Complaint Rating:

Sorry about spelling or grammer, the following is my log. I am usually so made after dealing with them I can't think or write.<br />
Bank of America<br />
Sent short sale packet on 10/27<br />
Called to confirm and was asked to send additional information on 10/30<br />
(letter of non-employment, P and L statement, listing agreement, verification of buyer funds)<br />
Was asked to send form authorizing release of information to Traci Kemnitz 11/17<br />
Somewhere in here, B of A and Countrywide merged short sale operation and all hell broke loose. Called every day, was told data was supposed to be transferred from one system to another. To call back tomorrow. I did that for a week straight.<br />
Was told on 11/23 they had none of the information I had sent to them. Re sent it all.<br />
11/23 Keith re-took my information over the phone, told me to resend packet and would receive a call back in 5 days. Then talked to Miguel in short sale, he said they would not even receive information for 10 days and not to call back until then.<br />
11/30 got collection call from Maria ext. 7518, Keith never put in information that he took over the phone, nor information that I had an offer pending and was requesting a short sale.<br />
Maria re-took the information and told me this time it was entered. <br />
Called back on 11/30 and automated system said more information would be available on Dec 9th.<br />
Called back on 12/9 and spoke to Silverio, he told me information has been received and to call back on 12/13 to get the name of my negotiator.<br />
Called back on 12/13 and Spoke to Ginger. No negotiator has been assigned. Purchase and sale agreement had been downloaded into system, but no other info. She said she took the necessary step to send it to a negotiator, which would take 10 business days to get one assigned. She said to call back the end of the month. She also said to fax the Authorization to release information form to 805-520-5019. Evidently, I had faxed the authorization to the wrong fax number, even though I faxed it to the one they had as return fax number on the form.<br />
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12/16 Spoke to Shelly Graham and she said that a negotiator has not been assigned yet, but that we should have one any day now. However, once it is assigned, the negotiator has 10 business days for what is called "Phase I", review of file and offer. On January 4th we can call back and discuss Phase II, which is 30-45 calendar days of negotiations on price and offer, appraisal most likely. Then Phase III is another 10 business days to close. <br />
12/21 Recording I got, “ A work out negotiator is reviewing your request for assistance and collection activities have been temporarily been suspended during the review process we will complete and thorough examination of and analysis of your loan we may or may not need additional information from you but it is common you will not hear anything form us during the review period. We expect to have more information on Jan 18th 2010. Please do not Call us before then as that may delay the process but if we contact you make sure you respond promptly as failure to do see can cause your work out to be canceled.” I went through the process to speak with someone because I had received a phone call from someone with B of A last week, and got David on the phone. did. He told me no negotiator had been assigned. He also said when an automated message is generated it usually shows up on the file. That recorded message wasn’t showing up on my file. I asked him to make sure B of A was not in need of additional information from me at this time, as I was contacted by them last week, and had asked them to call me back, which they never did. He told me no additional information was needed. He said the file had went to shortsale on 12/14, they have 10 business days to assign a negotiator, until 12/29, if one isn’t assigned by 12/29 I am to call and request an escalation to assure a negotiator is assigned. He told me once a negotiator is assigned they have 20 business to work on the file before making a recommendation.<br />
12/21. I called back later in the day to record the recorded message which I did. I then got nervous because verbiage was for a work out negotiator not a short sale negotiator so I went through the process to talk to Debbie. I read Debbie the message word for word, I will paraphrase her response. She told me to disregard that message. 90% of the time they are false. She had put in a request to her supervisor because numerous people had been calling in and requiring about incorrect messages. She told me never to obey the do not call time lines. She said that information is false, and in no way would calling in slow or delay the process. She reiterated what David had said, 10 days to assign a negotiator. I then told her what David had told me, to call back on 12/29 and request an escalation. She said that is correct.<br />
Traci called me to tell me a negotiator had been assigned and they called her about ordering an appraisal.<br />
1/5/09 Called and spoke to Johnson after being on hold for 25 minutes. Negotiator is Timothy Nickels, e-mail is timothy.nickels@bankofamerica.com. He was assigned on the 23rd. Johnson told me he has 10 business days to do something with the file. I should call on Friday to see what is going on. He also told me I could register and go to www.equator.com register, and could then track my account on-line. Number to call to register is 866-677-2516.<br />
1/5/09 Called 866-677-2516 and spoke with Daniella. She asked me if I wanted to register with equator. I asked what it was. She told me it was a way to track my shortsale on line. I said okay. She asked a bunch of questions, and then sent an e-mail with login-information, and said I would have to downloan some information. Seems that I have to re-send all the information I have sent them twice. This really pissed me off. I told her I don’t want to start over for a third time. She told me I have to, if I don’t the process will get kicked out and I will have to start from scratch. She told me a negotiator wasn’t assigned and I was just beginning the process. I kept repeating that I just got off the phone with Johnson at B of A and was told Timothy Nickels was my negotiator and that he had 10 business days to get through phase 1 and that I should call in on Friday for an update. She said that was incorrect he had 20 business days. She told me I had to “download” all my information into equator, or at some point I would have to start from the beginning. I asked how long this equator thing had been going on, she said the beginning of December, I asked why was today the first I heard of it, she said certain files are chosen to move over at certain times. I told her I didn’t want to move it over, and she said “too late” she had already initiated the short sale in equator. Nothing I can do, but re-send all the information.<br />
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I then looked on the web. Need to re-send taxes, financials, plus Traci Kemnitz will have to re-send all the real-estate info. Remember this is the 3rd time. First info got lost in change over from Countrywide to B of A. 2nd info got lost in change over to equator. If process takes, 90 days and they have a changeover every 45, which puts you back at the beginning how will anything ever get done.<br />
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1/5/09. Looked at all the stuff I had to input, called 866-677-2516 to get another opinion. Got David this time. Told me unfortunately I would have to re-send all the info. I asked if he could just delete me from the system. He put me on hold to check. Came back and said he could, but eventually I would have to re-send it. Asked him if I would be starting from scratch. He said no, that this should not interfere with the process, and just need to get everything in by Saturday. I need to scan 30 pages of taxes, re-do financials, scan bank statements, pay stubs etc. I then asked him about time lines, since today I had received different answers, David stated, phase 1- 10 business days, phase 2-15 business days, phase 3 up to 35 business days.<br />
Traci also called me today. Seems Timothy Nickels had called her this morning, told her to go to www.equator.com to register and then call him back. She had to input license information etc.etc. Was trying to call him back this afternoon. <br />
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1/5/09<br />
Today is 50 business days, not counting 3 holidays, since I originally sent Bank of America 36 pages of documents. We are still not through phase 1! I have done everything asked of me in a very prompt manner, and still I get nowhere. Every person I talk to gives different answers and different time lines. These people should be in jail.<br />
1/8/09<br />
Put the required information in equator. <br />
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Then called. First, the message said the short sale has been denied. I went through the phone bank and got to Ivan. He said no update on the file. He said the appraisal looked good, and it just came in on the 7th, which is odd because I was told on the 5th they had it. He said timothy nickels had until jan 19th to do something with the file. I asked him if I should call or e-mail timothy or if I should wait to hear from him. He said it wouldn’t hurt to get a hold of him if I could.<br />
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11/12 Found a complaint at complaints board.com. that explained what other people went through trying to purchase a shortsale from B of A. Was almost the same thing I am going through. They had gotten a call from Cindy Repreza who is a custormor advocate, number is 1.800.669.2443 extension 3542, after they had written a letter to multiple Bank of America executives complaining about the horrible service. So a gave her a call and told her I had been referred to her and I needed help with a short sale. She total me she couldn’t help as this was an internal line, so I asked what to do to get help. She took my loan number and then asked if I had been in contact with Timothy Nickels, I told her we’ve tried, but haven’t heard back. So she said to call Timothy’s supervisor Chadd Grogg 480-457-3228, I passed that out to Traci, my realtor, and she called Chad and left a detailed message.<br />
11/14/09 Traci got this e-mail from Brian Lorenc. Traci, <br />
I received a follow up call from a friend of the borrower who originally escalated the file. I see the file has been moved into our short sale system equator. I see you have a task pending to be completed that was due by 01/09/2010. It is for you to upload your authorization on the account into the system. Once that task is completed you will be assigned more tasks to complete and the process will move forward. Let me know if you have any questions.<br />
Thank you! <br />
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I hadn’t mentioned this earlier because it felt like such a long shot, but. The buyer says he knows the President of B of A. Who this is, I have no idea. He asked a few weeks ago if he could ask him for help. Traci said by all means, and sent him some of the documents that have been going back and forth. So maybe Brian is a result of that angle.<br />
So Traci wrote him back: I did upload the authorization that day. This is very frustrating in that the authorization was sent to BofA twice in the last 2 months, and yet no one seems to have it. How is it that when I was calling in to get status reports they were speaking with me and acknowledged receipt of the authorization?<br />
I will be in a meeting from 10-11 am this morning. As soon as I'm done I'll do it again. I want Bank of America to be aware that they have an offer in front of them that is $75, 000 and $50, 000 higher than the most recent sales in Caldera Springs, and that the buyer has plenty of other opportunities out there. I urge Bank of America to answer this offer immediately and get this transaction closed. <br />
Brian responded: Traci, <br />
I do apologize for the inconvenience for you. I see you accepted the request to be the agent on the deal on 01/05/2010, but I don't see the authorization was loaded into the system. If you have trouble with it this afternoon please let me now. Also, after you upload it let me know as well and I will verify it is loaded into the system for you.<br />
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Thank you!<br />
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So this does look promising. Traci has been talking to B of A for months on my behalf. The Authorization Document looks like it has been through a war zone, it has been faxed and scanned so many times. I logged onto equator and tried to upload while Traci was in her meeting and couldn’t find an area I could upload it to. <br />
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I should mention that at this point I have twice written both of my Oregon Senators and my Representative asking for something to be done. I also complained to the Federal Trade Commission 1-877-382-4357 and the Federal Regulator Office of Comptroller of Currency 1-800-613-6743. Traci was dead on when she told Bank of America that was a screaming deal and they need to take it. Property values continue to plummet. If they move too slow this deal will be gone. These are costs departments so the banks don’t want to take on more employees to speed up the process, but by going slow they are actually costing themselves more money as the values continue to fall. First sent them Docs. on 10/27/09, today is 1/14/10 and we are not through phase one. Two things are the most frustrating. Constantly having to re-send documents and getting a different answer to the same question every time you ask. How long does phase 1 take? 10 – 20 – 30 days. I would like to see the training program for these folks answering calls, do they even have one. <br />
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1/14/10<br />
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Traci uploaded the Authorization form and wrote Brian that it was done and asked what we may expect for a timeline, response “Traci, <br />
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I see the authorization is being reviewed and was loaded into the system. Once it is accepted you will have more tasks assigned. Your next tasks will be to load the offer and other supporting documents. Equator is a task driven system and all tasks must be completed before the file gets submitted. All new short sales will go through this system and we are in the process of moving all existing files into this system. You can continue to reach out to me for help on the tasks to help push a task along if it goes past due.<br />
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Thank you!<br />
Not what I was hoping for. Seems we are starting from scratch after 2.5 months. <br />
I should also mention that I had been logging in to equator everyday, as the have a little message box once you log in that is how they are suppose to “communicate” with you, and I do use that term loosely, no where did it ever say info was messing, it showed everything they requested was entered as needed.