CAPE CORAL, Fla. – Call for Action is working to uncover the truth behind a recent loan modification mishap involving Bank of America.
We told you about Cape Coral single mom, Nicole DePuy on Monday, July 26th. She tried for two years to get a loan modification with Bank of America. She finally got the modification approved but says the bank foreclosed and sold her home anyway, despite being current on her new deal.
We contacted Bank of America to find out what happened. We put in our first inquiry a week ago and kept checking in since. The bank told us they were working on it. Finally, as our story was airing last night we received a statement from Bank of America saying that they were working behind the scenes and would contact Nicole.
Nicole tells me she received a call back from Bank of America during the commercial break before our story aired.
Read more: http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2010-07-27/More-BOA-Mishaps#ixzz0uzAS6lxx
Bank of America offered me an UNSOLICITED loan modification. Because I was no longer working, but my husband was we accepted the offer by making the first payment at the modified amount. Withing a week we received the details of this modification. Believing we had already accepted the plan we signed & continued. In the end they said we don’t qualify for a loan modification but now we are late on payments, and our credit score has dropped by 100. We fear that at the end of the 5 yr fixed ARM we will not be able to qualify for any other loans because of our credit. I would not have accepted any trial modifications had I know this. These deceptive unsolicited practices seem very illegal…Is there any resource to turn to?
I am also in the middle of a battle with Bank Of America and do not know where to turn for help. I signed my final Home Modifcation paperwork in Dec 2009 and started making my new modified payment January 2010. I have paid every month as the modified agreement states, BUT Bank of America is still hurrasing me saying I owe more money. Every month is a new amount and a new story as to why I owe more. Last month they admitted to doing the final closing paperwork wrong and said they will get it fixed, but this month is a new story. I am a single mom and very scared of losing my home. I don’t know where or who to turn to for help. Does anyone know who can please help me get this fixed??? Please email me at tiger05276@hotmail.com
Thank you
Debra Friedman
I too have been battling Bank of America since late 2008. Well actually, it was Country Wide then around summer of 2009 Bank of America took over my loan. I started asking for help in early 2008 before I was behind on any payments but they said they couldn’t help. When I finally became behind on payments Country Wide sent me my first intent to foreclose letter on 11/17/08 and at that point, they started working with me for a loan modification. In March of 2009, I was notified via letter I was denied for hardship & that I was “not eligible for loan modification via National Home Ownership Retention program”. After several phone calls, they couldn’t really explain why I was denied but said to send in more paperwork to see what I was eligible for now.
Then Bank of America took over the loan & I continued to work with them for a loan modification. On September 3, 2009, I seen on their website my loan modification was cancelled from workout servicing. At which point on September 9, 2009 I got my second Intent to Foreclose letter from Bank of America. I called Bank of America yet again & I believe this time they said it was because they didn’t have all my paperwork. Which I had sent two times.
Finally, I believe in November 2009 I was sent a “Home Affordable Modification Trial Period Package”. I completed the paperwork & mailed back but of course, they told me I had to do it again because I signed my maiden and current last name since my loan is under my maiden name. Nevertheless, I thought finally we are going to get this loan modification. I was requested to make three modified payments during a three-month trail period and by the end of the payments, I should have a loan modification. I actually made four payments: 11/09, 12/09, 1/10, 2/10.
I made several phone calls to them asking for status and what was taking so long. At the end of March or beginning of April 2010 I was told that the paperwork is now outdated and I would need to send current paperwork and I should make additional trail period payments. I was extremely upset because my husband and I changed financial situations yet again and I had since lost my job and feared I would not qualify. I argued with them on the phone again wanting answers to why and explained my fears and that they have cause me such great undue stress. I explained how I felt that their procrastination had contributed to me loosing my job and a miscarriage in February. Again, on 4/6/10 I faxed the requested paperwork. I also made a fifth payment in April.
On 6/3/10, I received a letter stating they reviewed my request for loan modification under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program but unfortunately my loan is not eligible but they are currently reviewing my financial information and they would contact me within 10 days.
On 7/19/10, I received a letter stating, “Thank you for contacting us recently to discuss your home loan needs….and unfortunately we are unable to offer you a workout plan at this time because per Bank of America HFI Department guidelines (NON-MHA), requested financial documents not returned within 15 day time frame”. On 7/20/10, I received my third Notice of Intent to Foreclose letter.
I called yet again and completely freaked out yelling what paperwork are they talking about now, that I have sent everything they have requested and that they are playing games with me! I advised if I didn’t get answers ASAP, I would contact every news outlet I could and report them to BBB. I got no answers from them but I did get someone assigned to me who has now requested yet MORE paperwork! That is where I now.
I need help and can they do this to me? I have advised them at this point that all I want to know is can I keep my home with a modification or are they going to really deny me and take my home, so I can claim bankruptcy, get my finances in order and move on with my life.
Wow.. I though I was going through it. Your story sounds so much like mine it’s incredible to believe this has happened. I’ve sent paperwork several times only to be told they never recieved it. I’ve been sent denial letters was finally offered a modification for 40 years @ 4 and a half percent. This ended up being being almost 300.00 dollars more a month than the trial rate. I need help too. I am completely frustrated
There must be a way to prove that BofA is practicing deception and delay tactics. I am unfortunately jumping through the hoops of a mortgage modification that I started in April 2010 due to unemployment and pay cuts in my household. I sent in all the forms and documents and received a written letter stating that everything was in order and all documents have been scanned. I expected the process to take a lot of time so I never called for a follow up until July when I received another pay cut. I spoke to several people and updated my records with my new income and confirmed that it was in my file. I called again in August only to hear the same “call back in a week” response but then received three identical FedEx envelopes the next day. The letters told me that my application was complete and all documents are in order. I will hear within 30 days if I have been approved or not. 30 days later I called in for an update as I had not heard anything. I eventually spoke to someone in the underwriting department and faxed him my most recent pay stubs to make absolutely sure they had the most recent and accurate documents.
Now it’s mid September and I finally received 2 identical FedEx envelopes. The good news is that I have been accepted into a trial modification. The bad news is that the amount is only $107 less than what I’m paying on my mortgage. Add the PMI that kicks in if I accept the mod and I’m in worse shape than I am in now. I read further and found that the new number was calculated based on 31% of my monthly gross income but that number was almost $3000 higher than any numbers I have ever submitted. After speaking to several people I finally found someone that said they could see that I called in during the month of May to report this figure. I never made a call that month as I have meticulous notes with names, employee numbers, dates and times. I was rudely told that this is what happened even though I asked them to prove that I made this call. I have every document that ever sent and have notes of every phone call and I can swear I never offered this inflated income level. So based on her refusal to believe me I asked if I did call in May to provide this number then what happened to all of the subsequent calls and faxes that clearly state my actual income?? She confirmed that my file contained the most recent income figures but for some reason the loan calculation was based on a fictitious figure from months earlier. She then told me that I could either accept or deny the modification. If I deny it then I have to start all over again even though it’s clearly their fault.
I’m furious!!! This process must be by design so they can just drain every last nickel out of you before they force you into foreclosure.
This is all happeneing to me right now, they definately are procrastinating, and they can do it because there is no one we can turn to, and they know it.
BBB, cant help, attorney general either, and if you call the federal hope line, all they can tell you is to keep records of every call, and that they are not REQUIRED to modify the loan.
Its clear that Bank of America has no intention of helping, and would rather just wait until you either give up, or have no money left to give.
Im hoping I can hold on long enough to refinance at a lower rate, but im so upside-down on my mortgage that it doesn’t look promising.
As I sit here reading over everyones’ story, my story is exactly like Melissa E.’s and BofAHater. I have been battling B of A since 2008 (which I actually was with Countrywide also) and I was told the exact same things Melissa E. was told. I have submitted paperwork this is now going on my 3rd time with B of A. I have over 60 pages that I have submitted (my actual file has over 80 pages of documents contacts and letters form B of A) and then I received a phone call yesterday asking for more documentation. They are ridiculous. Isn’t there something we can do?
Actually I have a simular situation. They are not willing to help at all. I am about to file bankruptcy and want to keep my house, becuase I am just in a bad spot and need a month to play catch up. I am afraid after I file they will foreclose on my house. Although they say they won’t.
WOW! I am in the same situation as you all as well. I lost my business in October of 2008 and finally July 2009 Bank of America set us up in a trail period. After 15 months of more paperwork and denial letters they are telling me that I was denied again for a second look. I gave them new financials over the phone and just yesterday they had my previous numbers WAY inflated for our monthly expenses. I have a $400 a month car payment and they had $2600. I am FURIOUS.! I did call HOPE and after 2 hours they had to get off the conference call. I have til April 24 and the foreclosure process will begin. I just need answers and a workout solution! THese people are rude and don;t give damn about those of us that are in need of assistance. THey want us to foreclose because they get more money from the govt that way–it’s a racket and we need to call the attorney general. Does anyone know of a refinance option from another bank. I need to keep my house!
After reading several of these posts I believe the banks are not helping any homeowners. I too have been a victim of this promise of a loan modification for over 2 years now. I started at the end of 2008 after filing bankruptcy so I wouldn’t lose the house. We had a lot of medical bills from my husband’s brain surgery and my own health issues. Without my husband’s income we fell behind on all of our bills. I wrote a hardship letter and asked Chase bank for a loan modification. Chase Bank kept telling me to send all my information. No one tells you that after 90 days you will need to send everything again. They only tell you if you call them to ask what is taking so long and that is when you find out that your documents have expired. So I had to send recent pay stubs, bank statements, letter of hardship and tax forms and financial affidavit over and over again. I was on a trial mortgage payment at 788.00 a month from a 1500.00 mortgage payment. I really believed that Chase Bank was going to help me keep my home. I sent my payments in every month and waited and waited to hear about my loan modification only to be notified in writing in October of 2010 that my loan was sold to another bank. When I called Chase Bank I asked if all of my documents would be sent to the new bank and they said that yes they would send everything and the new bank would just pick up where Chase had left off with me. Well, that was not true. I had to send all the documents again. When I called this new bank I was told it would take up to 90 days for my loan modification to be approved or denied. I was not told that I had to call them every week or so for the status. Each time I spoke to a different person and with each person I was told not to pay any payment toward the mortgage as this may make it so that I would not qualify for a loan modification. I asked this question over and over again. Are you sure I should not be sending any payments? Each time the answer was the same. Do not send any payments until you hear from us. Well, I finally heard from them today, April 8, 2011 after sending all my documents over and over again. I received a phone call from my “loan officer” Didn’t know I had a loan officer. Anyhow, she informed me that I have to pay 25% of what I am behind on in my mortgage payments in order for them to stop the foreclosure sale of my house which is going to happen on May 5th. The amount is $14, 552.00 which may as well be a million dollars. I argued to no avail that I thought this was criminal that I have been sending my payments and acting in good faith waiting for an answer and following their instructions only for them to take my house after all. The name of this bank is Lender Business Practice Services. I am so upset and angry over all of this. I really thought the banks were supposed to help people keep their homes by offering these loan modifications but instead they just use these delay tactics and make it so you are so behind on the mortgage that you cannot possibly meet the terms they finally do offer you. At this point I am going to stay as long as I can in my home while I save some money to move into a place I can rent and be done with all of this. So much for the American Dream. I hope I can find something to rent that I can afford as I am the only income at this time. Good luck to everyone.
I got my loan mod pretty easy from BOA but what I did or used is a loan mod form that you can get at freehampreport.com.. It’s 20 pages but well worth the time… and once you fill it out (it’s a step by step form so it’s not hard) once you fill out everything it runs some type of checking thing so if maybe you forgot something or if your ratio is to high you can then go in and readjust anything you need to so that really helps.. Now the only thing is once you do all this to have a copy emailed to you so you can send the enitre package to the bank you have to pay for that, I think it’s like 200.00 or so but again well worth it.. My payment were almost 1600 a month and now they are 720.00.. Also I’m a Real Estate Agent so one thing that I also did, and I think this is VERY important, along with that packet I pulled up the sales on my street and the two streets just to show the bank that is they want to take my house they will spens money in legal fees and they won’t gey near what I owe.. I bought my home in 2004 for 246k, if I could get 120k at this point I’d be surprised.. So be sure and send comps sold and comps active.. Also, what you should do and I know this sounds crazy but you need your home to look undesireable on the outside because they willll send someone by to take a picture of your house without you knowing it… So I pulled down my front fence and pulled up all my plants in front.. It’s sad we have to do these silly things but you need to shhow the banks they will lose a lot more money if they don’t work with you.. One last thing, although my payments are 720. don’t be fooled, they changed my loan to a 40 year loan, put the amount I owed on the back of the note so instead of owing 179k I now owe 186k, my interest dropped from 5.85 to 2.5% for the first 5 years and will increase slowly over time to 4 something but here’s the deal at the end of my loan I’ll will have to pay off a big chunk to the tune of 126k…
PS… Sorry for the typo’s I’m one of these who can’t look at the screen and type at the same time..lolol.. Anyway, hope this helps…
i been doing for MOD for over 3yrs now … and now B A sand trail payments… i am not sure if i make may trail paymnt or not.. will they do MOD on my home lone.. have do have attrny but looks like attrny is doing nothing over the 2 yrs ..we paid almost 7k to attrny i am hope less dont now what to do or juse die and be over with every think…
Until recently, I worked as an underwriter in loss mitigation doing mortgage modifications for BOA.The best advice I can give you is:
1.Follow up at least every 3-4 weeks and keep written record of your conversations. Who you spoke with and ID number, date, time, and what was discussed.
2.Keep your documents up to date. Even if not requested, fax your financial documents (i.e. paystubs, P&L, etc) at least every 90 days while being reviewed as some investors require up to date information (though some don’t), but it’s best to be safe. Then call to confirm receipt of those items from 3hrs-3 business days after faxing them. It depends on the bank how fast they’re available for viewing.
3. Be honest on the forms. Don’t exaggerate expenses as some do thinking they’ll get more help that way. In some cases, higher expenses can work against you. Definately don’t hide income-only child support and alimony are allowed to be excluded.
4. If you’re having trouble with the forms or getting through the process contact a local non-profit housing counselor. You can call them at 888-995-HOPE or http://www.hopenow.org. There is also http://www.NACA.com which is a non-profit designed to assist. Additionally, I found out that Chase has modification offices where you can make an appointment to get help. I looked it up and the website is: https://www.chase.com/chf/mortgage/hrm_centers. A neighbor told me that they actually sent someone to meet her mother at a local branch even though there wasn’t location near her home, so that’s an option too.
5. Don’t be afraid to “escalate” the issue if you find that a mistake has been made or there has been mishandling of your file. Talk to a supervisor (but be polite:) If the supervisor can’t correct the issue, send a written complaint and call back asking for their escalations department or executive office. While you may not actually speak to someone in that office immediately, your file can be forwarded to them for review. If there is a internal error, it will be fixed rather quickly, if possible.
6. If after all of this you still haven’t gotten help (assuming that you qualify for assistance) don’t be afraid to file a complaint with OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), FDIC, and your congressman. These actions are a last resort, but will typically work if there has been a grievous error or mishandling of your file.
7.Understand that not everyone will qualify for modification-it’s not so much that they don’t want to help, but there are guidelines that have to be followed. A large problem leading up to the current crisis was lax adherence to sound lending principles and practices. They can’t give you a modification just because you need or want one. You have to be able to afford it per required calculations and show qualifying hardship. If you can’t get a modification or forbearance, look into the other foreclosure alternatives such as Hardest Hit Fund, Short Sale, Deed for Lease, or Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure.
8. Know that, though it’s been fixed now, the initial version of MHA Legislation had banks giving trials to people based on their income before the mortgage was ever taken into consideration. So if your income had decrease from say $5000 gross monthly to $2000 gross monthly they’d give you a trial for 31% of your income which equals $620. At the end of that period of payment the banks would then see if they could get your payment to $620 PITI by adding the past due amount to your principal balance,lowering interest and extending the term. In many cases the principal balance was too high to make it work even at the lowest interest rate for the longest term.
So these people who’d paid the trial payments faithfully were then denied a modification. Thankfully, the banks and government figured out that this method didn’t help and changed the rules. Now the banks fully underwrite your request before offering a trial plan. If you follow through properly and nothing changes dramatically, like you lose your job, then you’re basically guaranteed a modification.
9.Realize that principal reduction is not an option for every loan serviced by a lender. If the bank owns the loan (and isn’t just the servicer) they have more leeway and can look at reducing or deferring principal, but if it’s investor owned, they have to adhere to the guidelines set forth by the investor. Though the bank will always be blamed it’s not always their fault that that things don’t go as you would like-they’ve got rules to follow now, even if they didn’t in the past.
From an ex-underwriter, I hope this helps!!!
A couple of things I forgot to mention:
NEVER pay anyone to do the modification for you, not even an attorney, unless you can rest assured that it isn’t one of the modification mill law firms. In my experience, they know about as much as you do, hand it off to paralegals who are so overloaded that they can’t follow up or respond to requests from the lender in a timely manner and are just a waste of money that you need.
If you’re in foreclosure, attend all court dates. If the judge knows you’re working on getting help, he’ll often postpone setting a sale date for the property. Being copies of what you’ve submitted to your lender as proof.
As a last resort to buy time if you have an imminent foreclosure sale date, filing bankruptcy prior to the sale (even 10 minutes before the sale) will stop it or have it rescinded. I’ve seen where a homeowner literally filed a few minutes before the sale and even though the sale went through, it was reversed. Keep in mind that filing bankruptcy requires quite a bit of paperwork,this is one of the few scenarios where having attorney may help as most people can’t just wake up in the morning and put the documents together properly for filing in a few hours.
***my disclaimer: I am not an attorney and none of the aforementioned tips constitute legal advice. Should you need legal counsel, consult an attorney. These tips are simply a representation of my experience based opinion.