Homeowners File Class Action Lawsuit Against Bank Of America For Allegedly Failing To Modify Troubled Mortgages
A class action lawsuit was filed against Bank of America in U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington (Seattle), No. 10-00488, on behalf of homeowners alleging that Bank of America reneged on a promise to modify troubled mortgages as a condition to accepting twenty five billion dollars of federal bailout money, according to a class action news report.
The Bank of America class action lawsuit reportedly alleges that Bank of America agreed to take part in the U.S. Treasury Department’s $75 billion Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) since it accepted bailout funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), but allegedly had an incentive not to modify loans because doing so might cause it to repurchase more loans, collect lower servicing fees, or assess lower default charges because fewer payments would be deemed late.
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For Karen and everyone else who has fallen victim to this loan modification scam, thre is already a case won regarding loan mods. One Georgia judge has already found a bank guilty of accepting
billions of dollars in HAMP money, but not following through on modifications as agreed (see Otis Wayne Phillips vs. U.S. Bank, NA Case #11-CV-00504))
We all know that Bank of America is a thousand times more malicious and fraudulent than US Bank so therefore it should not be difficult to prove the massive fraud committed in masses by BofA against homeowners. Hey, all anyone (especially a judge) has to do is read this blog and they will have hundreds if not thousands of victim’s stories at their disposal.
Oh, yay. Thanks for that information Isabel! Tomorrow is my illegal foreclosure sale, and they still haven’t called to let me know what their decision on my modification is (as if there’s any doubt what it will be).
I’m utterly exhausted. Defeated. I still can’t get past the fact that they truly stole my house. I was current on my payments when I called them to let them know about my husband leaving. I didn’t even know about the modification – just doing what my friend told me to do “in case” they could help me in some way.
During that phone call is when they told me of the program, took my information, and told me 1) stop paying on your mortgage, 2) you can’t rent your house out, 3) you can’t put your house up for sale.
The decision would only take 30 days, according to the rules, so I figured even if they denied me, I could still pull in a renter or two and get my payments made. I NEVER would have guessed in a million years that this huge corporation just reeled me in in order to steal my home out from under me. There is no punishment great enough for these people for what they’ve done to us.
iam in new jersery bank of america did the same thing to me is their a lawsit we can file
Cindy …
Please click on “Previous Comments” in light blue and read AT LEAST the bottom half of the previous page of posts.
I am new here and am floored at this all, I, 8 weeks ago filed for a modification only to be given the run around then finally told I was denied this past Tuesday , Actually the did say i qualify for a 3 month forebearence and sent out documents, but i have never recieved anything.I have lost 50% of my income, but after reading all of these stories I am going to simply document what I’ve been through so with phone calls etc from my home and cell here in Pennsylvania and just keep struggling to make payments, I am not behind yet, good luck to all and gods speed taking down these criminals!!
I have been fighting with BOFA since 2010 my original mortgage holder was taylor bean and whitaker, they went into bankruptcy and BOFA bought all of there mortgages… There were 3 payments that BOFA said were unpaid, even though me and my wife at the time faxed them in proof of payment straight from the bank… I have been fighting with them and recently I went through a divorce which caused me to get even further behind. My house is now being foreclosed within the next month and I don’t even have time to short sale it. BOFA has ruined my credit, before all this happened my credit was outstanding. I am worried to see what effect this whole mess will have on my credit.
Brandon …
Your credit rating are chains to slavery. It’s not a measurement of your character, but an indication of whether or not you’ve bought into the system. It tells them whether or not you’re willing to do as you’re told. You’re rewarded for doing as you’re told.
Interestingly though, as with the foreclosure situation, they can also KEEP you from doing things with it. It’s utter manipulation.
I’m sure you haven’t become a “bad” person simply over being defrauded … but they’ve sure made you look like one if your credit is shot.
Am I just blowing smoke and talking out of my ass?
One very popular read among corporate types is Sun Tsu’s “The Art of War.” He said …
“Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.”
You are the bank’s opponent because your home stands in the way of their profit … their instant gratification. Banks are no longer willing to simply just conduct business and wait for the term of the mortgage when they can get away with it. Profit THIS quarter is FAR more important than whether or not they are adhering to their fiduciary … ethical and statutorily mandated … contractual expectations.
I saw an interesting post today on a blog regarding Bank of America on Huffington Post. I thought I should share it with all of you:
“B of A is just one of many that think that they’re above the law, above the government, and most certainly above responsibility to the people.
And the ironic thing is that when you think about it, they actually produce exactly nothing. Not food nor entertainment; not steel nor computers; not electricity nor toys; not furniture nor houses.
Do we need a structure in order to facilitate the movement of money?Absolutely. But we’ve allowed that structure, the banking system, to become the primary power in our society. In many ways, significantly more powerful than government; the banks and Wall Street own the government, not the other way around.
Interestingly, it has only been in the last few hundred years that usury has been allowed at all in any Western civilization. Now our entire economic system is based on it, and look at what it’s brought us”.
We are victims of this loan modification scam BOA is running
after getting the run around and the bank reps not returning our phone calls, getting mis information when we do actually get in touch with the rep we get mis information and more run around we are now getting forclosure letters from their lawyers.
and we have been paying on the loan.
we want to join this law suit!
Hi all..
I tried to get BoA to modify my mortgage with them but I was denied. Currently my husband and I have an 80/20 mortagage. 80% with one lender and 20% with BoA. We were able to successfully modify our 1st mortgage and were told that USUALLY the second lender follows the 1st lender, however after repeated back and forth (missing documents, numerous phone calls) we were denied by BoA and by that time we were already 8 months behind on the 2ns mortgage with BoA. Unfortunately, after all the troubes my husband and I made the difficuly decision to file for Chapter 13. The arrears of the 2nd mortgage with BoA was put into the Bankruptcy repayment plan that we now have and we STILL have to pay BoA monthly to “stay current.” With all thats going on with the lawsuits with BoA, is it possible for us to be able to try again to get some kind of modification even though the loan is now under the Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?? So confused..
In all my reading and research trying to figure out what is going on with the bank, I have come across several statements referring to people who are applying for modification and who are also in active Chapter 13 bankruptcy, so yes, I believe you can have a modification and be in bankruptcy at the same time.
How do I get involved in this…I have just recently found out that I was exposed to the robosigning crap and they have NOT given me any options to modify mortgage. They keep putting me off etc.
How do I sign up…. been over three years of lies and run around…. I’m ready to sue on my own…. have all the calls, missteps, errors, lies etc. documented with most typed up and chronologically organized “a lawyers dream” Please how do I sign up?!?!
I would like to sign up. I have been fighting BOA for about 2 years. At first they denied my loan modification due to their terms as being late (of due to their inadapt employess not knowing what to do). Approx. 3 mos later an officer in the Pres office, reinstated my mod but failed to include the 3 late payments. I never received notice of the reinstatement nor did I get any new papers to that effect. All I had was their word. At that time I had a bad attorney who stated that I should not make a payment until she has this incident settled. Well, approx 5 mos later she called and stated she did her part and could not do anything else. I called another officer (in meantime I received foreclosure papers) to help. She admitted that the officer misfiled the mod agreement and that my trial payments were inaccuratedly applied. Then she drifted off in air. No longer any response to my phone calls. All she stated that I should try for a new modification agmt. Yesterday received a FedEx letter from BOA stating I was denied the mod. I called the acct rep and bluntly stated my views and said all I want is a new note including my past payments. I am at a standstill now.
Mike, Andrea, Tory and Larry …
As I’ve done for the past couple of years here on the blog/forum, I need to give you newbies a “reality check” about the situation you find yourself in.
Unfortunately, things may not work the way you think.
In this country we’re lead to believe that class action lawsuits are the be-all-and-end-all of whipping a big-bad corporation … or bank … into line and holding them accountable.
Doesn’t necessarily work that way.
In fact, corporations/banks relish the idea of getting a mass of plaintiffs into one courtroom … it’s far cheaper and easier to send one small legal team to fight dozens, hundreds and even thousands of “complainers” under the umbrella of one case. After all, these financial entities are all about the money, and the less they spend the better.
It’s all about profit … in fact, it’s evolved into being ONLY about profit. That’s what their boards of directors, stockholders and executives expect … these days profit at any cost … even if it means changing laws, bending them or even breaking them.
That’s what the MERS system is (Mortgage Electronic Registration System) … bypassing traditional real estate law that’s hundreds of years old to avoid paying fees to counties.
It’s confusing and frustrating because they WANT it to be. Banks also APPEAR to be incompetent and even stupid, when it’s all very carefully planned. After all, the entire system is based on “legalities” or contract law (Statutory Law) and designed from the ground-up by lawyers.
One of the FIRST things lawyers learn in law school is the fact that you can’t look malicious … … out there stealing homes … but you CAN look stupid. Courts are mandated to punish maliciousness, but forgive stupidity.
Here’s the thing …
To fight this you’re going to have to learn how the system ACTUALLY works … not how we think it works.
First off, filing (or joining) a class action should be your LAST choice, not your first. Besides, the suit listed in this blog/forum is ONLY for residents of Washington State and ONLY under VERY specific criteria. You have to match that criteria precisely … shedding the other details of your case … and lawsuits are won or lost ON THE DETAILS.
One answer to a class action is called a “Mass Joinder” where each case is heard individually (by the judge or jury), but even that doesn’t hurt the banks where they live.
They live in PROFIT … and individual cases filed one at a time in dozens, hundreds or even thousands of courts TERRIFIES them since they’d have to respond to each one individually, spending untold millions … perhaps even billions … on lawyers to defend themselves.
This brings up another CRITICAL point.
Banks are walking into courtrooms presenting themselves as VICTIMS … not perpetrators.
Their lawyers are walking into courtrooms, pointing a finger at homeowners and saying “This person wants a FREE HOUSE!” … convincing judges that homeowners are simply deadbeats trying to rob the bank …
… when the simple fact is that banks are no longer willing to wait for the “normal” business of playing a mortgage to the end of its term and want INSTANT PROFIT by (illegally and immorally) foreclosing on anyone they can … profiting from insurance and repossession and sale.
Banks DO NOT LOSE MONEY on foreclosure … or they wouldn’t be doing it … but they’d LIKE people to believe they’re suffering losses since they want to appear as victims …
… and all this is while they’re posting record profits, record payments to CEOs and sucking (debt-based) tax dollars out of the Federal government crying poverty.
Fact is, it’s an outright gargantuan criminal enterprise corrupting government AND the courts.
The key here is to learn and USE the system to bring these facts into the bright sunlight of truth, killing the lies AND hitting them where it hurts … in the WALLET.
Joining a class action lawsuit … and you probably couldn’t join this one even if you wanted to … is the WRONG way to go about that … or at the very least should be your last ditch effort.
For your own sake, read back in this forum for what’s ACTUALLY going on. Simply click on “Previous Comments” in light blue at the top or bottom of this column … AND research the mortgage industry, the legal system and its procedures to find out how all this ACTUALLY works.
You’ll find a list I developed from discussions on this board that you may find helpful … 23 things you can do to help get you what you want … which is probably just a fair shake.
Lawyers are running away from cases like yours at lighting speed horrified to take on the banks. There’s a few … very few … that ARE taking them on, but you have to weed through the unscrupulous ones that are preying off peoples’ ignorance of the law and courts to find them.
This fight is up to YOU … not a lawyer. Any lawyer worth his pigskin (degree and license) will tell you that.
Fight the Good Fight … and Make it Real.
Well … technically, it’s called a “sheepskin.”
**smile**
You’re right, Don. Finding an attorney was impossible for me. I couldn’t understand how this huge, deep-pocket corporation could be breaking the laws and violating every rule they “had to” obey based on their settlement lawsuit, could continue the same actions that got them taken to court once already, yet these attorneys don’t want to stand up for the “little guy.”
Patricia …
Please read above.
Just wanted to let you all know that BOA just sent me a Trial Payment Plan out of thin air. This is month eight (8) of this modification fiasco, AFTER they initiated a foreclosure, and AFTER they set a foreclosure sale date. I’ve done plenty of research on the illegal foreclosures but almost none on these trial payments!
Oddly, the letter came with NO explanation. Imagine that. They didn’t say where they came up with their fairly high figure (what property value they used, interest rate, length of loan, etc). They did, however, tell me that the trial payments did not necessarily mean that I would be approved for a permanent modification, and they also told me that the payments would need to be paid for three months and possibly a fourth depending on how quickly they could determine whether or not I qualify for the permanent modification.
Almost as an afterthought, they included, as a last sentence, “You were denied for HAMP.” Again, they left out the entire explanation part of that statement. They are supposed to give the applicant all the numbers they used to determine his/her status. I seriously doubt that they used the current property value (which is now approximately $50,000 less than it was). They also probably figured in the fact that I am now eight months behind on payments because of their instruction for me to stop payments or risk denial back when I first applied. And of course, if they fix those two things, then they’d also have to adjust the property taxes and the insurance as well because those would go down accordingly. Something tells me they just didn’t do all of that and I don’t know if, by paying the trial payments, I am saying I accept their figures because I am not.
When I calculated a rough estimate on the government website to determine what my payments should be, it came out to approximately $300 less than what they are asking for right now. I don’t know if the trial payments are often representative of what one’s permanent payments wind up being or whether they are usually higher or lower or what. Does anyone here have any idea or any experience in this part of the process?
Karen …
In my experience, your trial payment should approximate your final mod payment. In my case, with all BofA’s shenanigans, the so-called trial period lasted more than two years, so in the end, the final mod payment was more than a hundred dollars more.
Taking around 33-34 months to get the main mortgage mod (a vicious cat fight), I can’t imagine what they’ll do resisting the Heloc loan mod … but … unchecked criminals are tenacious bastards, so it’s no surprise I’m in for another cat fight.
I’ve heard and read all kinds of figures all over the map. They’re intentionally making the system confusing, so the only thing written in stone is the fact that it’s a war to save your home from confiscation.
As far as denials … they’ll use ANY excuse … including sending “automatically generated” notices their representatives (claim) they have no knowledge of.
But remember one thing …
What they SAY is completely IRRELEVANT … and what they put in writing is EVERYTHING … since the law is based on documentation.
They’ve been using our belief that what they say matters, when it doesn’t … unless what they say is documented (recorded), then presented in court opposing what they DID or provided in writing.
Eventually, if courts wise-up, that will be their downfall …
… when the lies come to light …
… and there’s plenty of lying going on.
Like everyone else, i can say that Bank of America did absolutely nothing but make it difficult for me until they could foreclose. Then they were as nice to me as anyone could be to get me out of the house. It wasnt enough that i was laid off my job because i paid ( too much) child support….Thank you Federal Govt. it was a great 25 years!!!
But B of A led me to falsely believe i would be able to refinance, up until they sent my refinace check back and told me it would not happen.
NOT TO BE MISSED >>>
THIS is what many of us have been saying about this nationwide criminal enterprise for years –
http://stopforeclosurefraud.com/2012/05/13/sofla-womans-2-year-battle-gets-mortgage-wiped-out/
Virtually all of us do NOT seek a “free house” … BUT … if the banks are willing to commit fraud to try and take them illegally … THEY DESERVE TO LOSE any right to a single penny …
… AND …
… the ones that planned and perpetrated that system of illegal confiscation should be hunted down and JAILED.
I couldn’t agree more!
has any one got a pay from a law suit on forclosed houses.i sent my papers to occ. a year ago they are investigating
I was not in the first round of people who got ripped off so I don’t have a right to any of that money. You should probably check back if it’s been that long.
i would like to tell u my sitution with BOA . about november of 2011 i called BOA to try and get a modification on my loan, they sent me my big package with-in 2 weeks ,and then assigned me a ” customer relationship manager ”. a week later i received a call from her telling me how she is going to help me through all the steps to get my mod. she helped from page 1 to 30 going over every thing and making sure i dotted every eye and crossed t . , went and got everything noterized and sent package off to BOA . about 2 weeks they told i will now have to make 3 mod. payments while they find out if i qualify . made my 3 months paym’t s on time ( jan.-feb.- march 0f 2012 ) . about 3 weeks into april was notifyed my mod. went thru . they sent me new new mortgage papers to sign and notorize. they gave me a new 30 yr. @ 4.5 % – it use to be 6.7 %….. made my first new paym’t may 1st.== they also sent me a letter that all my mod . money was applied to my morgage.== sent another letter telling me they wrote to credit to have all the paym’t reinststated on my credit report. == and i did check that both of these were done. I MUST BE ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES THAT GOT A MODIFICATION WITH ABSOLUTEY NO PROBLEMS. i started reading this blog over a year ago and was affaid to apply after reading everybodys bad situation but my house was underwater by 45% , so i had to try. ==== my modification took from start to finish 5 months.=== if anybody wants any more info. on my mod. u may e-mail at JTIETEL@ATT.NET === good luck to everybody
Sadly we have been fighting them since Hurricane Ivan. they tell us different things each and everytime. Offered us help and turn us down, offfer help turn us down. Year over this went on. They were not able to even keep up with their own accounts and had no idea who owed what for the longest time untill finally they cut the computers out and hired more employees to work on the request for help in this dead ecoonomy. They useed every excuse in the book and sent a letter not even titled to my husband the accout holder of rejections of taking payments. It was labled to myself which they refuse to talk to me because they said they didn’t have the 4 faxes giving them permission to speak with me. I have this letter of personal and confidental statement sent to me to prove the many of mistakes they make and the poiint they have no idea what they are tdoing. Sadly all the banks are involved in this scam and sold ssold sold and made it hit one of the last morgage takerrs in this sad excuse of business. We are about to loose our home. My husband has gotten a better job and they refused to help anyone or work with anyone in a reasonable way. It seems they don’t care if a bottom ups house is taken . I news for them this house was screwed before they screwed us by a hurricane I will have to laugh if they think they will make a dollar on it. INs, banks .all take our money but don’t return any favors in crisis yet they expect our government to to something about thier problem. What about us?
Btw they lead us to believe that we would get help that year. WE continued to make the payments best we could unlike many ppl who had no job at all. Still…. They applied the monies who knows where. One time the accept it one time they don’t OF course the bank chechs in which I cash will show this easily. Sadly this Company will die… If it don’t then they paid our Government loads….
I will YOu tube this whole story I documented when It is over. It will be better than 20 mins lol
Btw I will be researching stories and problems of working class ppl effected by this scam of offered help. I am hiring a lawyer and making a documentry. They will have to pay me for the stress they caused us. I will not stand and take it. I will fight this with all my might. Ihave my research not on a pc or in my home but in a safe place. I will keep all secret untill exposed and shared. If you like to share your story please email me. Ty so much. I will also interview in private .
JDebbie, please feel to contact me at Isabel-1229@hotmail.com. I am also a victim of this Bank of America Scam. It has been a real nightmare to say the least. I was told to default in order to qualify for a loan mod then they lost my papers over and over again. Until that point, I had never missed a payment. I only missed one payment (November 2009) so that I could prove “hardship” or so they said, and then I continued to pay every single month after that. I was being harrassed and threatened and received those Notice of Intent to Accelerate notices that would notify me that if I did not pay a certain amount (an amount that I did NOT owe), they would start foreclosure on a specific date.This is EXTORTION, by the way. I received many of these notices while I was making my payments and in the loan mod process. I was also told by some BofA reps to disregard the notices. Some reps would even threaten me on the phone with foreclosure. I was a complete confused mess and became so overwhelmed with stress and depression that I became suicidal and also developed fibromyalgia which was triggered by the overwhelming anxiety they put me through. I hired an attorney and they still kept lying to me and harrassing me even after we asked them to stop the harrasment and fraud because it was affecting my health. They didn’t even post some of my payments and money was missing from our escrow account. Bank of America has a lot of blood on their hands. When I hear of the thousands of people that have been affected by these Mafia banks, I really cry because I know what they have been through. Nothing is being done to prosecute these “financial terrorists” who have destroyed so many lives. This blood-shed will end up being close to the number of victims of war! Our so-called justice system and government that allows these banksters to continue terrorizing American families with their too-big-to-fail-or-jail attitude. I have lots to tell and we currently have a lawsuit (no attorney) against BofA since December 2010. The judge is trying to dismiss my case as many do. Hope to hear from you and anyone else here that would like to contact me regarding this criminal enterprise called Bank of America.
This news is over a month old but I was not aware of it. It appears that there is a judge in Louisiana that is tired of the bank’s fraudulent ways and she is putting a stance. Bless her heart!! Anyway, she ruled in favor of a homeowner that was suing Wells Fargo and awarded the man over $3 million. She makes very good points for her reasons for ruling against the banks. I wish there were more judges like judge Magner, I bet the banks would all stop the fraud quick. This is a very good case law for us to use in our lawsuits, another case that has been ruled AGAINST the banks. Here is the story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/elizabeth-magner-new-orleans-wells-fargo_n_1412412.html?ref=tw.
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