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| Bank of America Bank of America Home Modification Is a Joke! Internet |
| 12th of Nov, 2011 by User719862 |
| TBW (Taylor Bean & Whitaker) had been servicing our FHA home loan for approximately 1 year prior to the note being sold to Bank of America Home Loans Servicing LLC. In February 2009, just prior to the BAC transfer, we filed for hardship assistance with TBW due to a financial crisis. My husband and I both lost our jobs and knew we would have trouble keeping up with our mortgage payments as scheduled. We sought assistance from TBW’s special servicing vendor Sparta Special Servicing). They granted us a 90 day forbearance contract in April of 2009 (copy attached). Per the forbearance agreement TBW agreed to waive our normal monthly mortgage payment from the months of 4/2/09 thru 7/2/09. After the forbearance period we signed a repayment agreement on 7/14/09 (copy attached). Per the repayment agreement we had to repay a portion of the forbearance balance owed on top of our normal mortgage payment of approximately $1,070 per month. The total payment for each month agreed on was $1,208.38 and the two year repayment period was to start 8/1/09 with normal payments resuming on 9/1/1/11. Within a couple of months after instituting that TBW repayment agreement our home loan was sold to Bank of America Home Loan Servicing, LLC (BAC). BAC has not, to-date, been willing to recognize TBW’s forbearance contracts nor have they given us credit towards the forbearance months as outlined and fully repaid as of August 2011. In fact, BAC began charging us excessive monthly payments in June 2010 (it is our belief these excessive payments were related to BAC’s mismanagement of our escrow account of which directly relates to their subsequent offer to refund us money that following October). Notice in the enclosed sample of BAC’s payment history (starting August 2009) that the forbearance payment amounts we included in our monthly mortgage payments are labeled “miscl posting†(enclosed payment history is from August 2009 to December 2010). BAC did not record payments at all for August and September 2009 since those payments went to directly to TBW. In one of our numerous phone calls to BAC they advised us that the funds labeled “miscl postings†(which I know are our forbearance repayments) are being applied to principal or to escrow (this story changes and it’s not clear to us from their payment history documents where the extra payments have actually been applied but I do know that have never got applied to our forbearance repayment amount). We received a notice dated October 22, 2010 stating BAC owed us overpaid escrow in the amount of $1,903.14 (see copy of refund notice attached). When we did not receive the escrow refund within the 10 day timeframe stated, I phoned a BAC customer service rep who informed us were in default on our loan and could not give us the refund (of course this claim directly stemmed from the 3 month period where TBW waived our payments). Wanting to correct BAC’s incorrect loan reporting and get us current we placed many phone calls to BAC but their explanations regarding the overpaid escrow and incorrect payment history constantly changed and contradicted any and all information given by numerous customer service reps we made contact with (i.e. they do not owe us overpaid escrow, they do owe us overpaid escrow but can not pay it, they applied the overpaid escrow to cover unpaid mortgage payments, they do not have the TBW contracts and want us to modify our loan with them, they have the forbearance contracts on record and will look into the matter, they have the forbearance contracts but they do not have to honor them since it went through a different company, and most recently - they have the forbearance contracts but they are suing TBW and so can’t do anything until the litigation if final). At their request we have faxed all necessary backup documents to the payment research department at BAC which included copies of the TBW forbearance contracts and proof of all payments from August 2009 to date – it didn’t help. In August 2011 we wrote a check to BAC for $1,209 which included our normal mortgage amount ($1,077.17) and our final forbearance payment ($131.83). It is worthy to note that on the advise of an attorney we started making all mortgage payments with live checks (not electronically) and I would write on these checks the amount of the normal mortgage and the amount that was to be applied to the forbearance repayment. BAC has been cashing these specially notated checks for about eight months. It was shortly after the August 2011 payment was made and cashed that we received a notice and live check from BAC in the amount of $527.32 (see copies attached). The notice is dated October 20, 2011 and claims that our August payment was not a full monthly mortgage payment for $1,077.17 and that since they did not receive the full payment they were returning $527.32 since they claimed they never received the balance of $549.85. The notice also points out that we may qualify for options to solve our delinquency. None of this made any sense since the August check was made out in the amount of $1,209; in addition nothing communicated addresses what they did with the extra $131.83 paid in the August check they cashed. I got a BAC representative on the phone immediately and his response to my inquiry was “You are not allowed to make partial paymentsâ€. I told him that the August check was in excess of a full mortgage payment by $131.83 and he then said, “You are allowed to make any payments in that manner, whether partial or overpayments.†I said we had been making overpayments for two years and BAC had always accepted them. He said, “Well the rules have recently changed.†What?? He then brought up our alleged default status so I (for what seemed like the 100th time with these people) launched into our oft told tale of woe about the TBW forbearance and BAC’s refusal to credit our account properly. He told me he needed to transfer me to someone else to address that situation (typical response from these folks). I asked what we were supposed to do about the recent notice and live check sent us and he told me to cash the check. I told him we would not cash their check because I felt it reaffirmed their claim we did not make a full payment in August when we, in fact, overpaid. He again insisted we HAD to cash the check. What?? It was my gut instinct that this BAC rep was intentionally misrepresenting the facts and manipulating me; I told him I did not trust his advise and ended the call. That conversation took place on October 28th 2011. We received notice of BAC’s possible intention to foreclose on our property within several 4 days of this conversation. It was exactly November 1, 2011 when we received the notice of demand for payment and possible foreclosure in the mail. I find it ironic (not to mention unreasonable) that the deadline for paying the entire balance they stated was already past due by the time the notice arrived in the mail. I don’t normally like to speculate but it appears to us this letter is somehow related to my August 2011 payment and my refusal to cash the refund check they sent us in the October 20th notice. One thing we are completely sure of is that Bank of America has the knack of muddying waters and playing with numbers down to a science and we can’t keep up with their convoluted reasoning and rules for their actions. It is obvious that neither can their customer service agents since they never seem to know what is going on with our loan. Note: We still have the original check BAC enclosed in that notice. We decided not to burn it and have a party after all since we will likely need it as evidence at a future date. Since receiving the last written communication from BAC on November 1st (the one asking for full payment of all late payments and fees by October 31st or they foreclose), we have been inundated with phone calls demanding this payment along with constant suggestions that we use their loan modification vendors to modify our loan. They sent us a packet from one of the vendors to do a home loan modification but I didn’t realize that’s what is was when I received it; I now know these mailings are from BAC loan mod vendors but we never asked for these applications to be sent to us. I would not trust anyone BAC would recommend anyway. The packet arrived soon after I had applied with Village Capital for refinancing. Come to think of it the foreclosure threats started during this same time frame. I applied with Village Capital the beginning of September 2011 and they had their agents calling BAC for more information related to our loan with them. The evening of November 2nd I received a call from a BAC agent requesting payment in full again. I again brought up the TBW arrangement and when she offered to look into the matter (again) she informed that they do have the documents pertaining to our TBW contracts but since BAC is in the process of suing TBW they are not able to correct our situation related to the forbearance. What?? I was told I should call NCCI (their approved loan modification vendor) to work out a loan modification plan. In my desperation I actually called the NCCI agent (my own morbid curiosity) and the NCCI agent told me he did not any records of our loan from BAC and the phone call ended rather quickly (no big surprise). It was another shining example of BAC’s ineptitude to service a home loan ethically, accurately or professionally. Please note that we have made all scheduled monthly payments with TBW and with BAC (along with the repayment amounts) since the beginning. We do have supporting documentation to this effect and it is available upon request. We want BAC to honor the TBW contracts and fix the discrepancy in how the extra funds were credited for the last two years by acknowledging the forbearance months have been paid in full as of August 2009. They also need to refund us any excess late fees or penalties (if applicable) associated with their failure to acknowledge and record our forbearance payments. And finally, we would like to know exactly what happened with the overpaid escrow payment they were supposed to refund us in their notice dated October 22, 2011. |
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