By Cynthia Martinez
AUSTIN, Texas – June 30, 2010 – Fifteen low-income Texans are suing Bank of America for operating a home loan system that forces struggling homeowners into foreclosure by purposefully misleading them, preventing them from modifying their loans, and ignoring agreements for lower monthly payments.
Represented by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), the leading provider of legal aid in Texas, the families allege that they tried to work with Bank of America on loan modifications and foreclosure prevention when tough economic times hit. Instead of providing them with the information necessary to save their homes, Bank of America provided inconsistent information, lost important paperwork, and failed to notify them of the status of their loans. In cases where forbearance and loan modification agreements were made, Bank of America ignored the arrangements and put homes up for foreclosure even though families made their payments.
“These families were acting responsibly to try to save their homes,” said TRLA attorney Molly Rogers. “But with every bit of contact, Bank of America put up roadblocks to prevent them from succeeding.”
Among the families named in the lawsuit is Austin resident Donna Batts. After applying for a loan modification in June 2009, Batts found herself facing foreclosure. TRLA helped Batts arrange a forbearance agreement to save her home. But even though she made payments according to that agreement, she received conflicting information as to the status of her loan. In March Batts’ mortgage payment was rejected and she was told her home was in foreclosure. Shortly thereafter she received a letter from Bank of America telling her to continue to pay her mortgage or risk losing her home. While Batts still resides in her home, she continues to receive conflicting information as to the status of her loan and the steps necessary to avoid foreclosure.
According to the lawsuit, it is standard practice for Bank of America to ignore agreements made with homeowners in order to force them into foreclosure. In addition, Bank of America intentionally provides homeowners with misleading and inconsistent information about their loans, illegally ignores requests for information, and sets up unreasonable barriers to keep families from saving their homes.
Added Rogers, “No matter what families do, Bank of America is determined to foreclose on these homes. A struggling family doesn’t stand a chance against them.”
For more see here…
~
After seven strokes, heart surgery, I am still here. I begged Litton Loan for a modification. I am still getting foreclosure notices. I am going to fight, why. They are a servicer. Thanks to you all I know that they can’t foreclose on a note they do not own. I sent out the RESPA Letter. MERS is the trustee. I am still in the fight.
Bank of America is a racketeer-influenced and corrupt organisation.
The buffoons at BofA won’t let me close my account!
After putting up with nearly a year of silly and unnecessary fees on my checking account, I decided to close my BofA account and bank elsewhere. I zero balanced the account by transferring out the remaining funds, and rang customer service to formally close the account.
Despite customer service’s representation that my account had been closed, BofA has reopened the account in an effort to bill new monthly fees to it!
This is unconscionable and somebody should revoke their banking license for such corrupt behavior.
I’m curious which states are of the 23 – 27 that have been stopped? I live in VA, and I”m going through all this with BOA via their foreclosure mill. I created my own substitute trustee on the house, and then had him sign it to a trust; All notarized and recorded in the city. Not sure this stopes them, but hopefully they have to sue me to take it. My contention is that MERS is the first on my deed as the default beneficial interest holder. Some states are saying that there is no way MERS can have standing for not receiving actual benefit (the payments) and thus can’t transfer either. Seems anyone with MERS on their note has a Null and Void note… is this true?
Joe
I found them… seems to all the judicial states. But what about non judicial?
RePost: from CNBC
In some states, lenders can foreclose quickly on delinquent mortgage borrowers. By contrast, the 23 states in which Bank of America is delaying foreclosures use a lengthy court process. They require documents to verify information on the mortgage, including who owns it.
Those states are:
Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.
I hope these homeowners mop the floor with the bank of america fraudsters. Clean house.
all of this fraudulent business practice makes it difficult to keep up with the paperwork.