Sep 18 2009
My Loan with Bank of America: A Study in Customer Service Fail
(Note to my regular readers; because of the attention this particular post is getting, I’m adding some context in.)
Back in 2006, my family had a dream. Our dream was to sell our house, buy a boat, and sail around the world. I started a blog about it, which you can read here: http://theexcellentadventure.com/ea/
We moved aboard the boat full time, and got the house ready to be put on the market. As my American readers are painfully aware, this is when the bottom started dropping out of the US real estate market, and my family watched in horror as our home lost $275,000 in value in under a year, the city the house was in wobbled around declaring bankruptcy, and my husband’s home construction business collapsed. Suddenly, we were supporting a mortgage, a boat payment, and five people on one salary. We held it together financially, but as the American Economic Death-Wobble increased, I was laid off from my Technical Editor job at Sun Microsystems, with 5,999 of my friends, and the whole thing was no longer do-able.
Throughout this debacle, we kept making payments on the boat, s/v Excellent Adventure, as she was our home, our primary residence. We had attempted to do a loan modification with Bank of America, the loan holder, early on in the cycle, because continuity and commitment in our dealings with them seemed important. Because it was a boat, and not an on-land home, they refused, although they were quite good about tolerating missed payments, and even set up a three-month deferral for us at one point.
We declared bankruptcy in February 2009.
In order to keep creditors from potentially demanding a sale of our home, we reaffirmed the debt, and again requested loan modification. We included a survey and a letter from a local boat broker, verifying that in the current economic climate, with people walking away from boats, that our boat in its current state of repair (because what fiberglass boat from 1991 doesn’t need some serious work by now?) wouldn’t be sellable.
I contacted B of A in February, to see what was going on with the loan modification. I spoke to Customer Service, who told me that my file had to process their bankruptcy department, and that they couldn’t even see my account until bankruptcy was done with it. I asked when that would happen, and what the status of my loan modification was. I was told to hold tight, and wait for them to contact me with new payment information.
I never heard back from them.
In May, thoroughly worried, I called Customer Service. I was told that my file was still in Bankruptcy, they had not even begun to look at loan modification, and I should hold tight. At that time, I went ahead and gave them a payment of ~$4400, over the phone, to make sure that everything was current, even by the old payment amount unmodified. She accepted my payment, and assured me again that I’d hear from B of A soon.
Friday, September 11, at 12:38 in the afternoon, I received a call from April at Collections, informing me that my account was 107 days overdue, that my home was going to be repossessed, and that the Marina had put a lien on my boat for nonpayment of slip fee. This was the first contact I’d had from B of A since May. No letters, no phone calls, no bill, nothing.
April demanded full payment of ~$5500 immediately, to avoid repossession. I explained that B of A was supposed to be exploring loan modification, and that I’d go ahead and give her half right now over the phone in good faith to call off the repo, and reopen renegotiations on my loan.
She would not take a payment over the phone. I was required to go to my bank, withdraw the full amount in cash (NOT cashiers check or money order, cash), drive to a Bank of America branch, have the Branch Manager contact Collections, and verify receipt of funds.
I told her that I’d have to make sure I had enough funds, and that I could, again, give her two months immediately, which would bring me only a few months overdue. This was, suddenly, unacceptable, so I said I’d see what my options were and contact my attorney. The more I tried to ask questions, the angrier and more absolute April got.
I called my attorney, and left voicemail at each of his offices and on his home phone.
At this point, things got weird. Over a few conversations over the next few hours, first they knew about the bankruptcy, then they had no record of it. First, it was the reason they hadn’t sent me any bills, then, it was me lying. When I offered to fax a copy of the bankruptcy to them, so they’d know that I had certain protection under the law from this threatened repo, April transferred me, without asking or saying she was doing it, to her supervisor, Brian. This, of course, after she’d said I had to deal with her and no one else.
Brian starts off screaming at me.
“I am tired of dealing with people like you.” he yelled. “Do you have a bankruptcy file or not?”
“Of course I do. Here it is” and I gave him the number.
“You have until Monday morning, nine AM your time, to give me my money, or get your shit off my boat. I’m coming to get my boat.”
“You realize this is my home, right? There are children on this boat.”
“I don’t give a shit! Give me my money by Monday or I’m coming to get my boat.”
I tried to ask a few questions, like, how come they felt they could repo with zero prior contact or request for payment, and if payment was so important, why would they not accept partial now and partial Monday when I had it, but was greeted with more screaming. Oh, and this.
“Have a good weekend, Mrs. Hudson.”
I hung up, thoroughly upset. I had never been screamed at like that in my life. In the space of five hours, Bank of America had gone from “don’t call us, you’re in process, we can’t help you” to “we’re repossessing your home.”
I’d also like to point out that 12:30 P.M. on Friday, September 11th is not the best time to reach people here in the US, because of the memorials and events that go on to mark the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. It also meant that I was going to have to spend the weekend stewing on it, with no ability to act, other than to pack belongings should repo show up anyway, and try to prepare to defend my home as best I could.
My friend Angela alerted me to a Bank of America customer service rep on Twitter. I DM’d him immediately. Sadly, “this is a new one” on him. “I’m somewhat limited when it comes to loans, but I’ll see what I can do to help…” To date, I haven’t heard back from him or from Customer Service through him. Certainly, not fast enough to do anything about the threatened repo.
Gerard, my attorney, didn’t return my call that day. As it turns out, he was at the California State Bar Association conference, and as soon as his admin got him the message, he phoned me Saturday night at 9:00 PM.
“OhmygoshLaureenareyouOK?” he shouted into the phone.
We talk, and agree that the best course of action is to give them their money on Monday morning, and pursue legal action once the threat is removed.
Monday Morning
Monday morning, I got up at 6 and started calling Customer Service. They can’t help me. They have no access to my files. They have no idea why I haven’t heard anything from Bank of America before the repossession threat. After half an hour of this complete stonewall, I get a supervisor on the phone, who apologizes, but tells me that I have to deal directly with Collections.
Y’know. The people who were cussing at me and threatening me on Friday? Apparently, they are Loan Modification and Collections all in one. I inform her that I am really uncomfortable talking to them because of the abuse received on Friday, and she agrees to stay on the phone with me while I talk to them.
Eventually, I’m put on the line with Vladimir, who confirms that the cloak and dagger thing with the cash is absolutely required. When pressed, he confirms it is because a wire transfer takes 48 hours to process, but cash is immediate.
We confirm that he will call off the repo when funds are received, and that he will call me before proceeding no matter what.
I bring up the question of loan modification.
Startled, he replies “We don’t ever do loan modifications on bankruptcies.”
“How does that make sense? You received the package stating our case, and the bankruptcy should make it even clearer that the modification is necessary.”
“Well, you got your debt erased, so that should free up all kinds of cash for you, right?”
I was gobsmacked. “What part of “unemployed since January” did you miss?” I asked him.
“Well surely your husband works. Just make the full payments.”
I realized that I can’t explain that “bankrupt” sometimes means cash freed up, but only if it doesn’t come along with “unemployed in the worst job market in California since the Great Depression” to someone whose paycheck depends on not understanding it, so I gave up.
He confirms that as of July 8 they knew I bankrupted. On Aug 27 they reaffirmed the loan and dropped me straight into collections without contact.
Jason headed off to the banks, rather than to the part time retail job he managed to find, because of course this is more important than earning money, right?
Jason called me from the bank, having executed the transfer. I called Vladimir, to confirm that all was well. And he started joking with me. Asking if we really live on the boat. Joking that I don’t like his accent. Acting, for all the world, as if his department hadn’t just threatened my family with homelessness in a few short hours. I confirm the date the payments are due, and that they absolutely will not work with me in any way. Vladimir ends the call with a cheery “have a good day!” and that’s the end.
Sociopaths are the only people I’m aware of who can threaten you one minute, and then pretend to be your friend the next.
Incidentally? Customer service did not stay on the line with me as promised.
The Bottom Line
So here’s where we stand. Bank of America is unwilling to do a loan modification, despite having taken billions of dollars in TARP funding, which was supposed to go towards loan modifications. They would prefer to demand completely unrealistic payments and force repossession/eviction on a family than to adjust to the reality of the American economy, even temporarily. Forcing the eviction and repossession will give them an asset of negligible value, compared to the over-time benefit of the loan modification. They are happy to rely on bullying, scare tactics, and brutality, and seem to feel that they can crush people at will.
My family is going to be pushed to the wall to continue making full payments on this, while also paying the attorney to fight them into doing the right thing. If anything goes wrong, like Jason’s hours get cut or my unemployment is delayed, we’re right back to repossession, and homelessness while we figure out what to do next.
This is what’s wrong with the American economy, and why those of us who do have the resources with which to fight back must fight back in the name of the rest of us, who don’t.
Realizations
Now that the adrenaline is (mostly) out of my system, I’m left with some observations I’d like to share:
- Yes, I should have been pounding on them every single month to make sure they took my money, because you can’t trust an institution that big to handle something simple like the transfer of a file between two departments, and still keep sending bills, right? As a country, we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t trust big organizations to handle simple bookkeeping tasks. Yet, we still give them our money (both personal accounts, and TARP) as if we can trust them. Which is it?
- An institution the size of Bank of America was incapable/unwilling to tolerate a 48 hour float of funds. If that does not scare you, nothing will. Most of us accept that it will take time for funds to clear in transfer. Bank of America is no longer willing (able?) to tolerate that risk.
- Bank of America, as a corporation, does not care that their employee both threatened me, and cussed at me. Apparently, offering immediate payment on a bill that they dropped the ball on is still worthy of that kind of abuse, and there is no institutional accountability for it, other than an offhanded “I’m sorry about that” from customer service.
- Bank of America, as a corporation, was completely unwilling to accept responsibility for their part of the problem, which was the lack of handoff between departments. I am expected, as a loan holder, to absorb 100% of the fault, which includes a penalty of homelessness and seizure of all of my family’s belongings. I don’t recall that in the loan agreement I signed.
- The boat market is completely flooded with boats people have walked away from that are newer, larger, and in better shape, than this boat. I have documentation from a local broker that he couldn’t sell this boat on a bet. This boat is no longer even close to the “asset” it was when we purchased it, both in concrete and in economic terms. Jason’s in the middle of fixing a horrid case of deck rot (typical of balsa-core boats), so the entire aft starboard quarter deck is swiss cheese. It’s not currently seaworthy that way. You can find brand new, glossy, new-boat-smell boats on the block right now for peanuts. Auctioning this boat would be an exercise in clogging up the auction yard and dispossessing us, for no return.
- The thing about the lien on the boat from the marina? Complete fabrication.
The legalities here are complex, and competing. If I am a tenant, because I pay rent to the marina, then I have rights under California law, which is unequivocal about protecting people from eviction without due process. Because this is my primary residence, according to the IRS, then I am protected from eviction under other sets of laws. Under rules from the FTC I am protected from abusive contact. And I’m sure there’s probably stuff I’ve missed. Point being, in moving directly to repossess without notice, Bank of America is in violation of several laws, and in the way they addressed me, they’re in violation of several others.
It didn’t have to be like this. All they had to do was behave like people, call me up and ask for money before it became a crisis (as I’d asked them to do in May), and negotiate the loan as they agreed to do when they accepted TARP funds. It cost them more to threaten, bully, scare, and harass me, and to activate the repo people, than it would have to simply call me and ask for payment. Instead, they behaved like a corporation. So now there are lawyers involved, and rather than focusing on working, contributing to the economy, and raising my family, I am focusing on battling Bank of America, who not only seems to think that a financial contract entitles them to bully people, but also seems to think that little people have no recourse in the face of their monolithic corporation.
The fact here is that their corporation only exists because we let it. They are big because people put their money there, and let them use it, to pay the salaries of people like April and Brian, who spend their days crushing people for the good of the corporation that pays them. What would happen if everyone who has so much as a checking account with Bank of America pulled their account, gave the reason “because of how you treat people”, and moved their funds to a bank that doesn’t employ bullying tactics, a bank that is small, local, and human, like a local credit union, or even one of the lesser-known, still-stable banks?
Another fact that is not widely known at all is that in the State of California, as of October 12th, it is a felony for an attorney to get payment up front to work on loan modification cases. I can see how, on the one hand, this is to protect people from the unscrupulous. But the net effect will be to prevent attorneys from taking loan modification cases. Banks are known to drag these things out as long as possible, thus making it financially untenable for attorneys, who have their own bills to pay, from taking on cases like mine. And Bank of America has proven that I, as a customer and individual, have no voice and no hope with them, without legal representation. This is backed up by their August 24th decision to not only scrap arbitration as a means of settling dispute, but also to continue with their ban on customers joining class action lawsuits. This means, effectively, that if you don’t have access to a lawyer and funding for that lawyer, you’re screwed. Against Bank of America, you stand alone. What are they hiding?
If I stop fighting, if you all stop fighting, then they have been rewarded for bullying.
Related posts:
B of A has always sucked!
Sock it to them with BOTH barrels.!!!!! Go Laureen Go!!!
Also, since she won’t tell you, but I certainly damn will, a legal defense fund is needed to help Ree and Family fight for justice here. Even if it’s only a single dollar, those dollars pile up. Donations to fight the behemoth can be sent to:
splashing@gmail.com
Even if you can’t part with cash, please, please, please spread the word. This fight affects all of us, just as taxpayers. BofA has soaked the American taxpayer for a truly ludicrous amount of TARP money, money that was predicated on the explicit grounds to modify loans to keep people in their homes.
They are morally bankrupt on every front here.
Spread the word.
Stand up against the Behemoth. To steal a phrase, let us be the army of Davids that are needed.
“…Vladimir, who confirms that the cloak and dagger thing…”
Am I the only one picturing Nosferatu at this point? Sort of gives the phrase, “B of A sucks” a whole new meaning.
As a therapist part of my job is to emphathize with people’s difficult experiences, and reading your encounters with B of A made me feel like someone socked me in the gut–for being a responsible person!!
I hope you are cc’ing the White House on this! Seriously.
This comment is not going to be popular.
First, let me offer my compassion and sympathy for these terrible circumstances. You are clearly suffering through a very difficult time.
That being said, I think some of your perceptions are making your situation worse for yourself. These are just my observations based solely on this blog post.
I think that when you went from being a current, paying customer of BofA to someone who was unable to pay your loan under the conditions originally agreed, your relationship with the bank changed from that of a customer to something else — it became an adversarial relationship. I think it would be unrealistic to expect to be treated like a “customer” under these circumstances. Of course that does not excuse the bad, unprofessional behavior of BofA employees. But it may be helpful for you to recognize that you are in an adversarial relationship with BofA, and that you cannot be expected to be treated like a “customer.”
I also don’t think it is helpful to bring national issues into your particular situation.
I think that TARP is irrelevant to your situation. As a citizen/taxpayer, I sure hope no TARP money is being paid for people to live on a boat — particularly a boat that is worthless and just getting more worthless. A house may be absolutely worthless, but the land it sits on will almost always have some value. The purpose of TARP is to keep the financial system from collapse until those troubled assets can be properly valued. A boat is nothing like a house from a financial standpoint. It may be your home, but it is not a house.
I would be glad to talk to you about your situation and offer any help/advice that I can. You and your family will get through this. The most important thing is that your well-being is entirely in your hands — it is not in the hands of BofA.
Why is any of this BoA’s problem?
Sun Microsystems has been laying off staff since 2001, yet 5 years later after many rounds of layoffs, YOU chose to go buy a boat with money you didn’t have on the gamble that you could sell your house.
Now you are in trouble due to YOUR choices.
While the banks aren’t centers of virtue, people who went out and got multiple loans shouldn’t be throwing stones.
Hey Jim
Unpopular is fine. =)
I also think you’re misreading the situation. B of A has been paid, in full, every single penny, and would have been all along, had they not specifically instructed me to “wait” because they were working with me on the modification. In that, I absolutely am a customer and should be being treated as such. They dropped the ball, they gave me bad information, they changed the rules, and then they set the thugs after me, without so much as a phonecall simply asking for the money.
Thanks for the perspective on TARP. It’s the ethics of it that are problematic. B of A can accept handouts, and then turn around and bully me for having tough times? Hm. How does that work?
Hey Anonymous SantaClaraLife… Again… the point has been missed. It is BofA’s problem because, as I just said to Jim, they agreed to one thing, then changed the rules, then resorted to thuggery before they could be bothered to pick up the phone and simply call and update me as to status. They felt more comfortable threatening repo (which, incidentally, eviction in California is an insanely complicated and expensive adventure) than they did just asking for, and accepting, a payment. *That* is how it is B of A’s problem.
>>>The fact here is that their corporation only exists because we let it.
And if they’d given you what you wanted all along, you would have never come to that realization or expressed that sentiment. Be thankful you were bitchslapped awake.
Let’s all PR bomb them. Send the link to everyone you know to get their story out. Maybe a news org will pick upon it and show the Devil for who he is. Unless you feel like being complacent reading about it, shurgging your shoulders, thinking “sucks for them” and thus enabeling bastards like this to get away with it. I pray for the day when the vox populi stands vivified, vexed and taking into their own hand direction through courses of Direct Action.
-And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.
Very clever with the twitter contact. Yes, this one didn’t work, but it’s an innovative way to get to somebody who can help. Keep working your network. Somebody somewhere is going to have an answer for you.
Unfortunately, the abusers have given everyone a bad name. It is obvious that Laureen is one of the honest folks that hit hard times with unemployment. It’s not like they ran up tons of loans with the intent to default them. They went in with the ability to pay according to the agreement and the world economy, lead by the US economy, went to pot.
It’s the greedy jerks in the world that are happy to scream and curse a lady and threaten to leave her children homeless in order to get “my” money, which wasn’t even his anyway, that make the world an ugly place sometimes.
Seriously, how many of us are more than 1-3 paychecks from the same situation? Very few are and if you are one then count your blessings and pray that you never end up back in that situation.
But what do I know, Experian said I’m dead until I had to fight them to prove otherwise. At least they sent me a letter saying I’m dead. It’s crazy when business gets so big it can’t see the obvious.
All the best to your family, L.
re: teddius
It’s better when he says it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chqi8m4CEEY
It’s a boat, right? Pull up anchor and tell them they can repo it when they find it. I wouldn’t give the a*holes another dime.
I’d pull my money from B of A if I had an account with them. You wrote a great article and I’m really sorry for you. I hope you can fix things somehow!
Sad to say I was in a similar situation a few years ago with an auto loan. My lesson learned from that is to create a paper trail anytime money goes from my pocket to a bank, utility, or gov agency. Its near impossible to prove anything they tell you over the phone. I wish you the best!
Can we tell BoA that we demand “OUR” tax money back and in CASH by Monday?
I live on a boat… you might remind BOA that Mexico is, at most, a week away and, once off shore 20 miles or so, you’re pretty untouchable
@Jim Bursch
“I think that TARP is irrelevant to your situation.”
I disagree. As a citizen/taxpayer myself, I would hope that any bank accepting public money would manage it responsibly. Giving up on a viable loan because they couldn’t be bothered to take the simple step of asking for payment is not responsible. Demanding an illiquid asset in lieu of cash is beyond absurd.
Thinking about it from a management perspective, this episode strikes me as a bureaucratic foobar fraught with incompetence and unprofessional behavior. Someone at BofA skipped a step, or checked the wrong box, or just didn’t take the time to think about what they were doing. They also abandoned professionalism and even civility, which reflects poorly on the bank. One can only hope that this will be an isolated incident.
Lauren,
You mentioned in your response to Santa Clara Life that is is BofA’s problem because they agreed to something then changed the rules so now it is their problem. Think about this……you agreed to make your payments……then you didn’t…..who’s problem is it again?
Agreed… Hugo presents a much more refined and frankly more eloquent vigilante than I; ergo the tip of the hat. In the middle of typing my comment, the scene came to mind with V and Evey, and thought his summation to be apropos of my sentiments.
Not long ago I read a news article (MotherJones? maybe) wherein the reporter described an event that s/he participated in. Apocolyptarians gathered at a coffee shop in celebration of the big financial collapse, running up credit card debts that they all knew they were going to bail on with bankruptcy claims, in order to “assist the economy in its demise.”
The true virtue of life aquatic, you can kill two birds with one simple stone. Contribute to the death of an insustainable system, and with that selfsame instrument get out and watch the flames and cinders rise into the night sky from offshore.
“Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air…
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes…
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses…”
I am gladder than ever that I pulled every last dime out of B(unch) of A(ssholes) back in 1999 and started banking with a local credit union. Still not always perfect, but I’ve been able to track down the occasional genuine customer service rep.
“April” should be reprimanded for her behavior, and “Brian” should be fired, and prosecuted if possible. Have you written to the executives of BofA about your experience? BofA’s HR? The Better Business Bureau? You have to chase them down, but there are people and organizations that exist to remedy situations like yours.
Unfortunately, Jim is right on several points. Perhaps the most important of these is that you have chosen a non-traditional residential option. Because you made this choice, you cannot rely on traditional remedies for grievances pertaining to your residence. And you’ll find yourself facing non-traditional problems pertaining to that residence (such as threats of reposession).
As for BofA accepting handouts then turning on you…BofA is not a person. It is not people. BofA is a for-profit corporate entity. It has no conscience, no sense of values, morality, or fairness. It never has, and it never will. When you choose to borrow money from a corporation, you’re not borrowing from a friend or a human being or a group of human beings. The corporation “cares” about ONE THING AND ONE THING ONLY–getting its money and its interest payments. You are a source of income and profit to the corporation, period. You and your children could drop dead tomorrow for all the corporation cares, if you can’t make the payments that add to the corporation’s bottom line.
Trying to force a corporation to care about you as a human being is like trying to push water up a rope. Forget that or believe otherwise at your peril.
[...] since then isn’t on par with Job, but it hasn’t been fun. Today’s post is titled, My Loan with Bank of America: A Study in Customer Service Fail. The introductory [...]
While my situation as not been as horrible as Lauren’s, I have find that my many dealings with BOA have been horrible. I still bank with them only out of necessity (long story). There are many issues to this case and sides. However, one issue stands at the forefront. It is intolerable to talk and treat Lauren or any customer the way she was treated. Business people are supposed to be professionals, and I don’t see an ounce of professionalism from BOA in this write up.
For me, it comes back to Business 101 and for that matter Kindergarten. There does not seem to be any person (in my dealings, or perhaps Lauren) where someone is stepping up to take responsibility and accountability for the issue. I found this all too often with larger companies (AT&T) for example. It seems the goal at these larger corporations is to transfer the problem to someone else and move on to the next customer.
I consider myself a smart person and often worry about people less fortunate. How do they handle dealing with all the extra fees, and getting through the mess.
Thank you Lauren for the write up and sharing your story. I sincerely hope that everything works out for you and your family. Yes, you may have made some bad decisions in hindsight. However, so has Wall Street and we haven’t evicted them yet have we?
Good luck in your endeavors.
Wow I guess based on some of the comments above, what they say about reading comprehension not being taught in American schools is absolutely true. I recommend “SantaClaraLife” and “DefenderofSantaClaraLive” (sic) take a slower and more careful read through your story and see if they can comprehend the part where B of A *told you to stop making payments* — that it wasn’t just you being delinquent. You were being a dutiful customer, doing what THEY had asked. It’s not your fault that their heads were so far up their asses they couldn’t even remember that they’d asked you to do the thing they were then excoriating you for.
And Liz, I don’t think that expecting a corporation to excercise basic human decency is too much to ask. In fact most corporations have internal systems and rules to make sure that happens, as the PR fallout from egregious stuff like this can affect the bottom dollar. Even if your priority is money, not people, there is a monetary consequence to treating enough people like dirt.
[...] My Loan with Bank of America: A Study in Customer Service Fail … Contribute to the death of an insustainable system, and with that selfsame instrument get out and watch the flames and cinders rise into the night sky from offshore . “Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light, … I am gladder than ever that I pulled every last dime out of B(unch) of A(ssholes) back in 1999 and started banking with a local credit union Originally posted here: My Loan with Bank of America: A Study in Customer Service Fail … [...]
Should have just sailed off with the ship…I can’t see them repo’ing it at sea.
This is probably the push I need to get us to refinance our mortgage with a better rate at another bank. I never do business with B of A… but they keep BUYING the places I do do business with.
So I have two credit cards and a mortgage with them.
It’s a hassle switching these things, but I think we really need to. Especially since, apparently, if there’s a paperwork fubar with our home loan, they might try to foreclose on us halfway through a Friday for no good reason.
It’ll suck for them to lose a 6% interest-only for the first 10 years loan from people with the personal equivalent of AAA credit and a (as much as you can get these days) stable income source. I’ll make sure they know why… probably including this link.
(BTW, Angela, I want to contribute to a legal defense fund, but PayPal and I don’t get along at ALL. With a mailing address I can send a check. Will you or Laureen please send me one offline? She knows me in person and stuff.)
[...] My Loan with Bank of America: A Study in Customer Service Fail | The Excellent Adventure “So here’s where we stand. Bank of America is unwilling to do a loan modification, despite having taken billions of dollars in TARP funding, which was supposed to go towards loan modifications. They would prefer to demand completely unrealistic payments and force repossession/eviction on a family than to adjust to the reality of the American economy, even temporarily. Forcing the eviction and repossession will give them an asset of negligible value, compared to the over-time benefit of the loan modification. They are happy to rely on bullying, scare tactics, and brutality, and seem to feel that they can crush people at will. Point being, in moving directly to repossess without notice, Bank of America is in violation of several laws, and in the way they addressed me, they’re in violation of several others.” This is a real horror story. (tags: bankofamerica business customerservice banks bankruptcy unemployment) [...]
Although you should not be talked to in the manner suggested, maybe now you have learned to pay your bills and play by the rules that you agree to.
I find it pretty amazing that some people are saying this is Laureen’s fault for not paying her bills. Of course she’s paying and she’s fully paid up now. But BofA told her not to pay for many months. They are the ones that refused to send her bills. She phoned them in May asking for a bill and paid in full at that time. BofA told her not to keep paying. BofA told her to wait until her paperwork was processed first. Then BofA last week decided they wanted the money and instead of sending a bill or calling and asking for it they called and threatened near immediate eviction/homelessness/repo along with screaming obscenities.
So yes this is BofA’s problem and their fault. Had they simply sent monthly bills like any other company does, this wouldn’t have happened. Sure, Laureen is trying to get a loan modification, which deserves the same consideration as a request by anyone else with a change in financial status deserves. But it hasn’t happened (yet) so the original loan is still in place.
How is someone supposed to pay a large corporation on time without getting billed and when the corporation says don’t pay, we’ll contact you when we’re ready? Even if she mails in the checks, how does she know they’ll be processed and credited appropriately? After all, BofA has already lost half of the rest of her paperwork.
BofA dropped the ball. BofA screwed up. BofA hires abusive people and then shrugs off complaints about them. BofA refuses to apologize. BofA is not taking any steps to make sure this never happens again.
Laureen and her family are lucky because, despite a weekend from hell, they had family willing to help them out and they had the time and wherewithall to jump through BofA’s unreasonable hoops and get things done. Imagine how many other people, how many other families, aren’t so lucky. How many others are subjected to this abuse and then can’t do things fast enough and lose their homes?
I currently h ave a loan with BOA and I have never had such a horrible experience. The officer I have has refused to give me a settlement statement regarding my approved loan. I have asked for over 3 weeks and she states she does not have it.
we are due to close in a few days. She also stated that she cannot not guarantee that our attorney will get the closing documents in time for review for closing. I have never in my life dealt with a supposed professional like this. I want to contact her superior however, I think she make try to sabbotage my loan. What should I do?
I am also dealing with Bank of America on a refinance. I have never missed a payment. I have made an extra payment each year. I have been working on a refinance to a 15 year loan for a lower rate and to pay off my mortgage early. I an refinancing at a 1/4 the value of the home by Bank of America. I am not asking for any more money which they would glad to give me. I am willing to pay the closing costs on refinancing. But, I have been asked and serveral times for my financial records and have sent them each time. Yet, they continue to ask for more records. My wife and I make more then enough to finance a home 6 times the amount we are refinancing. I have never met more rude people and incompetant individuals in my life. It seems they wanted my money to start the refinancing but are putting every obstacle in the way they can to close it. This has been going on for seven months after I was approved for refinancing. If I ever get through this nighmare, I will recommend no one deals with Bank of America
I don’t know what has gotten into B of A they have not always been so hateful. However, my family and I have found ourselves in the same boat. They lied to us and said a supervisor was going to call us back and two months late we received a letter stating we could not pay our own escrow. We were also told we qualify for the president’s plan, but was told later because we have not missed a payment we did not. Also, we were told because we used to have PMI insurance we could not. I did not choose B of A they bought out Countrywide and now we are suck with these fools. Recently, I have stated moving all our funds away from B of A and I would advise everybody to do the same. It is a matter of time before they start treating you the same way.
Since June 2009, I have been bullied, harrassed, and lied to by Bank of America workers. Every time I contact them, they change their story! You can never get them to follow through on anything they say verbally.
For example: in one call, they verbally ‘pre-qualify’ you for a loan modification, and ask that you send partial payment and a loan request package. You do it, then weeks later, they say that you were never qualified for a loan modification in the first place! Then they say, yes, you are pre-qualified for a loan modification, and the work-out package will arrive in a few weeks, and you should just hold on, so you do. Then they say you have to start over because too much time has elasped and you need to begin again.
Meanwhile, your FICO score has dropped from 804 to 581 in 3 months! Then, they again ask you to send payments, but still no loan work-out package is sent!
I believe Bank of America does NOT really want to modify loans, even for those people like me who are perfect candidates (can still make a partial payment if the interest rate is lowered). What Bank of America really wants is foreclosures because they will get more money in credit-default insurance payouts than they will from a short sale or a loan modification. I cannot tell you how many hours, days, and weeks I have spent trying to communicate with Bank of America (even with ‘help’ of a HUD-certified counselor), and each time they contradict what they said in previous calls and communications! It little wonder that people stop making payments on their homes and walk out.
By the way, I did not buy a home beyond my means — I qualified for a larger loan, but instead I bought a small 2-bdr home with payments I could afford. I bought my home in 2007 and unfortuantely the home has lost half its value (I live in California). My request for a loan modification is because my income has been reduced from $5,000 a month to $3,000 a month. Had I known my hours at work would be reduced, I would never have sunk over $50,000 into the home (down payment, new central heat and air system, kitchen remodel, etc.).
Also, I was not someone who took out a ‘stated income’ loan — I had documented income, with excellent credit, and a down payment! And still, I am now in a foreclosure situation! Tell me how this was my fault? My ‘American Dream’ turned into a nightmare, and in 2 or 3 months, I will probably be living in my car with my 4 animals because I can’t make these payments, nor can I get an apartment with my (now terrible) FICO score.
Good luck to everyone out there. I think it’s too late for me.
OMG! I feel like I am reading about my life. We have done business with B of A for 17 yrs. Have had numerous mortgages, credit cards, checking, savings etc over the years. 3 & 1/2 years ago we go a construction loan to build our dream house. Paid a third of the costs up front. About a month after the house was done & putting our old house up for sale the real estate market took a dump. On top of not being able to sell our old house (for 2 yrs) we were also given an incorrect estimate on the payments for our new house. Payment was way more they we were originally told. Fastforward 2 years & we still have both houses. We have cleaned out our savings & retirement. I have talked to 39 (and counting) different people at B of A and have been offered numerous solutions, but everytime someone gives us an option to help us continue to make these payments something happens and it costs us more money with no result. We have had extensions & forebarences and other options. However one dept doesnt talk to the other. When you think you have things worked out someone else comes and pulls the rug out from under you and you are in worst shape then before. We have never wanted to not pay our bills, but the money will run out & Bank of America…yes with tax payer money does not want to help its customers. They wanted taxpayer money to help them, but they do not want to pay it forward. They are paying multi million dollar bonuses thanks to that Govt. loan, but don’t want to help the American citizens. What they have done is not right. If they took that money, and they get 0% interest from the Federal Reserve why should they think they deserve this treatment more then the general public. Especially ones that want to continue to pay, but need modification to do so. I really wish that I would have let them have the house 2 years ago before I lost everything I had trying to do the right thing. Someone needs a lawsuit again Bank of America I am sure that would get a lot of interest. If anyone knows how to get help so that I dont’ have to give this up I would be interested in hearing it.
Turns out my mortgage was purchased by BofA once again and now I have to live by their rules again. They are truly an evil corporation. No one in the organization cares about the customers. Good luck getting anykind of help from them. I learned 20 years ago at the age of 18 to stay away from this bank and their evil fee structure but no matter who I go through with a mortgage in the end the loan is always sold to Bank of America.
Hopefully someday enough of the poulation gets fed up enough with this bank and they are put out of business.
Hang in there Laureen.
Here is a video made just 4 days ago about B of A. Interesting…
I am having the same problems, except my husband is medically disabled since Jan 2009. Bank of America just now sent an offer for loan modification which is the same payment amount, higher interest rate, and 2100.00 in addl interest, fees, ecsrow to be added to my current balance. I have requested details of this offer and I have been told that is the offer, you do not have to accept it.
Please someone explain to me what B of A has done for me?
PS. in the offer, it is indicated several times the new interest rate is fixed. Funny thing is our current interest rate is FIXED…
Bank Of America . Well all l have to say is that they stole my $4500 on taxes, and those who work at the bank have no mercy… the lady who wrote my loan told me my taxes will be paid, and that this is a load modification loan to help me have a better loan program, l will make sure l take them to court and hope GOD punishes that lady who made my loan on the basis on LIES. We customers try to do the best but somehow BOF knows how to steal . I wish they have some humility and fear of GOD.
I am in the same boat as so many of you have written… After trying for one year to work things out, first with Countrywide, then BOA (and realizing that it must be more lucrative for BOA to foreclose than to modify or help their customers), I am going to let BOA foreclose (and hopefully be able to save some money in the process to rent somewhere). However, I also wonder about all the people who work for BOA and what their stories are.
Most of the people who work for BOA are not wealthy but regular folks with the same financial worries, etc. What is happening that they are treating people so badly? It must be disastrous working for BOA… These perhaps scared, stressed-out, ill-informed, ill-trained, and poorly-paid people, the “customer service” group that has no control over anything in BOA that is getting all the stress that so many of us are going through… Yet, they have no control or power to do anything… (except take out their anger and fear on us customers). Does anyone know any of these customer service people and what is really going on inside BOA?
In this disaster, isn’t there also the opportunity to review one’s life and how it has been lived? It’s not so good to “buy” something one doesn’t actually have the money for is it? …. and as we can see (and always seem to forget) no one can predict the future… But life is still good and as someone once said: “…and the point is to live everything.”
Pardon my French, but FUCK Bank of America. They are a greedy corporation that got worse with each merger. Sadly, the various smaller banks they took over often had great reputations. But once BOA got hold of them, the complaints started rolling in. In short, BOA got bailed out by the taxpayers, made interest off that free money, then jacked up the interest rates on all their clients. I used to work for this bank and I left because it was so pathetic. I have never in my life seen a company that is so poorly integrated. The right hand really does not know what the left hand is doing. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic. Customer service would have 30-40+ people on hold, and be forced to offer each customer a satisfaction survey. For what?! So they can tell us how much we suck? We knew how much we sucked, and no one at the company seemed to care. If you don’t care what your customers think, don’t pretend you do by making them take surveys. I don’t know what to say except I’m disgusted by BOA. They really come off as the big bully on the block. Never mind that they almost went under. Never mind that Ken Lewis made a royal cock up of it all. Never mind that the Merrill merger was toxic. Never mind that the taxpayers had to save their asses. Never mind that they lose money for their clients in wealth management and investments. Never mind that they screwed many of their own employees. BOA could care less about all that. What it comes down to is this… a handful of old white men in Charlotte NC, who are making a bloody fortune no matter what you think of BOA. That’s the bottom line. Their homes are large and colonial styled. Their bank accounts are overflowing. Their bonuses and stock options are generous. Their clubs are exclusive and pricey. Their jets are fueled and ready to go. They don’t give a RAT’S ASS what you think. And God willing, that arrogant, greedy mentality will back to bite them in the ass one day. The bad news is, BOA is so damn big, that half their customers could walk out and they’d still be a massive bank. I think that’s part of the problem. They feel like they’re too big to fail. Gee… that sounds familiar doesn’t it?!
BANK OF AMERICA IS THE WORST BANK THAT I HAVE EVER HAD TO DEALWITH. I have been working on getting a loan modification since January of 09. They are the ones who suggested the TARP program to me. Then they sent me a Making Home Afordable Plan package in the mail that was basically going to reduce my payments back down to the original mortgage payment which was $1271.00 instead of the Adjustable rate payment of $2400.00/mo. It has been very time consuming and a nightmare. They say that they never recieve documents that I’ve sent via UPS and faxed mulitiple times. I’m now supposededly in the final stages of the loan midificaton. But I’ll believe it when I finally get them in the mail which probaly want be until at least March or June if I’m lucky. Just be very leary and document every detail. This is going to be a very long process. I woudn’t wish this on any one. I will never do business with theminthe future!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laureen,
Man, I am sorry you *went* through that, and I’m sorry I’m just now getting to this to know the full extent of it!
First of all, I can’t believe some of your commenters are trying to blame you for this mess! Have they not read your whole blog post? Or are they just jealous that you moved to the boat and they didn’t? Or do they possibly take your choice of lifestyle as a personal affront to their own, since they are insecure about their own choices? I do not know, but the attitude was uncalled for. No one can predict the future. No one should go through life assuming they will be laid off…you’d never do anything and life wouldn’t be worth living. It would have been a travesty to give up the boat dream *just in case* you got laid off or the economy tanked. Come on people…sometimes I wonder if people have an ounce of empathy left in their brains!
Also, not sure this is much help period, but I used to work for that horrible bank (as a teller, LOW woman on the totem pole, for sure). I refused to bank there or sell their products like they wanted me to, b/c I knew people could go down the street to *my* bank and get a much better deal. Thank goodness I almost always balanced my drawer and was good at finding others’ out of balances (b/c I’d already made all those mistakes), or I’d probably not held that job very long. From being on the inside, it’s completely the bottom line…fees fees fees. I don’t know much about the loan side but from the corp culture of the place I can say I’m not that shocked *they* are acting like this, even if it *is* shocking behavior.
Bank of America is really NationsBank; Nations bought them and kept the name, but it’s NationsBank management. It was NationsBank I worked for, then BofA after the merger, and it’s NationsBank that is the evil corp. It makes even more sense since someone reminded me that they bought Countrywide…Countrywide were the worst buttholes I ever worked with, talked down to me like I didn’t know anything when I called with a simple question about my escrow (I wasn’t aware how that worked in full detail, but I have a finance background and just needed help connecting the dots). Either way, BofA or Countrywide, you were destined to get a boob.
That being said, I doubt any of the big banks would be any different. I feel Monica’s pain…I opened my accounts at a small regional bank, who was bought by WaMu (who I liked all right) who was bought by Chase. Chase has bought my checking account, my mortgage, and every last one of my credit cards, none of which I opened through them. They pretty much own me, and I’ve never once chosen to do business with them. So far, no bad experiences, fortunately, but it’s probably only a matter of time (how’s that for high expectations). I’ve heard someone say we should all get our $$ out of the big 3 – wait, that was you, wasn’t it? I totally agree, but at the same time I’m dragging my feet b/c I feel like they’ll just buy me up again.
Well I will keep reading…I assume you got this worked out somehow. I hope you socked it to them. Makes me wish I had something there so I could close it and tell them why
i too have been living a nightmare for the last year, everyone you talk to has a different story, our loan was originally through countrywide and and taken over by bofa when they bought them, phantom fees and money not being applied to payments has incurred more times to mention, over the last three and a half years we have paid 60,000 dollars on a 137,000 dollar loan and that is still not good enough, our fixed interest loan has gone from 1,037 a month to 1500 a month, our esgrow has not changed although our taxes have went down and our home has lost value, since we are not under 80% of the loan value our pmi is still in effect, they will take our 60,000 we have paid auction the house and still collect the difference on the loan, since they have managed to cover up most of the money we have paid in fees and who knows what else the will still collect 132,000 of the principal, they want our house no matter what, we were even so the y said 6 mos ago and now are supposed to come up with 10,000 to stay in the house
If it walks like a piggy, talks like a piggy, by golly it’s a PIGGY!
BofA and it’s CEO Brian Moynihan reminds me of that song by John Lennon and George Harrison titled “Piggies” I invite you to listen to this song on youtube and see if it appropriately fits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTmeHM-Hojg&feature=related
Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in.
Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt
Always have clean shirts to play around in.
In their ties with all their backing
They don’t care what goes on around
In their eyes there’s something lacking
What they need’s a damn good whacking.
Everywhere there’s lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.
John Wright vs. Bank of America Lawsuit at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20100323/bs_prweb/prweb3766544_1
When I filed my lawsuit against Bank of America, myself and United Law Group thought of the many others out there in the same situation. It was then that we decided to educate the public on what these piggy banks are doing, as well as unite us all together as one voice. Please help me turn this David vs. Goliath modification process, into a Goliath vs. Goliath.
Please stand with me and United Law Group and send an email to Bank of America that states that we will no longer tolerate their potentially illegal, fraudulent, irregular and abusive business methods.
Divided we might have fell America, but united we must stand!
Please send your email directly to Bank of America and include the following:
1. Your name
2. Your complaint concerning your experience with Bank of America.
3. Please end your email “I support John Wright vs. BofA Lawsuit!”
4. Please send a copy of your email to johns-wright@hotmail.com
5. Please send your email to both BofA link below and the CEO email
BofA Linked Email:
https://www3.bankofamerica.com/contact/?lob=general&contact_returnto=&state=VA
CEO Brian Moynihan:
brian.t.moynihan@bankofamerica.com
Matthew Task, Executive Relations
Office of the CEO
813-805-4873
I am sorry for the things you went through. I went through a bankruptsy and gave my house back to the bank. I had no choice they raised my mortgage payment to $1800 dollars a month. There was no way I could afford that. The worst day of my life was when I had to walk away from what I worked so hard for.
I do believe that I was caught, in the web that alot of other people found themselves. As I look back, I never should have been approved for the loan I got. That took a long time for me to admit. You see I am single and it just seemed to make everything worse.
The people who did my loan looked at my 401k, and I let them. I was so stupid. I know we can all come out of this with our heads held high.
There is no bailout for people who are not millionares. There are only bankers and lenders that are laughing at us. And we have to prove ourselves all over again. It aint fair.
Thank you for letting us have a place to say how we feel. Its nice to know you are not alone.