Video: Bank of America Still Screwing Troubled Mortgage Borrowers

If you think Bank of America is curbing their predatory practicies now that they’ve ousted Ken Lewis as chairman, think again. Check out this ad I came across:

SHORT SALE!

Have You Had Difficulty Negotiating A Short Sale With Your Lender?

To approve a Short sale of your primary home, did the Lender make you sign a note or letter stating you must repay the difference between your loan and the sale amount, even if you never refinanced your home?

Did the Lender force you into Foreclosure and Bankruptcy?

We are a group of individuals (not attorneys) concerned with the way certain Banks have treated troubled borrowers and are investigating their practices, especially in light of the billions of dollars banks have received in TARP Monies. Some of these ill-advised business practices may even be illegal under California law, and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

This is not a solicitation of business. We want to hear from you. Confidentiality assured.

Please call 1-866-981-8781 and leave a confidential message. Thank you.

What prompted this ad is that Bank of America has apparently been screwing over troubled mortgage borrowers who are attempting to negotiate short sales on their homes. Borrowers who can’t afford to keep their homes have to work out a deal with their bank, selling short on their home at whatever the market value is currently in order to avoid foreclosure altogether. Bank of America, however, is forcing these troubled borrowers to sign deficiency letters, meaning the borrower has to repay the difference between the sale price and the remainder of the existing loan on the property, which could easily force borrowers into bankruptcy.

What’s odd is that banks get far less in foreclosure than in short sales, so it would be in their best interest to work something out. What’s more, Bank of America recently announced it was easing its policy on short sales, requiring 5 percent of short sale proceeds instead of 10 percent. But this ad makes it sound like Bank of America is still having it both ways with troubled borrowers.

In California, Bank of America’s predatory behavior might be violating the law, since they are refusing to bless a short sale if the borrower does not sign a deficiency letter, even when the borrower’s home has not been refinanced. If you know anyone, particularly in California, who has had difficulty negotiating a short sale, urge them to call 1-866-981-8781 and leave a confidential message. Bank of America has already taken tens of billions in our taxpayer money through the bailout; we can’t allow them to continue screwing homeowners at every turn.

mortgage_refinance

That's the great article! I just pass 'n read it, two thumbs up! ;)

Brian Haas

My family and I have arrived in colorado to live with my parents until we can get out of debt. We have been in short sale for 5 months now. We have had a buyer since July. She needed to be out of her house by Oct. 20, so we let her move in and we are starting over in Colorado. 4 months with a buyer and we still cannot get through to a negotiator at B of A. We recently got served with letters of foreclosure in colorado. As usual, we still can't get anything from B of A except that we will have a negotiator in 7-10 business days. They have been stringing us along like this for 4 months. Luckily we can wait them out because our buyer has signed a contract to live in our house in Florida until it sells. We were informed by our realitor to call a lawyer, so we did. He said that the foreclosure process and the short sale process run concurrently and to wait another 7-10 business days to see if we get a negotiator. If not, he will file papers and appear in court for foreclosure and let the judge know our situation. Now we will have to pay legal fees. He said when we do get a negotiator to be firm with them because they tend to dilly dally. We bought our house for 150,000 3 years ago. It is now appraised by the bank at 89,000. Our buyer is offering 85,000. The only reason B of A will foreclose on us is to gain more property. When housing prices go up, they can sell it for more. The government needs to help. Keep posting. I hope this info. will help others. I have been posting as we go along. I will let you know how it turns out. We have a plain and simple case. No refinancing, 2nd mortages, nothing. Go see Capitalism "a love story" and write your congress. The financial institutions will not help the people. Pull your money out of crooked banks, and keep one credit card for emergencys. Hit them where it hurts.

Debra

I recently attended a "Save the Dream" work shop in Daly City CA at the Cow Palace on 10/18/2009. What I saw was appauling. Home owners begging Bank of America and Wells Fargo to modify their home loans that even with the modifications, they will not be able to keep their homes. I believe that the banks are using these forums to use the money to make it look like they are lending money, and they are, however this is just another set up for failure for these home owners. I believe these banks should be closed and the CEO's should have prison terms. These are not modifications that will help home owners. When I called Bank of America and Wells Fargo for modification of my home loan they told me that they would not talk to me until I missed two payments. Now they have raised my interest rates on my credit cards and told me that if I object they will lower my credit scores, just for protesting the change in the APR and terms of the card. This was after the tax payers bailed them out only to find out that they are using the money to pay their executives for "a job well done". Some of the home owners claimed that they had not paid their mortgages for months. I have kept up my payments and I can not qualify for these modifications because when my house is appraised they, the banks, use the foreclosed homes as recent sales. Most of the foreclosed homes have been stripped of pipes, fixtures, sinks toilets and even the tubs and showers. This practice of setting the middle class and even homes in the million dollar range owners for more failures and foreclosures. They have put the knife in the heart of the middle class and are turning it until we all bleed to death. Our 401k's and the largest group of investors "the baby boomers" are doomed. We will all need health care; and social security will be the next shoe to drop. I hope my comments are

california_refi

Oh!...that's great helpful, it's so right to me! Million thanks for the article,

progressiveinsurance

They are still troubling borrowers

Bendigo Bank

They are still troubling borrowers, don't they realize that what they are doing is giving more problems to borrowers.

Michelle Young

Yup this is ALL true. I'm about to loose my home of three years through Bank of America. They give a damn about helping ANYBODY but themselves! Don't waste your time trying to talk to the home retention committee because they are all a big JOKE!

HSBC credit card

Great post. Very informative and well written. Hope to see more similar post from you.

Loan_Services

Hey, great post, very well written. You should blog more about this. I’ll definitely be subscribing.

Loan Advice
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gena

Bank of AMerica offers me a loan mod for $100,000 more than a pending short sale. THey lost two buyers by not responding in time. THey could care less about homeowners. They are squeezing every nickel out of them. THey caused the problem then the govenment gives them BIllions of dollars. You don't give the bully the money. THen the bully becomes an nasty greedy outrageous bully. PLEASE DO SOMETHING. We want to keep our houses. I lost my business and now my house due
to COuntrywide and B of A's actions. WAKE UP GOVERNMENT

brianhaas

We just gave B of A all the info they needed last week. We are waiting for a represntative to get back with us. We call them weekly to keep up with them. Now we just sit and wait. Our buyer knows the situation, and says she will wait it out. I hope it goes through. We stopped paying our mortage in June. With the current economy and our new baby, we our moving back home from Florida to Colorado to live with my parents so we can save on childcare money. If they don't follow through with our short sale, we will have to foreclose. Offering us a loan modification would be pointless. I don't see why they wouldn't accept the appraised rate of the house that the buyer is willing to pay. I would think it would be a better deal for them than making us go through a foreclosure. I will keep you posted.

kimmartin

I am not in California, I live in Idaho. Bank of America would not return our calls to even try to negotiate my short sell. They just sent it to forclosure, even with letters from our Senators they ignored all calls.

Brian Haas

My wife and I are going through the short sale process with bank of america. We have not found a buyer yet, but I wonder if bank of america will even consider it? We live in Florida. Do you have any advice? It sounds like we might need a lawyer.