Sep 12 2009
Potentially Homeless. Definitely Upset.
So, those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter already have a handle on this. I’m blogging at Alec’s request, so folks can actually see what’s going on.
Short form: despite my bending over to negotiate and pay in full, Bank of America, recipients of billions of dollars in TARP funds, is threatening to repossess our boat, thus evicting myself and my family, including three small children, in poor faith and complete disregard for humanity.
Here’s the situation. As my readers know, I live on my sailboat with my husband, three children (7, 4, 1) and dog in Emeryville Marina. Due to job loss (me and 5,999 other folks at Sun), I filed bankruptcy in February, and reaffirmed the boat loan, since this is our primary residence. I stopped receiving bills, and when I called Bank of America (who holds my boat loan), they informed me that my file was in the bankruptcy department, and they would contact me when it was processed. In May, I paid a catch up payment of $4400 which brought my account totally current, and asked again when I would start receiving bills. I was told they would finish processing me in bankruptcy, then move me over to loan modification (since I am unemployed, yada yada yada). At that time, the folks I was talking with were friendly, helpful, and encouraging. In fact, all my prior dealings with this division of Bank of America had been cordial.
At a little after noon on Friday, 9/11, with no prior communication whatsoever, I received a call from collections, informing me that I had to come up with cash in the full back amount ($5500) immediately, or they were going to repossess my home on Monday morning. I offered two months payment (a month is $1381) immediately, and the rest next week, after I could get some money freed up from my IRA (I’ve been unemployed since January; who has $5500 cash on hand in those circumstances?).
I was verbally assaulted by them, screamed at, and told to “Get your shit off my boat, I’m coming to get my boat.”
I have the money (relatives are willing to spot me). I am prepared to pay on Monday morning. But I have no idea if they’re going to try to repo before I can get the deposit done. They want me to withdraw cash (not cashier’s check, cash!) from my bank, go to a B of A branch, and have the branch manager verify it. That is going to take time, and I’m completely terrified they’re going to show up and take my boat, which means taking all my and my children’s possessions too.
I am wondering why they require cash, since paying via transfer from my bank account has always been fine before. I am wondering why I have to go through the circus with the bank manager. I am wondering why no one called to, oh I dunno, just ask for a payment, since they’re the ones who dropped the ball. I am wondering why Bank of America feels that treating a paying customer like this will result in anything other than me registering complaints with anyone who will listen, and seeking the services of an attorney.
I am wondering when it became good business practice to threaten families.
I am looking for support, options, anything. I can’t reach my attorney; his partner was in the hospital, and I fear the worst. I know he’ll call me back, but not by the time the repo was threatened. My pal Angela located a customer service rep for B of A on Twitter, and he says he hasn’t seen anything like this before, so it’ll be a few days before he can help. I contacted an attorney referral service, but they also are going to take a few days.
By the time everyone gets around to having a few days, we may well be homeless and without our belongings.
So that’s the story. I’m spending today packing ditch bags, putting media phone numbers on autodial, preloading emails to media outlets, charging the batteries in my video camera, and writing complaint letters. Naturally, my time would be much better spent, oh I dunno, writing, which is my current source of income. I doubt anyone is paying for Really Supremely Excellent Complaint Letters these days, but I could be wrong.
Updates as they become available… but in the meantime, think good thoughts for us, and the sanity of B of A.
Related posts:
reaffirmation of loans during a bankruptcy seems to completely screw with banks. We had a similar situation with our credit union and car loan during bankruptcy when our lawyer failed to get the correct reaffirmation papers to them before the auto payment was supposed to go through. They froze *all* our accounts the very next day with no notice whatsoever. Luckily it’s a tiny credit union with a small staff of lovely people and we managed to get it straightened out in a couple of days before anyone started threatening to take our car.
I seem to recall it happened on a weekend also. The computers must be programmed that way =P
Hi,
Hi,
A friend posted this link on FB. I’m a real estate agent so not as sure about boat rules. The main point is to buy some time so you can sort this out, so here are some thoughts (hopefully, BoA will just come to their senses).
If they have sold the loan to a collection agency, they have specific rules against abusive phone calls
Do not wait for your attorney or a referral. Get a hold of someone asap.
You can probably file your own stay of execution at the county courthouse yourself. Lots of information on how to do this online. Maybe someone can do it for you since you need to stay on the boat
Try the local ACLU
Get as many people on the boat on Monday morning as possible and refuse to move.
Call your local assembly person or neighborhood watch, etc.
Call the local district attorney’s office and tell them you are being threatened
Call the local police and tell them you are being threatened
If you are part of any local religious organization, they may be able to help
I would not give them cash. That sounds very odd coming from a bank. Even foreclosures auctions on the court house steps take cashier’s checks.
Good luck!,
Janin
I assume you already tried to call the B of A people you were dealing with before. I also assume that they were out of the office because it’s a weekend.
I’m also wondering why they require cash. Call me paranoid, but it makes me question their legitimacy.
Janin said, “Get as many people on the boat on Monday morning as possible and refuse to move.”
Ha! Flash mob on the dock.
Something is weird about this. I mean collections agencies (and depts within companies) can be nasty and have their data wrong but the cash only requirement and the comment about “I’m coming to get MY boat” really make me wonder if this is a variation on identity theft. B&A should have 24/7 customer service. If they can’t verify that your account is due for repo, I’d call the cops. It just feels really off to me, even for a large heartless bank that is rolling in bailout money. The more I think about it, the more I think your boat not being at the marina on Monday is a very good idea.
Where is your BK attorney in all this? If you didn’t use one, network your way to one, pronto, who can at least comment on these facts.
I’m not following all your facts, but I’m wondering why the bank isn’t making all these threats through the court. There should be a stay in place that prevents actions like this against your bankruptcy estate. This is what bankruptcy “protection” is all about.
Also, it does sound like the file has been passed off to a collection agent. Make sure that your friendly people at BofA know what is going on, and the potential media repercussions. Ask them about this cash practice, because that sounds very suspicious.
I couldn’t find any first level contact information, but you might want to check out the individual contributors at creditbloggers.com and see if you can get any of them to comment on your situation. Call the Hope Now Hotline at 888.995.4673 (http://www.hopenow.com/). I’m thinking they might have somebody who can comment on BK and/or hostile collection activities. Talk to them about your “home,” not your boat. Get as much info as you can before mentioning that your home floats.
Good luck!
And by the way, can’t you move your home before Monday while you sort this out?
How about having Jason take the boat for a sail while you pay the bank Monday morning? You could always meet him at a dock afterwards. Admiralty law applies on the water
I’d get that boat out on the water asap. Contact your congressman… either state or federal. The cash only requirement sounds really suspicious. I agree with what others have posted.
I agree with Cyndi. This dog just don’t hunt. It sounds more like whoever this is is simply trying to steal your boat.
What did they ask you to do after the BoA branch manager “verified” the cash?
This is just sick. SICK! And on 9-11, no less. If there’s no paper trail, then this makes very little sense…unless, well, DH was saying the call and threat to take over a house or boat immediately is usually a scare tactic…just to see if you really have the money before they make any formal move. Do you have the ability to record any future phone calls? Our answering machine has a memo button that will record everything. I thing it’s supposedly illegal, but I do have to wonder if it would be usable.
Some people are just so mean spirited. I’m so sorry about all of this and I’ll continue to await new updates!
xoxo,
~2Shaye
Call the police. I don’t think there is ANYTHING legal going on here.
The “cash only” thing is a dead give-away.
The illegal (yes, illegal) phone threats.
My take on it is that they likely want you to gather together as much cash as you can, and rob you.
They MIGHT want your boat — but that’s a lot harder to deal with. They’d have to be stupid — but could be.
Call the police, now. I would not be there without police protection. If you can’t get the police there, I’d take the boat out to anchor and work the phones.
I would also alert whatever passes for marina security.
I would NOT have the cash on your person or on your boat.
Re: recording the conversation — in CA, it IS, in fact, illegal to record phone conversations without the consent of all parties. CA is weird that way. The cops could surely get a court order, but there’s probably not time. But get them involved, both for your physical safety, and to hopefully catch these guys.
I’m pulling for you! Sail out where they can’t reach you guys until you can get the money together. With car repo’s, they used to take only cash, (I know this because my Mom did mortgages and did not get paid regularly so we had an “incident”… LOL), not sure if it’s the same for boats. Your attorney will definitely know or should have a way to find out.
I so wish you guys all the best. Gosh, you’ve really been through a lot with real estate and now this.
Best of luck and my prayers and thoughts are totally with you. Go Laureen, you can so do this!!!!
I hear this really IS the BofA, and I’m wrong about it being a robbery deal.
This is one of those times I’m very glad to be wrong.
I don’t understand it. This and some other stuff I’ve been hearing, makes me think that BofA has gone corporately insane. If I were a stockholder, I’d be seriously pissed at the way they’re running their business — I’m tempted to sell them short.
They’re charging some people 30% on credit cards — even with long histories of paying. Not that I’m a fan of carrying a balance (I’m not), but 30% used to be very illegal, and associated with folks who had to break kneecaps to collect the interest.
There’s going to be a backlash. At the least, they will lose customers.
Is there a local chapter of ACORN or some other group who can cause the bank some bad publicity and force them to act responsibly?
I understand what you are going through. Me and my husband bought our home in April of 07. My husband had a grand mal seizure in July of the same year and lost his job driving truck because he no longer had a drivers license. For the past three years we had sold all our extra stuff like his car, motorcycle and dirt bike. Even our clothing and our kids clothes to make ends meet. We survived up until October of 09 and finally ran out of money. My husband has not been able to find a job and the government has declared him severely disabled but will not give him disability, which we have applied for twice. He is apart of vocational rehab for a 1 1/2 and the lady handling his case has not yet found him a job. We found out that he is not able to get a job because of the medication he is on. Workers compensation will not cover him if he gets hurt on the job. We have to small children and have asked B of A to please work with us. They first told us that there were no programs for us and couldn’t help us unless we were more than 4 months behind on our mortgage. Then we feel behind for 2 months. I had asked if I could pay $300.00 weekly to get caught back up, which I really couldn’t afford, but I was willing to go without lights and water to keep my home. They refused and said that they wanted all or none! I called them and asked if they could please do a modification. They then told us at that time that we had to be current and they wouldn’t help us until then. I called back again and spoke with a different person and they told me that there were no programs available for me and that I needed to make $400.00 more a month to get help. If we made $400.00 more dollars a month we wouldn’t need to modify our loan. I have A lot of medical bills that my husband requires each month to be paid so he can receive treatment and our youngest boy is showing signs of seizures now also. I called B of A a fourth time and was told again that there were no programs for us and that we again had to make more money a month and pay the full amount immediately or they would start the foreclosure process. I asked once again if I could please make weekly payments to them, begging them please! Please to keep our home and again they said that I needed to make more money to get a lower rate. We don’t live out of our means. We have no car payment and no cable or any other luxuries like that. We have one car and are looking to buy a travel trailer to move into because that is all we can afford and live on my husbands brothers property. We don’t get any kind of assistance from the government at all! I make to much is what the government says, which you can see that is not the case. My car is a Chevy Aveo the cheap version. All I want is some kind of help from them and they just don’t care at all about me or anybody else for that matter as we can all see if you read anybody writing about B of A. LOL! That’s pretty damn funny that they will help someone that can afford it but not work with someone who can’t. I just don’t understand that concept! We are willing to do whatever it takes to stay in our home but just can’t afford to pay the full balance. Even if we did make our loan current, we would be right back in foreclosure because we still can’t afford the payments. My husband will still be epileptic and I will still not make enough for them to lower my payments. We did not choose for my husband to become epileptic and he would still have his job if he was not, but B of A could care less and don’t even say that they are sorry to hear that and see what they could do to help. No they would rather say and I quote ” when’s your husband going to get a job, 10 yrs from now?” That is what the manager told me when I talked to him as he laughed at me on the phone. Must be nice that we the blue collar workers of America are so F**KING funny to them. Glad I could make his day with my horrible situation. I don’t know how people like him can sleep at night with the thought of kicking people trying to provide for their families out on the streets. Oh and by the way, my other bank that I have all my past loans through haven’t and still are not reporting my loans. So the only thing that is on my credit is a delinquent mortgage, so I am not even able to rent another home or apartment, because banks are so freaking awesome to their customers that keep them in business. They can all go get bent!!!!! Now we get to move into our not yet purchased travel trailer that’s about 230 sq. ft. Just what I always wanted! NOT!!!!