Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Bank of America
Chico, California
United States

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 personnel checking accounts, my corporate checking, corporate savings, and a corporate SBA express line of credit. They say they canceled 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.