of late/partial payment fees.
For an entire year, Bank of America has been nothing but a headache and filled with lies and cheating. I was so distressed that I couldn't even answer the phone in fear it was them. I couldn't check the mail in fear I would receive another "possible foreclosure" letter from them. They lied TWICE about being on a modification program and they do not want to compensate our late fees for ANYTHING even though it was their representative who set up the faulty program. Throughout 5 months of being on the real modification program he was never told that the program only applied to him if he was working. They never said he could get a forbearance or a different type of modification. Then, only TWO weeks before our final paperwork is due, they tell him he has to have a job. THANK THE LORD, he had FINALLY gotten hired. Also, on his pay stubs it says his start date for employment. Now, after being strung along for so long we get denied and can't even get on a payment plan.
The only time we have every been able to make headway with them is when I complain to the Attorney General. We want to keep our home and our now in a financial position to make on-time payments, just as we were before we was laid off. But we CANNOT afford to give 5k worth the misc. charges and late fees. They are unwilling to work with us and have been full of lies after lies. We would like to make this right. And remember, this all started with two late fees (august and September of 2009) and a non payment of October (which we were told not to pay per a representative that was getting us modified).Thank you for your time in reading and reviewing this letter.

after everything that has happened in the last 3 years with banks and mortgages, you listened to them?

hire an attorney - although its probably too late now...

This is exactly what happened to me. Do we have any rights?

I too have been having modification problems with bofa. I've been trying to get a modification since 12/09. They told me in July that I was declined and then said that they would run the package thru a second chance program. They then said that they would enter my protest to being declined and that they would let me know. They gave me 5 different reasons by 5 different people as to why I was declined. I was told today (11/1/10) that I've been declined again ~ no surprise! I fit all of the criteria for a modification (my income being self employed has declined because of this "recession" and my mortgage is 52% of my income). The bank just really wants to foreclose (I assume they make more money by filing foreclosure). I'm sorry that we (taxpayers) bailed out BOFA with Tarp Funds! We should have let them fail! They deserve to go Bankrupt!

Wow...what I am reading is incredible and very sad. I keep hearing that the bank does not want to take your house, it's too much of an expense for them, yada, yada, yada...Then WHY are they processing more forclosures then modifications?

The only thing I can fathom at this time is that it's become more profitable. The under value note is written out of the books, replaced by a new one just like the forclosure noted above. The foreclosure gives them a writeoff, the new purchase gives them a new asset, new $$ at the bank. How sad...

Has anyone else experienced what appears to be 2 sets of books at BoA as they have been going through this process? I had thought that was illegal, yet it is happening.

My experience has been somewhat similar to everyone elses. Although it's truly not a strong financial position to take on a loan valued at less than the paper it's written on, we would still like to keep our home. All they need to do is take our existing mortgage with 22 yrs left, stretch it back out to 30 yrs, drop 1% interest so the payment goes down maybe $250 a month, and Tada...it's modified. We keep our house, the bank makes all of their money plus and life goes on, the RE market in the area isn't effected and the city gets their taxes. It's really just that simple. Very, Very simple, unless your BoA.

Now lets take simple to stupid, apparently the BoA way. We are underemployed due to pay reductions and loss of income, BUT we are both employed. We have some debt and the basic expenses like every homeowner. I expect things to get better. However, at this time it's rough. We applied for HAMP, have been in the program since Feb, or we should say March, since they would not accept the modified payment at a branch office? Hmmm

Meanwhile we have been receiving statements, usually around the 8th of the month for our payment due on the 1st. Hmmm.

Next comes the notice in June that we have not been approved for the modification because our loan was paid off on June 3rd. Hmmm. Imagine that, our loan has been paid off and we have been denied a modification and yet we receive notices of payments due?

Then I speak to a very nice young woman, and I will have to say for the most part the people that I have spoken with have been pleasant. She had me prepare and fax a letter of appeal. All done. Next step, we will have to wait 30 to 45 days for further paperwork. It's been probably close to 90 days since the appeal, 40 days since I last spoke to anyone at BoA.

Now when you call BoA, depending on which department you speak to determines what info you get and what's going on. One department has you in default (which I might add I was never behind until I started this program) - while the other can see where I made my modified payments on time. YET, I have never received any documentation from the bank referencing the modified payments and how they have been applied. If you speak to the two different departments, you get two different answers because they are not looking at the same set of numbers, which leads me to believe there are two sets of books?

Today we received a "notice of intent to accelerate". Although we have been making our modified payments, according to this set of books we are now two months behind plus late fees. Well actually they did reduce the amount by September's payment, but apparently October's payment has not hit this set of books yet. Simple to stupid!

And for all you negative people out there, still living comfortably, that have zero compassion for your fellow Americans, we who have been seriously effected by this economy pay taxes to. We are not looking for a hand out. And I can see why people are walking away from their homes. Why stay and pay rent and take care of your house for the bank while they process you for foreclosure. When did doing the right thing, become the wrong thing?

From 1 of my two adult children who tried to save their home and really got screwed by the so-called modification process. This one by BofA and the other by PNC.
Just an excerpt from a post he did today. 10/22/10

So rather than B of A help me out a year ago, they foreclosed on my 177, 000 loan... auctioned it off for $102K in Dec 2009, , and now someone just bought it for $75K ... EFFEN REALLY?

I would just like to say this complaint is for my cousins who I've seen try for thirty months trying to get help with Bank Of America.
See my cousins bought their house in 2003 and everthing was great. In 2008 my cousin Wayne Pudum received bad news he had stage three cancer. Going through operation after operation now blind but still with us thank god. My cousins got a month behind on their mortgage and sent in a partial payment of course it was sent back. Karen Purdum called Country Wide/Bank Of America and asked what they had to do.The reply was just wait we will get back to you, After two weeks Karen called C.C.S. who after six months still had no answers got with NACA who is an non-profitable organization and for as much as they did for her I can see why no one would pay them. Naca had all the papers faxed to them and after her sitting on the phone for hours after hours just trying to get in touch with someone. NACA claimed all their problems would be resolved and Bank Of America was going to work with them.Needless to say after a year in a half NACA says they tried everything and she would have to deal with Bank Of America herself. However Naca did manage to stop the bank from taking her house twice. Two weeks ago Bank Of America said they could help my cousin and remodify their loan. Now after two weeks Bank Of America says they can't help them and their house would being going up for auction 11-23-10 but then she gets a letter from them also today saying they had 60 to 90 days to get out. My whole thing is this they make $2500.00 a month their mortgage is $1805.00 why wouldn't BANK OF AMERICA just lower their interest rate and give them a new payment. Instead this company would rather see people on the street its insane because Bank of America should have helped them from the begining. This company has to be one of the sadest companies out there and I suggest everyone to count your blessings and hopefully never have a hardship. This company not seeing cancer as a hardship just floors the hell out of me. Concerned Family member... Tracy Gartelman

I have my mortgage with Bank of america at the begining with country wide, I'm trying to obtain fair loan modification since 1 year and 10 months without paying my mortgage during the same time and bank of america seems to be deaf about everithing, they only are occupied on their interest.. I d'ont know what happen with all the money that the goverment gave to the banks to help homeowners and banks.. I'm still wating for modification, I went to the first modification meeting and this was very poor, the bank seems to want to keep the house to sell and get the cash no matter what damage is going to cause to the economy and all homeowners.. what world is this... is individual world or society.. The banks are destructing United Estates and all the espirit of the people.. the only think in hoard all the money in all planet and keep it for them.. the money have to circulate in a good a fair manner to make this economy respectable and worthy..And some vultures are appearing to make bussines with the foreclosure houses, they buy for less and rent instead to put the money in the bank, because they gain more money...

Bank of America and its President, Brian T. Moynihan, and one Robert Flores who says he's "from the Office of the President, Bank of America" are arrogant ###s totally out of touch with the rest of us Americans. Case in latest point is that I go to my local Senator's office for help under this HAMP, BUT the arroganr ###s, Brian T. Moynihan, and Robert Flores, leave me a telephone number I have to pay to call them at. [protected]. Zero customer service. Zero brains from Bank of America's Brian T. Moynihan, and Robert Flores. Bank of America takes billions of dollars from each and every one of us taxpayers but won't have an 800 number in Bank of America's President's Office to handle these loan mods coming in from the Congressional offices or even their customers. If I could afford long distance, you arrogant totally out-of-touch ###s Bank of America's Brian T. Moynihan and Robert Flores, I wouldn't be trying to get this legally required loan modification from Bank of America now would I?!? No wonder we tax payers had to bail Bank of America out!

What arrogant totally out-of-touch ###s Bank of America's Brian T. Moynihan and Robert Flores Need Is Customer Service. Businesses must promise long and deliver short to their customers. They must keep all commitments made to the customer. Never lie to the customer. Never give conflicting stories to the customer. Never give a customer the run-around. Always remember that the customer is always right. Put a mirror in front of you if you answer the phones. Put a smile on your face when answering the phones. HAVE and GIVE to your customers an 800 number you arrogant totally out-of-touch ###s Bank of America's Brian T. Moynihan and Robert Flores.

Arrogant totally out-of-touch ###s Bank of America's Brian T. Moynihan and Robert Flores, apologize for having a customer wait. Remember that escalatory language always breeds more escalatory language. Arrogant totally out-of-touch ###s Bank of America's Brian T. Moynihan and Robert Flores, without the customer, there is no business. Without a business, there is no job for an employee. Not the most difficult sell for most people. No wonder we taxpayers had to bail Bank of America out!

I was looking for a job and got one with BoA. I was told that I would be in collections and as it turns out, I ended up having to work as one of those, "it's in review" persons that you are all complaining about. I understand. My wife and I are homeowners, and the scary thing is that BoA bought our loan from the original mortgage company... I dread the day they screw up anything regarding our account, and I say the day because it is only a matter of time. I left the bank because I felt as if they have no moral value with their customers. I think some of the homeowners are full of themselves and do not deserve loan modifications. I am sorry, but whether or not at the time you signed your ARM loan, you didn't realize you maxing out your payment ability? That is your fault, you abused the American dream. But on the other hand, noone, atleast I think noone, signs a mortgage with the intent to not pay. There were some legit hardcases, but what you don't understand is that we didn't get paid to hear you or help you, we got paid to collect money from you.
You started your modification review, some of you were behind, some of you were current. The collections calls continued, 'until your account is current the calls will continue.' (God, I hated that job.) We were graded on how much money we could collect and how short our conversations were - under 7 minutes is what is expected. I never understood how someone could explain to you information regarding your account and have you, the homeowner, completely informed in under 7 minutes? Needless to say, I couldn't take the crap anymore. It's a 3 ring circus and the leadership is worse than the uneducated followers you speak with. It's sad. The economy is sad. California, Nevada, Michigan, Florida and it keeps going... Best of luck to you... and there are plenty of non profit organizations out there that can help you get the information that you can get on your own... personally, I would stay away from the big ones...

thanxs

As i stated earlier i started my remod paperwork well over a year ago with them ( and not once have they called me - but instead i had to call them) to periodically find "status" ... And have RESENT them numerous docs because i assume too many people are TOUCHING and no one knows how to put things back! So now i have moved on - I am pursuing a Short Sale - I have had a tremendous response in going this route - Almost down to the wire now ! But here is the Stupid Logic on BofA's part - Why would you screw up doing a remod knowing that you will keep the customers in their home as opposed to a short sale where you are going to lose thousands and not keep the customer in it? We have lost over 200K equity in our home and that is what BofA is gonna have to suck up when they should have done a remod to keep us in our home - Go figure!

I started calling back in 08, when the city I WORK FORCE STARTED TAKING 7.5% FROM ALL CITY EMPLOYES.ALL THE TIME WE WHERE TOLD THAT OUR PAYMENTS WERE UP TO DATE AND COULD GET ANY HELP FROM THE BANK.WE HAVE BEEN TOLD AS SOON AS WE CROSS OVER INTO THIS
PROLBEM AREA THERE WOULD BE A PROGRAM FOR SOME ONE LIKE US, THAT WAS A LIE.tHE BANK HAD US IN A MOD PROGRAM FOR OVER
180 DAYS THEN TOLD ME i MAKE TO MUCH MONEY FOR THE BANK TO HELP US.THE BANK HAS GOTTEN A LOT OF CASH FROM US TO BAIL THEM OUT, THEY HAVE LIED TO US THE PUBLIC.aFTER CALLING AND BEING SENT FROM DEPARTMENT TO DEPARTMENT WITH NO ONE ABLE TO TALK.
WE STARTED PAYING WHAT WE COULD WHICH IS 1250 MONTH.I have called over and over for someone that can help from the bank, all I have
gotten is you make to much money for us to be of any help.Just yesterday I was told even after all the documentaion that my wifes medcial problems dosenot matter, and the young women hung up the phone on us.I have yet to use nasety words when talking.Meny of us who have been through this neeed to go to court over a calss action suite, for the bank of america lieing that they have help us the people who need help.At this timee we have still been paying the 1250, b of a has gotten away with a big lie to the by taking the bail out and doing nothing to help people who need the help.

Also sent info in triplicate! Why is there 8 different phone numbers to get a hold of anyone at B o A Mod Dept?

I started a facebook page about this. Name is Loan Modificationisajoke. I'm a victim of the 30 day rule. Never got due dates or letters stating I even have to resend info. I MADE ALL OF THE CALLS TO THEM! They kept my trial period going, telling me to make trial periods going even for 3 months even though I was declined! Now I owe them 2400.00. Lost my job, my side biz collapsed and had a child who suffered a birth injury all in three months. Still made my payments on a loan to a house thats worth 60% less then when I bought it! Where's the change? Where's the understanding? I realize that owning a home is not a right, but I've done everything in my power to keep my house. What's 2400.00 to a national bank? The CEO's electric bill for a month?

B of A has gotten too big for their pants !

I wish you luck my friend. I think we are all going to need it.

wow Shawnnva a total horror story for sure... I have had my paperwork in for a remod since 08... yes 08!
and i have had to redo it hmmmmm 4 times ...yes 4 times! Why you might ask? They lost it...yes lost it!
I have no faith in Bank of America at all! And you can see why! And still i hear that my remod is sitting in the Underwriter's Dept...yes sitting in Underwriting! All this time though as much as they would want us to "default" so they can foreclose we have not ... We have kept up our payments which is probably pissing them off to no end! So now i have resolved myself to thinking Short Sale...which i have started... and i have gotten further in 45 days than in the 2 yrs of remod waiting! So Short Sale it is... I will not wait until the balloon hits and ask BofA to refinance only to be turned down as our house is totally upside down... How stupid do they think i am? They have told me in the past "Oh you have plenty of time left on your balloon note (like 2 yrs) contact back then when it gets closer! Are you kidding me ! So that you can tell me "We cant refinance a house that is no longer worth the mortgage, are you kidding me!" So BofA once i get rid of this mortgage thru short sale ... I hope never to lay eyes on you again EVER!

I did file a complaint with the OCC, and actually got a call from a lady named Christie. Christie told me that she would investigate and get back with me. Well a month or so went by and they offered me a modification. I just sit there on the other end of the phone in disbelief. I told Christie, you all SOLD my house, and then EVICTED me . I had to get some where to live. So your telling me you cant help me, NOW that I have another home to live in. What was I suppose to do ... me and my kids sleep in a box until you felt the need to help? Needless to say I have file a part 2 complaint with the OCC and I am sure I will get some [censored] session once again. I will keep you posted.

I have a story that is unbelievable, but true. I filled out the paper work in December of 2009 for a mod. In about 3 weeks (the middle of Jan) I get the paperwork for the modification, it was approved. I took the paperwork to my local notary and sent it back to Bofa. My first payment wasn’t due until the 1st of February. I sent certified funds for the 1st payment. I called Bofa and they said once the payment is posted the automated system will update . The middle of February, I get a loan mod denial letter. I call Bofa, they assure me the system is just slow, I had been approved, and the system will be update. So on the 24th of February, I get a letter stating that my modification was sent out in error. I have an FHA loan and the mod was for a conventional loan. I tried 3 more times for a mod and NOTHING, nadda. My house was sold, they evicted me 2 months later and NOW I am looking for legal council to help me. This was Bofa’s mistake not mine.

My point to this comment is be very, very aware and careful. Even if you do by the grace of GOD do get them to give you a modification, they still can pull the rug out from under your feet.

Those words Bank of America and Loan Modification and Helping their Customers do not go together in any sentence at all ! Forbearance does not help anyone ... They need to MODIFY THE LOANS ... THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING..Everyone is better off to just walk away or do a short sale and leave them holding these mortgages. What is the difference is having a buyer for a short sale (which gets market value) as opposed to someone walking away and the banks getting ZERO ZIP ! They need to take any and all short sale proposals esp when they ARE NOT HELPING THE PEOPLE KEEP THEIR HOUSES

I contacted Bank of America who has my house financed after I lost my son and husband,
of 42 years, in 2008. I don't have the income that I once had and wanted to enter the
modification program. What a joke. I have been in this program since July 2009 and
I am paying more than I ever had to try and stay in my home. I have did everything
that I am suppose to and still I haven't heard from BAC RATHER I get to keep my home
or not. They keep telling me every time I call that the final paperwork is in the mail.
Every time you call you talk to someone else that doesn't seem to know anything. I have
kept a log of all the calls that I have made and it looks like a book. All I want to do is
keep my home and pay the note according to what I make. They said that this modification
program was to help people with hardship and I just don't see it. I am paying $1400 a month which is more than when my husband was alive. When you have lost someone that you
have counted on and love so much its hard to try and want to do the things that end up
being important decision later on. If someone else has summited the paperwork and is
still waiting to hear from BAC like I am can you tell me if at the end it was worth it or how long did it actually take. Gayle

My friend has his mortgage with BofA. He has a 30 yr fixed loan, didn't buy a bigger house than he needed, he just lost about 30k a year in income. He attempted to go through BofA for a loan modification. He filled out all the necessary paperwork, and was told to make his trial payments until the loan went through. His payments were around eight hundred dollars less than before. After making his lower payments and patiently waiting for nine months he was denied the loan. Now BofA is back charging him the difference between what his payments were before and what he paid as trial payments. He now owes over seven thousand dollars in back payments. They took the dollar amount he owed and figured that he is now 4.75 months behind on his mortgage. He tried to set up a payment plan but they will not do it because his debt to income is too high. When he asked what he was supposed to do he was told unless he could pay the back payments now they would foreclose or short-sell his house. I feel this is a scam and he was never going to be approved, they just wanted him to get so far behind that he could not catch up and they could short sell his house. Mortgage companies are making a ton of money on short sells these days. There is a very informative video on youtube about how lenders and making huge profits off of short sells due to the fact that the FDIC insured the loan for the original amount, not the very discounted price the lender purchased the loan for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssl5yb7FewA

BOA approved a modification for a couple who were eight months behind. The husband was unemployed and about to receive a life insurance and inheritance settlement of over 50 grand. He sweet talked the BOA rep (he was a salesman) into telling him how to get through the modification process and was told how to manipulate the app to the penny. He was told he was short 900 bucks and then made it up with bogus income. So, they do modify WHO they want. Maybe it is the reps that handle NH or who are so susceptible to mind control that approve these. So, this couple is sitting on a modification of first and second mortgage and was allowed to go 8 months late. The worst part is knowing that they have 50, 000 cash in the bank. So, how DO you pick who you will modify BOA? I can prove all this, also, BOA, so you should police your employees better.

I lost my son and husband, suicides in 2008, and wasn't able or didn't care to pay my mortgages . When I received a letter from BOA about foreclosure on my home I decided to contact them about my problem. I had heard about the modification and decided to try and see if I could get help from BOA. They were eager to take my money and send me forms along with a list of things that I needed to send them back. For the first three months I paid them $1200. I faxed them the same material that I had mailed to them several times just to learn that they hadn't approved my modification as of this date. I made my trail period payments for a year now and it has gone up to $1417. a month. Now, I learned that I have to pay late fees on the months that I wasn't able to make payments and they seem to have made my mortgage on my home from $180, 00, that I bought the house for in 2006, to $185.000. When I got myself in this mess my mortgage was $178, 00 . Some days I feel like fighting with all my might to save my home and then there are days that I feel like walking away from the whole mess. I am not asking for a handout but a little assistants in trying to work with my bank in saving my home. How can they keep taking people's money and not being responsible for their end of the bargain? Gayle Crump

I have been going thru the same hell with B of A first they have been pulling my leg, they offered me a trial modidification package knowinf gull well i dont qualify for a modiofication and will fail the NPV test they offered me this trial mod becuse i complained to the CEO's office and I was a former employee, when i called to get the status of my modification I was insulted by the reps, laughed at, told i was given this package to shut me up and i will eventuallly be forclosed on that the bank is buying some time to gain funds, when i again confornted the corp office via email about this they of course denied all of these allegations I recorded all of the calls emails etc. About 173 of them in total. 12 months later still on trial payments and no answer on Modification but thats oaky JOkes on u b of A ill keep my home in the end Ill fight tooth and nail and do all I can bankruptcy etc. Just so that I dont give them the satisfaction of playing me for the foool. I cant wait for my denial so I can sue their pants off!

Bank of America thrives on customer service and how they care about their customers... This is not the message I am getting with them. I have been a Bank of America customer since 1994. Due due the economy, my husband's wage was cut by 40%. We have been trying to work with B of A since December. They have been giving me the run around since day 1. I don't want to lose my home. Why does Bank of America not choose to help those that are attempting to make payments? I was going through a workout plan with them and they decided to cancel on me because according to their records they attempted to call me once! Yet, I have a phone log that indicates I left them messages over 24 X. I filed a complaint with Bank of America's corporate office... do you think I have heard from them? I am so frustrated. Any suggestions?

I was laid off in March 2009, thankfully, I have been working part time, but with a much reduced income, and when I do not work, I receive unemployment. I've been current with my mortgage, tried getting a loan modification and after 9 months of calling BofA every week, they were able to lower my payment $40/month. HOWEVER, this would cost me $2500 in loan modification fees.

How long until someone REALLY does something about this vs. just talking about it?

All mortgage companies have got together and made a plan to sabotage America for all our money. This is my theory.

We have a mortgage that was acquired by BOA when they bought out Countrywide. I contact them almost a year ago about my husband going out on disability because of knee surgery. We sent in all the appropriate documents and made sure to make ourselves available for any calls fromt the bank.
In August we were denied the Making Home Affordable program and placed into a modification request. We recieved paperwork from BOA the week after Christmas for the modification, signed and returned it the first week of January. The paperwork stated that the modification loan would begin in February. I sent in the February payment (which was supposed to be the 1st payment for the modification) the first week of February. I noticed online that our payment had not posted by February 16th so I called to get a status. I got ahold of my negotiator and found out that the paperwork we had signed and returned was sent to us in error. There had been some issues with several modifications being sent out even though they had not been approved.
I then asked my negotiator what to expect next. She told me several times that any further paperwork received she would notify us about. Stating that she would personally contact us about EVERYTHING that was taking place because of this error.
At the end of February (not even 2 weeks later) we received more paperwork. Again we signed and returned the paperwork. Now I have been contacting the bank only to get NO RESPONSE from my negotiator. She does not call me, does not answer my calls, and does not respond to ANY of the messages that I have requested to have sent to her. I don't know what is going on and just want a status on our modification. I feel like something shady is going on and am appalled to see that the LARGEST mortgage company is treating a customer like this. I have hired a cousilor to assist us with any further contacts with BOA and have also obtained a lawyer to help with the situation. I am sick of being jerked around by BOA.

The current raid on law firms representing people in modifications, is a way to deflect the press from reporting what is really going on. Which is the abusive modification process that is taking place by BofA and other too big to fail banks. Let's face it, the elephant in the room is not the American Dream concerning health care, but the American nightmare concerning the loan modification process. It is OUTRAGEOUS, considering that they have received a bail out from the American Tax Payer, who is also the average American Home Owner. After receiving a bail out in the billions from the American people, these banks have the audacity to harass, delay and humiliate us during the loan modification process called HAMP. How long do these banks think that the American people will tolerate this? One of the BofA representatives even went as far as telling me that the government can not tell them what to do. I found this strange, because I never mentioned the government with the BofA representative. So, I can not help but feel that BofA is bitter and is taking it out on those of us seeking a loan modification. It is also readily apparent, that BofA feels that they only have to meet their obligation to the government by CONSIDERING a loan modification with zero accountability. It is time that we make BofA accountable!

BofA knows very well that the average homeowner requesting a modification does not have the funds to represent themselves legally. So, the FBI raiding one of the largest and most reputable law firms, will only serve these banks potential agenda. An agenda that might be to scare any law firms from representing the people. This current action by the FBI is not the solution, but a symptom of the over all problem. It is also blurring the lines in regards to who the real bad guys are. It will also further delay the process of reputable law firms like United Law Group from filing legitimate law suits. In retrospect, United Law Group is not only helping me represent myself in this law suit, but every American who is going through the loan modification process.

So please, help me and United Law Group send a message to BofA which states, that we will no longer tolerate their potentially irregular, fraudulent and abusive business practices. In the end, the American tax payer did not fail to deliver the BofA bail out in record time, but BofA failed to deliver the American Tax Payer’s bail out in the form of a loan modification. It 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.

God bless,
John Wright
Tax Payer and Home Owner

See Article About Lawsuit: http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Organizations/Companies/Banking, +Financial, +Insurance, +Law/Bank+of+America/0crf90x5fNesm/1

They told us the same thing when they were supposedly trying to work with us, for 6 months our payments were cut in half, I paid as agreed and at the end of the 6 months I received a bill for the rest of the difference not paid as part of the 6 payments. So at the end I had a bill and 1 month to pay back all the money from the past 6 months that we didn't originally pay plus fees, I believe it amounted to like $4000. I called them regarding this and got nowhere, I don't know what they expected if I couldn't afford to make my payment in full for the past 6 months why would I have $4000 just sitting around at the end of the 6 month time period? If I had the money then I would've paid it in full to begin with, did they expect me to hit the lotto? It makes no sense, at no time did I realize this was part of agreement, otherwise what would've been the point! Good luck to you and hopefully everything works out for you.

Yay! Another scrote bag that we can all bail out!

Try NACA - they seem successful in reaching Bank of America. They are free. Somewhat cultish in behavior, but you will stand a decent chance through them.

Avoid loan modification companies. I have been scammed by a company called Rezn8 Financial Services and I think they are all about the same: http://local.yahoo.com/info-44915003-rezn8-financial-service-fremont

Itut, you are a jerk and have no respect for others situation, who may be victims of predatory lending. Your situation can change too and you can get foreclosed. Then you would know how others are feeling. Shame on you.

You all sound like children... wanting someone to help you like you deserve a hand out. Everyone else (who, unlike you, plans for the future, stays out of debt and knows an interest only loan or an ARM is a bad idea) has to pay for all your stupid mistakes. You're dragging all our home values down and making us pay higher interest rates. The bank should foreclose on you and make you live in a shopping cart where you belong. Leave the help for people who really need and deserve it.

I'd also like to point out that Bank Of America did not originate any interest only loan. And when they received the bailout from the government they turned around and gave it right back.