Bank of America review: problems with flood insurance! 56

I HAVE HAD SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH THE BANK OF AMERICA FLOOD INSURANCE SINCE THEY PURCHASED MY PROPERTY FROM COUNTRYSIDE! Every year they add on additional lender place flood insurance and every year I send them opt out letter after letter saying I don't want the additional flood insurance. I have flood insurance to cover what I owe on the home and they keep requesting me to fill out these opt out letters. I send them over and over again they say they don't get them. I send them certified copies and then they say something like your insurance company (one of the three homeowners, flood or hurricane) sent up a payment so now everything has changed and we need a new opt out letter! This goes on and on every year and I spend months trying to get it fixed and send them opt out letter after letter. I hate BOA never had this trouble with Countrywide! Today they have again placed add flood insurance after I have sent them many many opt out letters. I am about to scream! If anyone knows who I can contact or wants to file a class action suit I am with you!

Bank of America purchased my mortgage years ago from the 1st day I have been bombarded with mounds of paperwork that makes absolutely no sense they tell me I'm required to have flood insurance to cover the balance of the loan on the same paper they tell me they require 100% replacement cost which I purchased then they force place an additional policy on me and call it gap insurance I have paid more in flood insurance in the past 15 years than my house cost example my balance is less than $7000 I'm paying $1500 a year in flood insurance that only covers the balance I have never seen a bunch of thieves and crooks and liars in my life there's a special place in hell for them

must say misery loves company as they say, i thought i was a lone for the past couple years fighting with getting no where no return calls. about 4 years ago all of a sudden i had to have FLOOD INSUR TOO.thanks for all of you, i don, t feel so a lone and i feel better to have read your misery.mine is still a complete night mare of getting no where.i also had a tree ome threw the roof, they won, t even answer or do anything to help me file the claim.

whythelongfaces obviously is a bank employee

WOW...I thought I was alone. Three months ago they added 300 dollars to our monthly payment stating that we had no flood insurance. I proved that we did. They said it was not enough and would not take the extra money off of the bill. I got the FEMA form that showed that our home is not in the flood plain but that and edge of our property is...not the structure. They dtill would not budge. I raised the flood to way more than they asked for. Guess what ..they said they can't change it as the flood has to mirror the homeowners insurance...What ? Both are 400% of our loan. So I am shopping for a new bank. I have to get away from these thieves. I and my children will never use them for anything again, ever.

Unbelievable! we are in the same position so many of you are in. we are paying for flood insurance and required to escrow our insurances per BOA. We are paying over $800 a year in flood insurance and live no where near H2O. we have called FEMA who tells us to call BOA who tells us to call our insurance company and around we go again. ultimately the burden of proof lie with us. we have to hire an engineer and his determination isn't guaranteed to remove us from our zone A...

We bought our house in 2009 through Synovus. After a few months our mortgage was sold to Bank of America. We have a creek bordering one side of our property and two springs on it. Anyone can see we're in Flood Zone A ( high risk) and I completely agree and have never disputed this at all. I have no problem with having to have high cost flood insurance if that is what the mortgage lender requires. I don't like having to pay for it, but I know that we are in a high risk flood zone. I have noticed we have to provide proof of our flood policy every year. We have always had the required flood insurance, and every year about a month after the policy renews, we get a letter stating their records show we have no flood insurance and we have to fax them proof that we have it. After that they don't give us anymore problems.
But we had a real mess with our insurance last year. We made the 'crazy' decision to cancel our extremely expensive flood insurance policy (doing it fair and square abiding by FEMA's stupid rules, after the 1 year expiration date, and notifying both the lender and the 'old' insurance company over 90 days in advance.) We just got a better price from another flood insurance provider and wanted to save some money. Between the joint efforts of our incompetent local (not Bank of America insurance) insurance agent that does not understand flood insurance at all, the stubborn and difficult people at FEMA, and the completely clueless customer service reps at Bank of America mortgage, we ended up with TWO flood insurance policies and a homeowners policy all at one time. Boy, did our payments go up! It took us three months of going round, and round with the local insurance office, FEMA, and B of A trying to convince them that something was wrong. You are not supposed to have TWO flood insurance policies. Even the FEMA website states this because I looked. And neither one of these policies was due to lender-forced insurance or anything like that! Our insurance agent of our expensive old policy failed to cancel it like we had asked. Finally, we got results from our local insurance agent, and the begrudging cooperation of FEMA after 3 months. We couldn't get anywhere with the BofA mortgage customer service people. It was like they couldn't understand what we were trying to tell them in plain, simple English. There literally seemed to be some type of language barrier or something. Well, another wonderfully convenient part of this problem is that we live in extreme southeast Alabama. From what we could tell, there are no Bank of America bank branches in Alabama at all, certainly not within a few hours of our house. We had to make an appointment with a mortgage specialist person at a bank branch of Bank of America in North Florida. We had to drive a little over an hour to get there, and I had big folders filled with information and proof of how much our insurance had been messed up and proof that we had tried to get everything fixed through calling their B of A mortgage customer service number to no avail. I am truly grateful to the very kind bank teller that first took my call at that Bank of America bank branch in North Florida, and to the very sweet mortgage specialist lady that helped us. She was extremely kind and really took the time to listen to our problem, and make all kinds of calls and fax paperwork while we were sitting in her office and she got everything straightened out for us. By the time we left her office, everything had been handled and we have had no problems since then. We were very frustrated with our insurance agent, FEMA, and the apparently 'foreign' customer service reps that could not seem to communicate fluently in English with my husband or understand what he was saying, and they clearly knew absolutely nothing about the intricacies of flood insurance, not even their so-called B of A insurance department was any help! But we will never forget the very, very kind and helpful people at the North Florida Bank of America branch that we visited. They provided us with awesome customer service and an instant solution to our problem and brought our mortgage payments back down to the proper and affordable amount they were supposed to be. We will never forget how much those people helped us out.

BOA! what can I say that already hasn't been said. I have lived in my home for 15 years and NOW! I need flood insurance. $2520.00 worth. Are you kidding me! Wish I could get a $200.00 a month raise. I hope the people involved in making these decisions are very proud of themselves, you must really make your parents and grandparents proud because I am sure this is how they would have wanted to be treated, and that goes for all of our politicians in this country that lie to us on a daily basis and expect us to be held accountable for our actions, isn't it about time you do the same. IT'S ALL ABOUT ME! has taken over this country. THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY THAT ARE STILL TRUE ARE THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES THAT LAY THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE AND EVEN THEY ARE GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK THESE DAY'S. DISGUSTED IN OHIO!

A class action suit is underway. I have read all of the above and I feel your pain 13 years I have been under the thumb of Banc of America everything I have seen so far is absolutely true it has been a revolving door that went nowhere. As of February 1, 2012 my mortgage balance is 10, 923.00. I purchased a flood insurance policy coverage 88, 800 my cost $ 766. Effective date February 4, 2012 to February 4, 2013. I received an additional letter from Bank of America. To inform me they have placed flood gap insurance on me. Effective date February 4, 2012 to February 4, 2013 coverage amount 19, 800 my cost $ 103.95. I am a single-parent of 3 my oldest is currently serving in the Marine Corps the other 2 are with me I made less than 15, 000 last year. But here is where it gets really good. I received a letter from Bank of America Today at 1st I thought please dear Lord I have no more money. And after sifting through all the BS at the top I seen this at the bottom and it said. You are not obligated to lower the coverage amount and we will not change the coverage amount unless you mail this signed letter within the time specified in this letter. underneath this in very small letters it said. Yes please lower my required flood insurance coverage amount for the current coverage term to be equal to my unpaid loan balance amount of 10, 920 I am aware that by lowering the amount of flood insurance coverage the flood coverage amount will be less than a flood insurance coverage amount based on the amount of homeowners insurance coverage I last purchased and may not be enough to fully replace or repair the property in the event of damage or destruction due to flood. This is the 1st time I have ever received this letter . I don't know about the rest of you but I have been lied to and ripped off for years. God as my witness I will leave no stone unturned until I get my money back. Please Post this own your Facebook let everybody know.

I have been dealing with the same flood insurance problems with BOA for several years. I own a lake front condo and our flood insurance is paid by the association using our condo fees. EVERY year I fax, mail, email and submit online the new policy and EVERY year they say they didn't receive it. Then they purchase a policy and stick it on my mortgage payment. I have spent more time on the phone trying to figure out what is going on in their system that they can't put my coverage information on file- it does no good! I have gotten many different "reasons" why this could be happening from fax machine problems to them saying there could be more units in the building than are on the policy (WHAT?!?). These people are crazy and I can't wait to be rid of them. Refinancing here I come.

My mortagage with Countrywide was sold to Bank of America. With my mortgage payment I also pay for the insurance and land tax, which is held in escrow until payment is due. Got 2 nasty letters from BOA saying that I did not have proper insurance coverage, as they required, and therefore would be required to pay the ins. co. of their choice over 3, 000, which would be added to the mortagage balance. My ins. co. tells me that they billed BOA and received no payment as was due. What's wrong with this picture...they have my money for ins. and didn't pay it on time. Who should get the letters?

BOa has cost me $500.00 do to their error in my flood insurance. I sent all my pictures an elevation report to BOA Insurance Service so we could close in January, April I recieved notice from Travelers that my home was under insured by 100, 000.00 I said that can't be, after 2 months of trying to get some idiot to understand it seems that BOA never sent anything to Travelers till April, so now BOA charges me for being under insured... thanks to them we're paying $500.00 more till we can get updated pictures to the insurance company, (this is a vacation home so i"m 1500 miles away) I wont be down for months. BOA are crooks if you can get away from them, run dont look back. Changing Companies as soon as I can.

Found two Class Action Lawsuits filed recently against Bank of America for requiring excessive flood damage insurance as a condition of mortgage loans.

1) Filed, July 1, 2011 - http://www.awkolaw.com/news/firm-news/awko-attorneys-file-class-action-against-bank-of-america/
Contact Information: http://www.awkolaw.com/contact.html

2) Filed, April 4, 2011 - http://www.nka.com/case/bank-of-america-hazard/
Contact Information: [protected] - Nicols Kaster Attorneys at Law

Found two Class Action Lawsuits filed against Bank of America for requiring excessive flood damage insurance as a condition of mortgage loans.
Filed, July

I just got out of it! Here is what I did. The company that BOA uses Is Landsafe. They make the assessment for your flood insurance. They look at the maps using a google earth Or similar public domain map that is at an oblique angle. This is what I wrote to Landsafe "In making any kind of assessment, it is extremely important to use the most accurate data available.  Mark(works at Landsafe and sent me a screenshot of the map he used to make a assesement) provided me with a screen shot of a google earth or similar public domain map that is at an oblique angle.  It is not accurate.  The map in the attachment is a county aerial topo map, which was used as the base map for the FIRM.  The flood zone that is shown is a GIS shape file straight from the FIRM mapping consultant.  The information used in this determination is more accurate than the one that Landsafe uses, and the most accurate information must be used." I worked with our city enginer to optain maps and sent them to Landsafe. We were lucky because we are on the cusp of being in the flood zone. FIGHTING THIS WILL TAKE HARD WORK AND RESEARCH! However knowledge is power and if you are not in a flood zone you should not have to pay! THE BANK IS DEPENDING ON PEOPLE NOT TO DO THE RESEARCH AND FIGHT. Calling BOA is a waste of time. Call Landsafe. Good luck

Same problems w/ BOA since they bought my mortgage from Countrywide. They are demanding that I carry a ridculous amout of insurance and if I don't up my policy (both flood & hazard) they charge me for their insurance. I have no escrow so they have taken the insurance charge out of money that I designated to go towards my principal. The fees are hidden. I have to pay attention to my principal balance. If it goes UP, I know I've been charged. I don't know how they can do this. They are also demanding proof of insurance and a line of credit that I owe nothing on and haven't used in over 5 years. I received 24 letters in a two week period demanding I send them more information. (It was the same exact letter sent 24 times)
I am now in teh process of refinancing with a local bank for a very low flat rate.
I don't know how they can get away with stealing from their customers.

The folks at Nichols Kaster - Attorneys at Law are involved in Class Action litigation against Bank of America. One of the cases they have filed has to do with the flood fraud everyone is talking about here. NKA were very interested in my case and had me submit all of my BOFA correspondence regarding the unsolicited gap flood insurance applied to my mortgage, along with my insurance policy, and the recently inflated replacement cost levied by Allstate. I recommend everyone contact them and have your paperwork ready to submit.

http://www.nka.com/Cases/BOAFloodIns.aspx?CaseRef=167

What does this lawsuit claim?
The lawsuit alleges that Bank of America unfairly requires its customers to purchase and maintain unnecessary and excessive flood insurance for their property, in amounts greater than necessary to secure their outstanding principal balance or credit line, without any reasonable basis or justification and without clearly, conspicuously, or adequately disclosing such requirements in the relevant loan and mortgage documents. The lawsuit further alleges that Bank of America sent form letters to borrowers misrepresenting flood insurance requirements under federal law.

One other thing to add I also filed a complaint with the OCC twice. All they did was send my complaint to some CEO at Bank of America, who sent a letter back to me with the same stupid documents their customer service sent me. They even provided a number to their office, which when I tried to call was always directed to voicemail. Like one other person mentioned, Bank of America owns more politicians than we could ever afford. It's always going to be a you scratch my back and I'll scratch your back system. I'm think our government is no better than the government of third world countries. They're all corrupt, and there's nothing the people can do.

I HATE Bank of America. Jerks basically find any way to take more money out of you. I too had a mortgage through Countrywide, which was then bought up by those losers. It took me 2 years to fight them on the flood insurance requirement, even sending them letters that FEMA sent me stating my flood zone was X not A. Even FEMA seems to have a problem with their own maps when I went to submit a form to request for an LOMA, which is the only document that BofA would bother to look at. My property wasn't in the flood zone and you could clearly see it from the color coded map. But they rejected my form stating that I didn't have a license surveyor conduct a survey of my property. Why would I pay a license surveyor the $800+ even though FEMA's map pointed out I wasn't in the flood zone!?!?! UGH! Eventually a contractor through FEMA received another request from my neighbor who also stated the same thing, but this person actually did some work and probably actually looked at the map. After 2 years I finally got my LOMA. Even after submitting the thing to BofA they told me they wouldn't refund me the flood insurance I had already paid, and that it was my responsibility to request a refund from FEMA, or whatever organization. Complete BULL! I told the rep this was terrible customer service, and I would not be rating him very well for the after call survey. Well, he transferred me to his supervisor because he didn't want to be rated terribly because of the customer service I experienced. His supervisor, who old me the same thing did nothing to in terms of helping out, and when I asked to take the survey he said he couldn't transfer me to the survey line. Again more BULL! I can't believe our stupid government went ahead and bailed these greedy corporations with our tax money, and then all these corporations do is screw us over.

I HAVE A SMALL CREEK LOCATED BEHIND MY HOUSE, BOA NOTIFIED ME THAT I NEEDED FLOOD INSURANCE, AFTER 30DAYS THEY PUT US ON A FLOOD INSURANCE. MARCH 2 OF THIS YEAR I HAD A FLOOD IN MY BEASEMENT EST. DAMAGE 4, 500.00 2500 WAS SUPPOSE TO BE PIAD TO THE RESTORATION CO. THE DID THE WORK IN THE BASEMENT AND 2000.00 FOR MY DAMAGES. THE CLAIM WAS PUT IN AND THEY HAVE STILL NOT PAID ONE RED CENT. EVERYTIME WE CALL THEY TELL US THE CHECK IS IN THE MAIL. WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM MY BASEMENT IS A MESS.

My mortgage was sold to BOA and they are a nightmare. FEMA re-did the flood maps and I am now in a flood plain. BOA notified me that I had to get flood ins. I told them I was getting an elevation survey to make sure I was in the plain. They purchased insurance for me in the amount of $191, 500 at $1, 900 a year. They "took" 3 mortgage payments in a row and used the money to "buy" my flood insurance and then informed me I was past due on my mortgage. I pay my own taxes and insurance, therefore, I have never had an escrow account. They raised my mortgage payment $378 a month and billed me an additional $1600.00 to bring my account current even though I had made all the payments on time. I'm 62 years old and I have never been late with a mortgage payment in my life! I made application to refinance with another company with the provision that my loan could not be sold to BOA but was informed I couldn't refinance because I had been past due three mos. in a row on my mortgage. I filed a complaint with OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency). I am having doubts about the OCC too! I have purchased flood insurance for the coming yearly period, sent proof to BOA that they are named on policy and that it is paid in full by me. They have now also paid the premium on the policy (why I do not know) and they want their money back! What a joke. I want the $378 additional I paid every month back too since I have paid for my own policy out of my pocket but they said not until they get back their money. Oh, and they sent me a letter telling me my policy was coming due and said it had to be insured for at least $120, 453, so I purchased flood insurance in the amount of $121, 500 and now they are saying they want it insured back up to $191, 500. My State Equalized Valuation is $60, 000. Sign me up for a Class Action Suit!

I am having the same problems where I had a Countrywide mortgage, closed on 12/31/1999, and then when it moved over to BOA, I received a letter in 4/2010 that I was found to be in a flood zone, when all along and when we closed in 1999, we had asked about flood zone and were told we were OK. I found this strange and when I called BOA they said they had received new info from FEMA. So I called FEMA and FEMA said there was no new info sent to BOA and the map is the same as in 1982. I've had 2 separate large insurance companies, one was Allstate, tell me that their information shows a flood determination of "C" and not A-3 as LandSafe is showing. Landsafe told me that the insurance companies are wrong, but when Allstate sent me the flood determ. form it was the same kind of form that Landsafe sent me, but it had landsafe's name and address instead of CoreLogic, which was on the insurance companies flood determination form. If 2 other companies show me in zone C who says that landsafe is correct?

I would love to hear about a class action suit and love to belong to it.

Looks like I'm a part of a long list of dissatisfied Bank of America customers. I also had my loan with Countrywide and therefore had no choice becoming a Bank of America customer. In June 2010 BOA placed a flood insurance policy on my townhome. The HOA provides the insurance so I had them fax the information twice since somehow it was never received the first time. In July 2010 BOA refunded the flood premium to my escrow account. In October 2010 I received a letter stating that the flood insurance coverage was insufficient and needed to equal the coverage of the hazard insurance. This seemed strange since three months prior it was fine. I called to inquire what this was about and was told that the bank needed to protect their interest in the property. The hazard insurance coverage is $195, 500, which I think is too much on a property that I'd be lucky to sell for $100, 000 in today's market but that's something that the HOA will need to address. The flood coverage provided by the HOA is $65, 500. BOA has now placed a flood policy for $130, 000 on my property. I had excess in my escrow this year because of property taxes decreasing because the value of the property decreasing. Seems strange that this lender placed policy has taken the excess from my escrow account. I have no policy paperwork to show for it or to prove that there really is a policy. I'm thinking BOA just didn't want to send me a check. I have sent messages to their customer service protesting this since my mortgage balance is $43, 000 and I believe their interest in my property is sufficiently covered with the policy provided by the HOA. They just continue telling me that I need to increase the coverage. I've called an insurance agency and was told this will require an elevation report that will cost me $75 and then they can determine what the premium would be for the additional insurance. BOA was answering my messages daily for three days but by their responses it appeared they really didn't read what I wrote. In my last message I stated they were not getting my point and that they were purchasing something for me that I don't want and that isn't necessary to protect their interest in my property. I haven't heard back from them this time. I'm open to whatever assistance I can get and am willing to be a part of a collective action. My only other alternative is to refinance where I can get some reasonable service. Does anyone know if it is a requirement for flood insurance coverage to equal the hazard insurance coverage? Also, does the insurance coverage need to be more than the principle balance of the loan?

This is comical. We bail these idiots out and they find new ways to screw us every time we turn around. Next time they need help from us honest, hard working, pay our mortgage on time, over taxed "CUSTOMERS", we should do whatever it takes to make sure they go belly up. Maybe some other lending institution will aquire our loans and treat us like "CUSTOMERS". I have had the same problem as many of you with this flood insurance scam. And, like the rest of you, i'm wondering who is running this scam. The federal government, that needs all of the dollars it can steal to pay claims from idiots that build homes below sea level, or the insurance companies that receive fat commisions from selling us more coverage than we need. My advise to all is to move your mortgage, cancell your BOC credit cards, buy insurance from another carrier etc... imediately. I did, and that's all they understand. Also, pass this info on to your friends so they don't make the mistake of dealing with these clowns. Save your time with the class action. They own more politicians and appointed officials than all of us together could afford.

I am happy to see that I am not the only person going through this

They have done this to me also. Can barely afford to live and was paying my normal note on time. I had to scrape up thousands to get my loan current when they threatened a foreclosure. I have worked hard my whole life and paid my bills with perfect credit. They ruined my credit as I paid my note and they held it as partial payment. My note went from 1100 to 1400 with unfair insurance added and late fees and they don't apply any principal payments. Warning, stay away from this bank! I'm seeking legal assistance. Even if you get someone to fix it they will do the same next year. there making money by doing this. They wont help you its a scam. They are crooks.

I agree everything that everyone has commented on about BOA is the same crap im going thru with flood insurance requirements and try to pawn me off to FEMA and provide a stupid flood determination letter and customer has to pay out of pocket for a surveryor and they are gonna place a policy of insurance within 45 days. A normal insurance company that provides insurance will not even go into effect until 30 days so still BOA still steals your money, u have to pay out of pocket for a surveyor, prove to them when there the ones telling us we need. This is [censor].

Happy and sad at the same time to see that I am not the only person dealing with this problem! I live in a condo which is in a flood plain and I pay my association dues which pay for flood insurance on the building. I too got sent their standard "you need more insurance" form and after speaking to a plethora of people was told that I have to purchase an additional 10k worth of insurance. My agent told me that even if I purchased the policy, the claim would not be approved since the first claim would come from the association. One can't supercede the other. After telling some ididot girl in the policy department this, her response was "we are Bank of America, we can do what we want. You signed a piece of paper saying you would carry the required insurance." That there is the key word- required. I already do! I have had less than two months to get an elevation certificate (which is $250 out of my pocket, Merry Christmas to me) and get that to my agent to get me a flood policy. And the best part is that I have to buy a policy for 25k since they don't do 10k policies! Happy New Year too! Is all this legal. I am all for going in on a class action lawsuit. Will some sort of documentation from a lawyer help at all? A friend told me that once you send legal correspondence to them, you go into mediation or arbitration and they can't do anything like post policies at that time. Is that true? Any guidance would be appreciated!

FEMA is not the sole authority classifying an area as a flood zone. They create an engineering study map which "determines" the flood zone, according to their published guidelines. A second, low-resolution, vectored map (the Flood Insurance Rate Map) is created by FEMA based on the engineering survey. The actual determination is done by mapping companies who work for Big Mort. They take the low-resolution Rate Map and overlay it on a Google Earth image, expanding the flood zone as much as possible. These 3rd-generation maps are legally "not to be relied upon" and most even state as much in a legal line on the page. FEMA accepts these maps, even though they contradict the engineering studies, and even though there is no description of this "determination" process in FEMA's published guidelines. Why? Follow the money: 66% in this scam goes to FEMA, and THERE IS NO POLICING OF THIS. FEMA is currently being investigated for conflict of interest by the GAO and DHS. Since they don't make any money from "flood insurance", why does Big Mort perpetrate this scam? Because it gives them grounds to foreclose on your house. Full story:
http://www.csfreshink.com/group/central/forum/topics/national-news-finally-steps-to?xg_source=activity

Are loan was purchased by BOA in 2009 from countrywide. We do live in a flood plain and have paid around $600 for our flood ins since we bought the house in 2002. After BOA took over they stated we did not have enough coverage, and are making us carry flood ins based on the restructure cost of our house. Every bank or credit union I have called states that we only need to have coverage based on our loan amount! We are now being made to pay $1400 a year! We have looked into refinancing but like most people our loan amount is now more than what the house is worth. So now we are in a place where we can not afford our house, because of Bank of America! WARNING STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM BANK OF AMERICA!

I too am caught up in the Bank of America flood insurance nonsense. One corner of our property is located in the flood zone, but according to our flood hazard determination form, our structure is not affected. In order to secure the loan a year ago, we went ahead and purchased flood insurance anyway - we carry the maximum coverage available. I just got a call from my insurance agent, and she received a letter from B of A stating that we had to move our coverage to the higher rate plan - now, if I am carrying the maximum amount of flood insurance possible, why in the world would they care how much I'm paying for it? It will cost me more than a thousand dollars to change the rate!

they never answer the phones they always have machines doing it and they do not have any spanish speeking employees how do they exspect to get more clients when in california most of the poeple are hispanic and spanish speeking only.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK:
Like a few other people on this forum my loan was also through Countrywide, and got bought out by Bank of America. My problems started in 2009 and I had been fighting with Bank of America Home Loan Customer service line since then with letters and faxes that idiots on their end would receive and send back to me saying that it wasn't a LOMA.

FILING A COMPLAINT WITH THE OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF CURRENCY:
Anyways, I followed Big007's advice and filed a complaint with the Office of the Comptroller of Currency. A few weeks later I received a letter from the office of Bank of America Home Loans CEO giving me the same garbage that they've sent in the past. Actually here's what they sent me.

1. Letter stating why I was required flood insurance
2. FEMA Form 81-93(Flood Hazard Determination Form) prepared by LandSafe Flood Determination Inc. (under the comments section on this form LandSafe stated that my structure was in the flood zone and that it was mandatory that I purchase flood insurance)

I sent back my own FEMA Form 81-93 that my insurance agent had pulled up and was prepared by First American Flood Data Services. This version stated that my property was PARTIALLY WITHIN a Special Flood Hazard Area, but the STRUCTURE WAS NOT affected and WAS NOT in the flood plain. I sent the following by CERTIFIED MAIL, just so those jerks won't have an excuse that they didn't receive it, and I'll also have a paper trail.

1. A copy of the FEMA Map that I obtained through the city that was referenced in the Form 81-93 in section B. I googled flood zone maps and my city name and surprisingly it came up with the Department of Development Services to contact. I sent an e-mail because the phone number listed was just an automated answering machine.
2. FEMA Form 81-93(Flood Hazard Determination Form) prepared by First American Flood Data Services
3. A letter explaining why I don't need flood insurance, and a demand for a refund of the flood insurance money I've paid to date

I also called the number they listed on the letter and got some assistant's voicemail. Surprisingly I got a call the same day and was told to fax over my documents so that they can forward it to the right people. Apparently the main person is just swamped with complaints, so assistants are helping out. So now it's a waiting game. I'll post an update if I get anywhere. I have to wonder, did anyone else get a FEMA Form 81-93 prepared by LandSafe? I wonder if Bank of America is just paying these jerks so that they can claim owners need flood insurance. They obviously don't know how to read a map. I'm all for filing a class action lawsuit.

I built my house in 2005, I went through a local bank, Which clearly proved I wasn't in a flood zone before I could start building. MY HOUSE IS ON A FREAKING MOUNTAIN. IF I FLOOD NO ONE IS SAFE. When I did a refinance in Aug. 06 my loan eventually got in the hands of BOA. They would tell me don't worry you don't have to pay that it was a mistake. It kept showing up so then they said go to your courthouse & get me such & such papers & we will get this cleared up. I would do everything they told me & it still wouldn't take it off. They said just ignore it on your bill & pay your normal payment & we will take everything off of your credit. 3 months went by...I kept calling saying what else can I do. They would reply nothing we are going to take care of it. After 5 months somebody slipped up at customer service that used to work in the flood dept. asked me if I sent in my Fema papers.
My loan is not escrowed but Bank of STUPIDITY paid my taxes on property that I don't even have a loan on.
Like a [censored] I reimbursed them in full immediately...that was a joke, they are still trying to charge me, plus interest, plus late fees on their flood insurance. NOW THEY ARE TRYING TO FORECLOSE ON ME...I HAVE NEVER MISSED A PAYMENT. All of the crap they say is their crap that shouldn't have ever been put on me to start with.
Take in mind that I didn't do their home modification program. I have been trying all of this time to get them to straighten my credit out so I could get the hell away from these crooks.
BANK OF STUPIDITY NEEDS TO PAY!

Of course, the scoundrels disconnected the phone number as soon as it was published. Sorry guys. Meanwhile you can call they other service numbers: [protected] or [protected].
If you play nice (don't scream, just state the facts), they will connect you with the office that handles these claims. You see, there is the company that does evil things and the employees that just do their jobs (and quite well).

BAC Home Loans: They lie, when they get caught they change their story, when they get caught again, they relent. Oh yeah, AND they are using our tax money to stay in business.
A very ethical company, don't you think?

WHAT TO DO:
1. File a complaint with the Office of Comptroller of Currency (OCC, Branch of the US Treasury). You can do this online, it's free and the Feds will forward the complaint to high levels of management at BAC Home Loans .
2. Call [protected] (Office of the BAC Home Loans CEO), make sure you say you filed a complaint with the OCC and give them the complaint number. That will speed things up.

WHAT I HAVE ESTABLISHED:
FEMA is the sole authority on classifying an area as being in a flood zone (A or AE). The authoritative document is the FIRM (Flood Insurance Rate Map) published by FEMA. If your property is in an "X" zone according to this document, you DO NOT NEED FLOOD INSURANCE, period. You can download the FIRM from the FEMA web site.
A LOMA letter or LOMR request is needed ONLY IF FEMA screwed up and your house shows up in a flood zone when it's not. Your city of insurance company can tell you that for free.

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT :
Any good lawyer out there? If you file this suit, there will be hundreds of people that BAC Home Loans has illegally harassed and they MUST keep record of the letters they have sent, otherwise they would not be able to collect from them. BAC Home Loans has been so legally sloppy in this that the class action case would be a slam dunk.

IN THE FUTURE:
Do not purchase or refinance using BAC Home Loans and tell everyone around you about this. This will hurt them where it counts.

I completely agree with everyone here. Basically, how do we start a class action suit?

I read your story about Bank of America Mortgage and their requirement for flood insurance. We had the same thing happen to us. In late October 2009 my fiancé and I received a letter from them stating that our property had been rezoned and was now in a flood zone and we were required to purchase flood insurance. Our house has never flooded so we were surprised. Also, the letter was sent so late that we did not have much time to purchase it before the date they imposed in the letter. I called them and after several hours and nine-kinds-of-hell I finally got through to a rep. They said FEMA rezoned us. When I asked for a copy of the documentation they received from FEMA to base their decision on they refused to produce it. I argued back and forth for several days having to talk to a different rep every time because their insane automated system does not allow one to talk to the same person every time. Every time I called it was a new world and a different story. We were finally forced to get our own flood insurance to avoid them purchasing one for us. They promised they would not purchase it.

Problem solved, right? WRONG. They went ahead and purchased it anyway. It took us until the first part of this year to get the idiots-at-the-wheel at Bank of America to refund everything and lower our payment back to what it was before this mess. Problem solved, right? WRONG. In May of this year we received yet another letter saying we needed $3000.00 more in flood insurance. Again the letter was sent so late we barely had time to get it increased before they would purchase it on our behalf. We went through another series of torturous phone calls to Bank of America and still more hollow promises. We got our insurance increased, faxed all documentation as instructed and they promised not to purchase it. Problem solved, right? WRONG. They went ahead and purchased it yet again. We are still fighting with them to refund it.

I just saw a report on our local news channel 2 in Tulsa, OK tonight. Apparently this is happening to a lot of people. Is there no legal recourse against this? We have no money to hire a surveyor to prove what is already obvious. Somehow it seems unfair and illegal that Bank of America or any other mortgage company can impose these requirements without providing credible evidence to support their claim. Yet, because they have money and we do not; they are allowed to screw us and we are supposed to take it. We would like to at least turn in a formal complaint to whatever board or agency governs them (assuming they have one) but have not been able to figure out who that is.

As far as I’m concerned, if I ever buy property again I will make sure that it is set up somehow that our note cannot ever be sold to Bank of America, nor will I ever willingly take out a mortgage with them or have any accounts whatsoever with them again. They are nothing but a bunch of white collar crooks

I guess I am kind of in the same boat as all of you happy customers. I got my loan from countrywide and when BOA took over all the sudden they started trying to put lender place insurance on my loan. I live in a condo and I have insurance through my dues. I sent BOA proof of insurance several times, everytime it seemed to get lost. Finally, about two months ago they finally got the paperwork and I got a refund (I HAD TO DEMAND MY REFUND...THEY WOULD NOT JUST GIVE IT TO ME). But, the problems back now...I once again have sent them the paperwork. Now their story has changed though, they say I don't have enough coverage and want me to buy a $160k policy on a unit worth a 115k and my BOA loan is only 104K. That makes absolutely no sense to me. I honestly do not know what to do. I think they (when I say "they" I mean some backwards corprate leader/s, not some freindly desk person who is trying to make an honest living) are milking me or trying to steel my house and resell it. I would do class action but whats the point if it is all legal. My last resort is to pay my own taxes and send my mortgage payments, specifically "stating for mortgage interest/principle, not insurance." Then what can they do though?

Here my questions for BOA.

Why did you not properly file my paperwork and info as I repeatedly sent it to you?
Why did I have proove to you that you charged me for your placed insurance to get a refund?
Why do I need more insurance than my house is even worth?
Why do none of the other units (my neighbors) have any problems with the same exact flood insurance I have?
Why are you trying to steel my money?

BTW... I physically went into a BOA branch and spoke with a friendly desk employee about this problem. She said the problem would be investigated and fixed in about a week, and then gave me a case #. She specifically said she would be the one handling the case. I find it kind of awkward/fishy that a week and a half later I got a call from the branch manager saying my "case" had been transfered to him and he was going to be dealing with it from then on. I bet she saw how stupid it was and tried to fix it but BOA would not let her and took her off the case (thats just a theory of many going through my head). Do BOA's employees even see (who have absolutly no power) how backward they are?

BOA is doing this to us too - I have $60, 000 in flood insurance on a $40, 000 principal balance...7 years to go. BOA insists we need to TRIPLE our insurance to $180, 000 at an extra cost of $6 hundredsomething which they've now stolen from my escrow account. Through my insurance company, it would be another $900. I found this on the FEMA website in frequently asked questions about flood insurance, considering getting a policy:

Q Why does my mortgage lender require me to buy flood insurance?

A Under federal law, the purchase of flood insurance is mandatory for all federal or federally related financial assistance for the acquisition and/or construction of buildings in high-risk flood areas (Special Flood Hazard Areas or SFHAs).

The amount of flood insurance coverage required by the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, as amended by the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994, is the -- L E S S E R -- of the following:

1.The maximum amount of NFIP coverage available for the particular property type,
*********2.The outstanding principal balance of the loan, ********* or
3.The insurable value of the structure.

If the property is not in a high-risk area, but instead in a moderate-to-low risk area, federal law does not require flood insurance; however, it is recommended since historically about one-in-four flood claims come from these moderate-to-low risk areas. Note that if during the life of the loan the maps are revised and the property is now in the high-risk area, your lender will notify you that you must purchase flood insurance.

Sounds to me that they need to shake you down for the LEAST AMOUNT, rather than the LENDER'S CHOICE of the amount, which means i have 50% MORE insurance than i am required by FEMA to have. I'm gonna have to ask a lawyer or something to help me push back, because I'm not paying them this kind of money for another 7 years, AND i'm not paying $4000 to refinance for another 10-15 years, only to get sold back to these idiots. I just don't know what to do, and that makes me so mad I can't see straight.