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 at news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100323/us_nm/us_bankofamerica_mortgage_lawsuit.
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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Hello Don,
What is your “opinion” regarding obtaining a securitization audit?
And what does one do with it once they have it? I was just told “again” that I do not qualify under MHA guidelines since I am self employed and my income varies month to month. I was also told that my payments would be higher that what they are now (how can that be if I am earning less?). already knew this when I applied two years ago. I have read that so many others have been told the same thing with regard to higher payments which does not make sense since the bank has options to lower the interest rate or reduce the amount of the loan. Of course they tell me the investor has to approve the request but no one really knows who the investor is. So the loan was through Fannie Mae but that does not mean they are the investor since most CountryWide to B of A loans were sold multiple times. It appears to me that the reason they do not modify is because legally they cannot so they keep delaying until their attorneys can come up with something. This is perhaps another reason that they have only been doing temporary modifications. Am I accurate in my perception of this situation? If obtaining a securitization audit will help I am prepared to get one in order to fight B of A and their criminal practices!
You mention that most mortgage litigation attorneys are not wanting to get involved. That was to be my next step. How do we stop this emotional and financial drain? I have already contacted my congressional reps and spoken in person with congresswomanMazie Hirono. Yikes – this is insane!!!
Susan …
All I can really do is voice opinion, and amateur opinion at that … however, if you don’t achieve some level of “professional competence” while you’re going through this, you’re going to get swallowed up.
And that’s the point, really.
The banks have floors and floors in building after building of thousands of employees, including lawyers, that know every nook and cranny of banking procedures and statutory law … and you know [potentially less than] nothing.
One fine day several years ago the banks discovered they could take homes using this resource, and profit faster by doing it. After all, corporations (and banks) only look at quarterly (or less) profits and have [virtually] NO long term view, which is what a mortgage is … long term earnings … so one contradicts the other.
But this perception pushes banks into completely rationalizing (justifying through literally insane logic) that taking homes to bolster their profits and reserve assets is perfectly fine. Moynihan even boasted recently … with a gleeful smile … that accelerated and increased numbers of foreclosures are good for the country … a statement that is clearly insane to any rational thinker (not “rationalizing” thinker).
Anyway … a securitization audit tracks and cites the chain of transfer of your property … so it’s extremely valuable in deciding who has a right to do anything WITH the property.
But here’s the core of the problem we face …
As I reference above, the situation is complicated. In fact it’s so complicated even the agencies responsible for monitoring banking are confused about how this works.
Three personal examples —
I have in my possession two letters from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) that completely deny any responsibility for overseeing my loan relationship with the bank.
I also have a letter from the OCC (Office of the Comptroller of Currency) that claims my RESPA/TILA Qualified Written Requests (QWR) for both specific accounting of charges and production by the bank of the original paper mortgage/note are NOT requirements under RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) and TILA (Truth in Lending Act).
In addition, I’ve had several telephone conversations with office of the Attorney General’s Office of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in which they stated and emphasized that they have NO jurisdiction over my relationship with the bank, and ONLY act for “the corporation” of the Commonwealth (yes, each State is literally a corporation).
What does all this say?
Simple.
Everyone involved is deflecting as much responsibility as possible at every opportunity. Each and every statement above is incorrect and not supported by any reasonable interpretation of Law …
… except theirs.
One might think I’m simply paranoid and that all these agencies are right and who am I … a common uneducated homeowner … to challenge what they claim to know as [so-called] fact.
They KNOW that homeowners not only DON’T know, but will rarely challenge their statements … banks and agencies included.
Here’s the REAL core of it …
People are saps.
They believe official looking statements on official looking stationery are the unarguable facts of the matter … when quite often (if not every time) they are FALSE (or misinterpreted) statements.
ONLY EDUCATED HOMEOWNERS will prevail. The uneducated homeowner will be plowed under … lose their home … simply because that’s what “the system” wants. Only educated warriors who push and press and shove Law and REAL responsibility in their faces will save their homes.
Sadly, the Average American has become a “profit center” to even people in government, much less the corporations and banks. and your ACTUAL rights take a back seat to that objective …
… and throw in an attorney’s “right” to profit from your case. After all, it’s “just business.”
How do you stop the emotional and financial drain?
Unfortunately, you don’t.
That’s the sad fact of the matter.
They WILL use every tool … your emotions at the forefront … to get your home and equity.
You WILL end up paying … since that’s what you’ve agreed to do by signing on to a mortgage.
(The root meaning of “mortgage” comes from Latin, meaning “death pledge.”)
This fight is about how MUCH you’ll pay, and how they squeeze you throughout the process.
Knowing what I know now, seventeen years later, when deciding to “buy” this house, I’d have packed up for Alaska, staked out a piece of tundra and built a shack out of logs and scrap wood rather than sell my soul to the banks and this corrupt system …
… but I’m locked in now … and have to fight.
We all are.
Our ONLY recourse is to self-educate and PUSH both the banks and government to “do the right thing” … and the core of that is knowing and citing specific law … right in their faces.
The Good News is that there’s “some” help out there … “some” governmental representatives sympathize and assist. “Some” attorneys see the injustice and act in their clients’ true interests. The work is in hunting for and finding them.
The trick here is completely contrary to something we’ve all been trained to do … rely on the experts and institutions.
But ONLY YOU can act to save your home … by remaining tenacious and strong-willed … by self-educating … by being INTOLERANT … the opposite of what we’re taught.
Actually, it’s only “insane” if you continue to trust and believe that institutions are there to help. It’s PERFECTLY SANE if you understand that these institutions have evolved to work AGAINST you.
No criminal mind believes they are criminal … none … ever … and they will do everything they can to convince you that being a victim is your only choice … and institutions like banks, corporations, government and even the legal system are not immune to this disease of the mind.
The only choice to to fight and learn, and learn and fight … PERSONALLY … “lead” (leed) yourself, and never allow yourself to be “lead” (led).
They rely on you NOT doing that.
Does that help?
Wow..that was awesome! I am being swallowed up right now and I only owe them 595.00!!!! Of course everyday it is a new amount and no one ever remembers telling me what they did the day before. I am getting threatening letters of foreclosure and I only owe them 595. for supposed back fees they can not prove. I have to pay it unless i can prove I don’t owe it. Thank you being the strength I need to read right now. I know they want my home and they are giving me wrong information so i screw up.
I have had an upside down mortgage for 5 years, with Bank Of America (ARM). 5 months ago I filled for a “LOAN MODIFICATION”, they asked for the same information over and over for 3 months. Then I received notice they have sold my loan to M&T BANK. Is this a bail out? What can I do, and who do I tell? I need help. I know BOA is responsible for billions of dollars in damages, and this was not legal, I’m sure. What can I do?
A deep sigh!
It has been a long time since I voiced an opinion, and a long road to having some HOPE. On March 5, 2012, with the help of OCCUPY, I obtained a TRO, pro se, and stopped the auction of my home.
Some of the greatest minds in my area, are involved in OCCUPY EUGENE and helped me bring a lawsuit in FEDERAL COURT, against Brian T. Moynihan President CEO of Bank of America et al., and 8 other named RACKETEERS, and 1 to 10,0000, that have so kindly provided me with irrefutable evidence against them. This was after my attorney of a year and a half, exited from representing me 7 days before my “auction sale date..
OCCUPY Eugene jumped in, in the 11th hour, and helped me break the “secret code” of how they transfer documents, in violation of TILA & RICHO. I just emailed Don S. my Complaint etc, in hopes that he will be able to post my filings for others to use against the Racketters.
To answer Susan’s question about securitization audit: You must personally go to your County Recorders office and ask for a “Query” on your name, anyone else’s name on the Deed , and any entity that is on any of your loan documents or communications, including servicer, trustee, beneficiary, appointee etc. As you start with your original lender, and you as the Grantor, follow the trail of the chain of “Grantor”, you will most likely find scores of documents that were hidden from you that by law (TILA), were suppose to provide you with. NO ONE can do a better audit than you. Also the closer to the auction, of your property, is when they start to “Record” lot’s of documents to hide the real “Lender” which does not exist, and is unknown to you, and tell lies about how you did not apply for a Modification, etc. All under penalty of Perjury.
You can then find your local OCCUPY group and ask where their, foreclosure group meeting is. They can also contact the OCCUPY Eugene Foreclosure group for help. OCCUPY Eugene is on the cutting edge of reversing this travesty on mankind.
ALSO, for those of you who have lost your home, we are working on a way to GET IT BACK. You were indoctrinated into a Bate & Switch “Ponzi” scam, with a carrot by the name of “Modification”. My lawsuit has gone viral here on the West Coast. I invoke ALL of you to pass it forward, and take back your homes!
As my process continues I will try to keep you all up to date. One last thing: I did not file my complaint, for an “Illegal Foreclosure” or that they violated the HAMP/ MHA process. I filed that they are CRIMINALS under RICO. I have the proof.
HOPE for ALL,
Lauren
Hi! I was the a typical person the Hamp, MHA programs were meant to help. Not an upside loan or out of work. I walked away from my home 18 months ago as to not be embarrassed by a forceful eviction, and hoping there was a lawsuit or something I could be a part of. Yes, I was a Countywide and Mers situation…but couldn’t find any help or even knew where to look! Every now and then I google …seeing if there was something new that would catch my eye, and your post did! Please add me to your updated news list…for people that have already lost their dream homes!
Hi Lauren and everybody else. I wanted to ask you Lauren if your lawsuit is ongoing or if anyone can tell me of an ongoing class action lawsuit that I can join? I live in California and would appreciate a reply ASAP with any helpful info such as how to contact the attorney’s. I’ll contact my local Occupy Sacramento group to see if they can help. I go to court in a few weeks trying to stop the eviction process and need to file or join a lawsuit against Freddie Mac (investor) and/or Bank America (servicer) for “wrongful foreclosure“, “wrongful denial of HAMP”, “misleading/misrepresentation” and other yet TBD complaints.
The foreclosure sale was April 23,2012 and Freddie Mac bought it for $278k. I owed $405k when I qualified and asked for the MHAP. I’ve filed a “response” in court in an effort to stop eviction from the house I’ve lived in since 2002. The “legal aid” attorney who helped me with the paperwork said I need to file or join in a Federal lawsuit against them. My choices are: (1.) represent myself in court, (2.) find an attorney who’d do this on “contingency basis” or (3.) find a “class action”. I have a box load of documented proof as well as good witnesses. I can help any ongoing class action suit or have enough info to support starting a new one.
Bank America concocted a plan/scam sometime between November/December 2008 and January/February 2009 intended to maximize the “opportunity” and profits they’d make off people who’d soon be “sent” to them from the Treasury Dept’s Making Homes Affordable Program web-site which went online in January 2009. MHAP (aka HAMP) was the “bait”.
Did the Treasury Dept “bait” us so BoA could “switch” us? I don’t think that was their intent.
BoA “misrepresented” without truthful or proper disclosure the “modification” they offered me 03/06/2009. They said it was “my program” when I asked, “is this the MHAP?”. MHAP details weren’t widely known then as it had just begun and BoA used this to their advantage. I have this “offer” dated 03/18/09. Beside’s a 53% of income payment (MHAP was 31%), there was no “proof of income” required, they added a “never disclosed” $12k to the loan and they wouldn’t return calls or e-mails to explain it. Their “offer” also had no name or phone #‘s to call for questions/concerns, but it did say, “sign and return in 7 days or no modification”. This offer would cost more than the loan I already had. BoA treated everyone sent from MHAP as “leads” and they “switched” us to “modifications” worse than we were eligible or entitled to. Those who didn’t agree were “ignored” as BoA added “missed payments” to loan balances till they exceeded the MHAP 110% “loan to value” max. “Modification” would then be via BoA who modified only if we agreed to add “wrongfully gained” missed payments to the modified loan. If we didn‘t, they added till the balance was enough to collect the max “bad loan loss” from “credit default swaps” or other insurance policy’s they’d collect on after foreclosing.
Most or all loans were done before the housing bubble popped when home values were much higher. Isn’t this insurance fraud? Making a loan go “bad” so as to collect from insurance.
The HOPE counselor wrote a “Hardship Letter” on 03/26/2009 and sent it to BoA, but they never responded to her calls or e-mails either. After 3-4 months of BoA “stone-walling” me and the HOPE counselor, I told BoA I’d figured out their “bait & switch” scam and I’d report them and/or file a lawsuit if I wasn’t put in MHAP immediately. They did and I completed my “trial program” 100% by the end of September, 2009. I then realized they’d tricked me again. I re-read BoA’s MHAP “Plan” and it said if they didn’t send a signed copy back as they were supposed to, they could deny the MHAP even though I complied and completed it 100%. We were supposed to act in “good faith” while they wrote MHAP “Plans” allowing them to act in “bad faith”, keep all monies paid by us, then foreclose and collect the insurance money.
I drove to the MHAP “workshop” in Modesto, CA on 09/30/2009 with my “proof” as I knew BoA, Freddie Mac and Treasury reps would all be there. I’d get answers or show others BoA was doing unethical or possibly illegal things. I was promised by BoA that day that I’d have my “permanent modification papers” within 20-30 days. The BoA rep said, “all my docs and trial payments are received”. He also told me I didn’t need to make any payment until these papers arrived and my permanent modification began. These papers never arrived.
I say they’re committing “insurance fraud”. It wasn’t my fault they never kept this promise or delivered these papers. I was ready, willing and able to resume mortgage payments under the MHAP and would have if BoA (Freddie?) had kept their promise. Freddie bought my home for $278k creating a $232k “loan loss” ($520k owed – $278k sale = $232k loss). I say they intentionally made loans “go bad” for many of us who would have resumed making mortgage payments under the MHAP. They did it to collect insurance money which paid them the most.
THIS BANK IS A PROVEN “MISLEADER” (LIAR)
They’ve been caught “misleading” others. Lawsuits like the one by “shareholders” recently who said they were “misled” by Bank America about Merrill Lynch occurred during the same time period this MHAP plan/scam originated. BoA settled one case in 2010 with “investors” who were also “misled”. The judge in that suit called the $550 million settlement “half-baked justice” as he saw and knew Bank America was “guilty” and getting off too easy.
Does anyone think Bank America ONLY “misled” investors, shareholders and others, but didn’t “mislead” us? When the “mountain of evidence” shows otherwise?
I’ve contacted elected officials, filed multiple complaints with the O.C.C. and others. I’ve got cases ongoing with the CA Attorney General, Treasury Dept and HAMP “escalation office”. I’ve also sent proof to the U.S. Attorney General, H.U.D. Office of the Inspector General. Bank America has “misled” and broken promises so many times, their word has no value.
LAUREN…
Your story sounds just like mine…I am in the big middle with Bank of America supposedly working out a Loan Modification for us, and after almost 11 months, they asked me to START ALL OF THE PAPERWORK OVER….because they said that there had been changes and they needed to start over.
Meanwhile, I am receiving all kinds of legal documentation saying that we are pending Foreclosure, and NOW I find out that our mortgage is actually held by BANK OF NEW YORK….not Bank of America….HOW is it legal for ALL of my statements to still have Bank of America listed, when in fact, Bank of New York holds the loan???
Someone please offer some advice…?
D. Marks …
Likely BOA is your “loan servicer” not the loan holder.
Mine’s Fannie Mae, registered with MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registration System), which in itself causes issues since MERS is proving (as we all knew) to be an illegal process.
Your -county registered- loan holder will be recorded with your county’s Recorder of Deeds. These are some of the people who are taking MERS and the banks to court. Go to your courthouse and ask to see all the documents related to your property … and copy them. It might prove to be an interesting process.
wow so there is hope for the lost tanxs
esorry its been a bad day . tanxs your info priceless. hope to go home soon to start new mission ……save home:-)
join consumer defense programs asap, it will give you the knowledge the banks dont want you to know, best of luck!
My entire experience with BOA startles the imagination when you have state and federal courts compromised by activist judges (instead of juries) hearing these politically charged foreclosure cases you wonder if all the crooks haven’t assembled at the same time and place. One thing is certain the BOA banking charter should be pulled immediately and those, mostly lawyers, filing deceptive forged documents to the Court’s should be in orange jumpsuits.
As many of you know, my husband and I are fighting this evil monster called Bank of America on our own. We have no attorney, no one would take our case unless we paid $20,000.00 – $30,000.00 up front which is money that we clearly do not have. We feel like we are swimming in shark infested waters. There is the “Great White Sharks” which are the big banks like BofA and when they bite it is usually lethal and with no mercy, the “Bull Shark” which are Bank of America’s attorneys that are man-eaters as well and will “bully” you and intimidate you into thinking that you cannot fight the “Great White Shark” (I know from personal experience). Then there is the “Angel Sharks” that look more like a stingray and bury themselves in the sand (hypocrites!) and are well known “bottom feeders”. These “Angel Shark” attorneys that “apparently” want to help you will eat away at your money and at the end of the day they are just “bottom feeders” that have no intentional of helping you. Let’s not forget the “Hammer Head Shark”. I consider that most “judges” are hammerheads because even though they are less likely to attack people, they do and their spread-out senses usually favor the other deadly sharks in the ocean not an innocent swimmer (not to mention that the gavel that judges use looks somewhat like a hammer….lol). Yes ladies and gentleman, these are the “sharks” that we homeowners have to deal with in the legal system
(this has just inspired my to write an article about this…lol).
I am sadly awaiting the decision of a possible “hammerhead shark” to see if my case against Bank of Raping America will proceed. The judge had struck my Response to BofA’s latest Motion to Dismiss on the grounds that I have to “focus on why my Complaint should not be dismissed”. Uh, I thought I already did that! I guess the ton of evidence, argument and legal standards that I have submitted through this whole thing is not good enough for him. I hope he does not fail to understand that as a “pro se” litigant I have more rights than if I had an attorney and at the very least, I am supposed to be given a chance to “ammend” my Complaint/Pleading not “dismiss” it. I am already in the process of preparing an appeal and who knows, I might have to include a judge here in there in the “racket”. For all I know, the judge can be BofA’s attorneys golf buddy. They probably go out for drinks, get invited to each others birthday parties and go on vacation together. Yes, this is our (in)justice system.
For the record, I am still not sure if my judge is a “hammerhead shark” yet but I will soon find out. So far, I do not like what I see though.
I guess the judge might want to turn a “blind eye” at the evidence of fraud that I also have on my MERS Assignment of Mortgage which was signed by a robo-signer assigning Bank of America to my mortgage. This was recorded almost two years after the transfer, a clear indication of fraud. I have three different signatures in my posession for this robo-signer called Malik Basurto. This is called “forgery” and “wire fraud” folks which is clearly in violation of RICO.
I suggest that all of you do your own research. Go to the county records online or in person and view your “Assignment of Mortgage” to see if it is robo-signed like mine is. This might help: gofightforeclosure.com/blog/using-research-and-discovery-to-identify-fraudulent-assignments-and-you-get-out-of-foreclosure-now/
Remember, it is illegal to conduct any transaction in court based on fraud. If the bank tries to take your home with a forged Assignment or Note, they are committing a federal crime. Why they consistently do this and never get procecuted for the crime is anyone’s guess. If any of us just forges a check, we will be in prison right now. Gotta love our justice system!!
Isabel …
Just hadda comment that this is a really good post.
Ever forward!
Thanks Don!! By the way, so far everything is at a standstill. As I said before, the judge struck my Response to BofA’s Motion to Dismiss. I had to refile a Response which I submitted in late September and it includes a lot more legal standard include some “subliminal” warnings to the judge because I am pro se. I have no idea what other excuse the judge will bring in order to dismiss my suit. I have set all legal standard necessary to move forward with my lawsuit. My expert reports are due no later than March 1st but I have no idea what is going to happen so I am in limbo right now. My discovery deadline is in May and the trial is “supposed to” be in November. I have been in an emotional rollercoaster for more than a year now with this lawsuit.
It really stinks that more than a year ago I filed my case with one of the causes of action being RICO and the judge is turning a blind eye while the rest of the world have noticed Bank of America’s blatant racketeering especially the Register of Deeds in Mass., John O’Brien. Mr. O’Brien is accusing Bank of America and the other big banks of being a “criminal enterprise”. Hmmmm….I hope the judge is listening this time.
mainstreetresolutions.com/2012/01/18/john-l-obrien-jr-register-of-deeds-calls-for-criminal-action-against-the-big-banks-says-they-acted-like-criminal-enterprise/
There is also a KY class action RICO lawsuit against BofA. I don’t have the citation, it was filed in the last year or 2. I also am going it pro se against BofA, have to file answer today after a couple extensions – lots of affirmative defenses and some killer counterclaims. They filed foreclosure on me in 2009 and I got it dismissed out of course. This time, I want money, get out of the house with money, damages, blood on the floor…A year in HAMP, gee all that partial payment, they kicked me out because I dared challenge them on illegal fees they capitalized, but all kinds of vindictive fraud afterwards. I just have to live through it! (I am single and could get a reverse mortgage in June if they hadn’t wrecked my credit! )
Good luck to us all…
I have read some posts and I have an attorney and I am fighting Bank of America. But recently I had more occur and I wondered if you can give me some info…..I got a call for a woman in another state. She told me BOA had sent my information to her by mistake and wondered if I had her info. She had payment information and my mortgage information. I did not receive her info. I am sure they broke some law by sending my info to a woman in another state but how can I use this legally to fight BOA?
I have read some posts and I have an attorney and I am fighting Bank of America. But recently I had more occur and I wondered if you can give me some info…..I got a call for a woman in another state. She told me BOA had sent my information to her by mistake and wondered if I had her info. She had payment information and my mortgage information. I did not receive her info. I am sure they broke some law by sending my info to a woman in another state but how can I use this legally to fight BOA? Do you know?
Isabel,
If your judge dismisses your case, you can file an appeal and recuse that judge. It is not over YET! If that happens we will try to help you regroup for the next fight. DO NOT LOOSE FAITH. I believe my suit is the start of the turning point, in favor of the victims.
Also we are working, as fast as we can, on a plan to legally get homes back, with monetary damages as well.
Lauren
Its moving fast here in Oregon. OCCUPY is on top of this.
HI We fought BofA and lost!! We had a lawyer and went to court, our foreclose was a MERS, Robo signed one. We did the modification even though the amount was wrong! We did everything to save our dream home.They moved us out. It was an awful experience, to put it lightly! Someone needs to go to prison!! What they are doing is wrong!! We talked to a guy who works for a company that cleans out foreclosed homes in our area. In our county that one company had 500 homes in January alone from B of A and that company wasn’t the one working on our home!! This is unbelievable!! After being in our home for 17 years I still am in shock. The house is sitting vacant and I hate to say this but I hope it does for a long time. I still cannot believe the government bailed out the banks!!
join consumer defense programs asap, it will give u the knowledge the banks dont want you to have! best of luck!
I am amazed that the banks would rather foreclose on people’s homes only to have them sit empty for years! What a disgrace. There are simpler remedys that would benefit all…but no, not with these big banks, especially BOA (could that possibly stand for what they really are, boa constrictors!)
Isabel,
I have been in the modification “mess” for 3 1/2 years. My experience seems much like yours. My lawyer left after I missed my $400.00 payment. By the way he does clinics on saving your home. You say sharks. My experience is more like a washing machine or ferris wheel (round and round we go, where we stop etc). My “Senator Bill Nelson has passed my buck so many times that he should be in the NFL Draft. Everyone in D.C. “Dirty Cesspool” have been bemoaning the plight of the middle class (since demoted to lower class) but they take the big players money and I am sure at their parties, giggle as to how stupid we are for believing them. I am a veteran, an United States citizen, have paid my taxes from 1976 (discharge), worked in my community etc. I have made mistakes like us all, but now at 63 I go on the street to live in a cardboard box. Ah well maybe GSA will get me a room in Vegas (825K), I could live out my life. On the serious side, I will try to work your system.
JP
Excellent article today on Mandelman Matters: http://networkedblogs.com/sFby9
Susan
Regulars and Newcomers …
For your own sake, do NOT ignore this link.
No, it’s not a quick-and-easy YouTube video and actually involves taking the time to read it, which few of us have time for these days, but that’s what the banks rely on.
The best (and possibly only) way to beat this thing is to become informed … and then take action … getting others informed and taking action.
Remember … mind-numbed robots make the best victims.
Don S.
I liked your email so much that I used part of it in an email to Bryan Moynihan this morning as follows:
Mr.Moynahan,
Remember, it is illegal to conduct any transaction in court based on fraud.
If the bank tries to take your home with a forged Assignment or Note, they are committing a federal crime. Why they consistently do this and never get prosecuted for the crime is anyone’s guess. If any of us just forges a check, we would be in prison right now. Gotta love our justice system!!
Just so you know I will not give up – so sorry. You and and all the “attorneys” you have will not win because there are too many of us.
It would have been so much simpler for you if you had agreed to a “refi” for me. I would have been willing to sign new papers and it would have been done – but instead you want to be greedy and line your pockets at our emotional and financial loss. It will not work for you anymore. Eventually there will be a judge that cannot be bought out by you or your attorneys. Shame on you, Brian Moynihan. How do you sleep at night? End of my email to Mr. Moynihan.
Now the crazy thing is that I got a call from the CEO’s office this afternoon wanting to know the details of my modification process Yes, I know it will go nowhere as always but at least I got some “small” satisfaction out of it. She was going to look into it and she may well do so but again I know the scenario. She stated that Fanny Mae is the investor on my loan (even though it originated with CountryWide and was transferred to B of A). Hmmmm – who is the real investor, that is the question? Of course, Fanny Mae does not want to take a loss on my “loan”. I fail to see how they have or would take a loss on my loan if I am paying it and have they not already been paid over and over again already since my note is filed with MERS, was insured, and most likely sold one or more times?
By the way I did not know until today that B of A was supposedly “forced” by the government to take the CountryWide loans as part of some other “deal” they were making at that time.
Susan
They weren’t forced to take the CW loans, they BOUGHT THEM, that’s what the merger was about. What they are forced to do is buy back the bundled loans in securities that didn’t meet the underwriting standards the Pooling & Servicing Agreements stated were in the MBSs.
And Countrywide sold your loan before they even closed it. And not to BofA, to some mortgage-backed securities trust. Did you get the June/July BofA transfer of servicing notice from themselves to themselves, with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act notice on the second page? It probably shows some MBS Trust ID as the owner of your loan. You can go look it up on the SEC website and see who held your loan after you signed. It wasn’t Countrywide or BofA or even Fannie, unless the trust closed, or it was one of their securities, or they purchased a large chunk of it (which is really what they mean when they say Fannie or Freddie is “the Investor.” They don’t say they are the owner! If MERS (get the MIN # off your loan docs and plug it into the search engine for servicer and owner) doesn’t show anything but a transfer from you to Countrywide via MERS to BofA, you are missing a chunk of chain of title and can use that to prove they have lack of standing to do anything to your loan except service it properly.
Using Five Dollar words, Federal Reserve Governor, Sarah Bloom Raskin, calls banks and mortgage servicers criminals …
http://www.totalmortgage.com/blog/mortgage-rates/fed-governor-sarah-bloom-raskin-addresses-foreclosure-crisis-and-the-rule-of-law/15316#.TxMAkpGRXl4.facebook
BANK OF AMERICA HAS OUR HOME LOAN AND IS STILL CAUSING US GRIEF 24/7! WHAT CAN WE DO TO GET BANK OF AMERICA TO STOP SENDING US FORCLOSURE PAPERS, HOLDING OUR MONTHLY HOUSE PAYMENTS, SAYING WE ARE BEHIND WHEN WE ARE NOT, HIGHERING OUT MONTHLY MORTGAGE! THEY ARE OUT OF CONTROL!! THEY LIE, CHEAT AND HARASS!! PLEASE HELP US!
Jamie …
Have you read through this forum?
Clicked on “Previous Comments”?
You’re right to be outraged. Try and turn that energy into calling the bank into account … and educating yourself and others.
join consumer defese programs asap, it will give u the knowledge the banks dont want u to have, best of lusk!
Jamie,
You need to read all the previous blogs by Don S. He tells you what you can do. You have to help yourself for what it is worth. I have done 90% of those things but am still going nowhere with my modification request.
The lenders are under investigation for fraud and more but you need to do your due diligence. Read other blog sites as well, piggybankblog.com is an interesting one. All we can hope for is that the banks and lenders will eventually be forced stop what they are doing.
I just got off the phone with my B of A rep today and my mod is still going in circles. I am back to the same place I was in September.
Attention everyone who is “attempting” to modify – the key words to listen for that lets you know your modification request is going nowhere are as follows: GUIDELINES, PROCEDURE, INVESTOR APPROVAL, AND ESCALATE.
Jamie and Susan …
Let me emphasize what Susan is saying …
Jamie, you’ve come here with exactly the same frustration and confusion that hundreds of others have and there’s some fundamentals you HAVE to understand.
First of all, the confusion is intentional … that’s INTENTIONAL … designed to frustrate you and get you to give up and move out.
That’s a major part of the banks’ agenda … “possess” your property … but there’s a problem with that. You’re still IN it …
… and the banks aren’t looking at it as “your” property. They see it as THEIRS … and you’re simply in the way of their profit.
They’re MAKING MONEY off of taking people’s homes, through insurance and often resale. They’re more interested in quick cash than playing out a long term mortgage.
A huge part of the confusion is that people are raised to believe the banks work for THEM. They don’t. Banks work for their boards of directors, executives and stockholders … and you are merely a COMMODITY to exploit. They are NOT in business to keep a roof over your head.
Essentially, the banks are saying “Get out of OUR house. We need the money.”
So …
We have to fight … fight hard … and don’t give an INCH.
This is a shoving contest. They try to shove us into the street, and we’re forced to shove back … over and over … with everything we’ve got in the way of resources … which HAS to include TENACITY … or they win.
Push back … say “NO!” … and be INTOLERANT of their agenda.
Learn HOW to fight and fight HARD.
Remember … this is a NATIONWIDE CONFISCATION of property and NOT “just business as usual.”
DIRECT FROM AN ATTORNEY:
Thank you for your email. What you describe is a perfect example of how
and why the mortgage mess occurred, including the use of MERS, the
securitization of mortgages, the confused chains of title, and the lack of
anyone with any authority to clear up the mess.
You are also correct, unfortunately, that many attorneys are unwilling to
tackle such problems. From your email it does not sound as though you are
currently in foreclosure, but rather that you are simply trying to modify
your loan. A good real estate attorney would be able to help you through
this process, but would require payment of fees for his or her services.
If your title is truly in question, perhaps an attorney could even file
what is called a “quiet title” action, seeking to have the court determine
and declare the true ownership, and help determine who has legitimate
possession of your note and mortgage.
I”m sorry we can”t offer you any more help in this regard. If you have
any questions about how to find a real estate attorney willing to consult
with you, we can point you to services that help locate attorneys with
specific expertise. Your own yellow pages, however, probably also have
listings of attorneys who specialize in real estate issues.
Good luck with your problem.
BOA Bend Over America!!!
I’ve been trying to get my loan modification done for overfive months and BOA has lost several different documents six times. The last time they lost my my tax returns, where’d they go? Who’s going to steal my identity? They said that a request had been put in for the forclosure sal but they tried to sell it yesterday. They won’t return any of my loan modication specialist phone calls. It’s time for all of the American peple to stand up and boycott BOA. They’re to big for there own good.
gee, only 5 months? Most of us tried 8 months, 10 months, a year, more…and didn’t get one after all that. Dojn’t count on it. See if you can refi somewhere. credit union, local bank?
Great posts Mindymac …
… I’m entering my 30th month …
**smile**
I agree. We tried for almost 2 years……hundreds of hours on the phone….finally got a “trial” modification and made the payments only to be foreclosed on afterwards. DO NOT trust ANYTHING Bank of America tells you.
K Burkey – Your story sounds just like mine…except it took 3 years I believe. Insane process.
KBurkey,
Mine is the same story as well. BOA has screwed up our future plans. THEY need to be held accountable and responsible.
Has anyone on here been thru mediation with bank of america? They called today because the judge ordered it before they could do anything else. Any help would be awesome…
Don S,
Got an email update on posts here with one from you suggesting a link but I do not see the post here and the link was not in the email I received.
I received a call from B of A yesterday letting me know I was approved for the “trial” modification for 3 months. Now my payments will not really change however my interest only loan will become a fixed 40 year loan at 4 3/4%. Not that good really but better than nothing. I have to make my first payment by Feb 1 of course which does not give me much time to investigate. If I accept this do I acknowledge that Fanny Mae is the legal investor. Will I not be able to go after B of A for emotional and financial damages. Lots of questions before signing my life away. AND the big one of course is that there is no guarantee I will get the permanent modification after the 3 month trial period (straight from the mouth of the rep). Yikes!!!!!
Oh – later that day I also received a call from a higher up at B of A asking if I would like them to speak with my attorney.
Susan …
Not sure which link you’re referring to. Email me with more details if you like donsweet (a) verizon [dot] net.
Good luck with those “higher ups.” Just remember that they’re just more highly educated in manipulating people out of their homes.
Trust no one.
Susan, be very, very, very careful with a trial mod offer from Bank of Destroying America. They will SCAM you every which way and suddenly foreclose on you. Also, be careful with anything you sign. I have heard of Bank of America secretly implementing “waivers” within loan mod papers so that they cannot be sued. Everyone needs to be careful with this. Rememeber, Bank of America’s dealings have been deemed ILLEGAL and they are covering their arses every which way.
Susan,
I got a 3 month “trial” mod too. I made “trial” payments for SEVEN months and all they kept doing was asking for the SAME paperwork over and over. I told them to shove it and right about then, HAMP became available. BOA set the listing price (and of course it was WAY too high for a sale) and then when the term was about to expire they lowered the price and refused offers that were close to the price! I requested a DIL which was my right and they dragged their feet for about 6-9 months on that until it went into foreclosure. Absolutely NOTHING I could do. I called multiple times per week to make things happen for MONTHS and got different stories EACH time. It will make you sick. I got my 1099A recently (NOT a 1099C which forgives the debt) and now Fannie Mae is coming after me via NSM Recovery. I was one of the first in the process so everyone else better watch out. Fannie Mae AND BOA absolutely WILL screw you over!
Correction – I meant to say…right about then, HAFA (not HAMP) came along.
Older and Wiser in VA,
Check the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act extended til the end of 2012, which says the bank can not come after you for the difference, if you short sale or they sold your home for less than what you owed. Good luck!!!
DON’T LEAVE YOUR HOME AT ALL!
Make them take you before the judge and make them produce all the paperwork needed. Force them to offer you all the programs offered. Fight them in court as long as you can.
We had that and then after 3months of trial, they jacked our payments higher than they were before… and said they couldn’t continue the trial payment even though we made it!
“U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, were partners for years at a Washington law firm that represented a Who’s Who of big banks and other companies at the center of alleged foreclosure fraud, a Reuters inquiry shows.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46070458/ns/business-us_business/t/top-justice-officials-linked-mortgage-banks/?fb_ref=.TxmgQNDw9j8.like&fb_source=home_oneline#.Txpan658DBN
The rumor mill says that Obama will be settling with the banks by tomorrow (tuesday). It is imperative that we bombard all of our Attorney Generals with emails so that this can be stopped. I sent an email to my AG Pam Bondi and “hopefully” she will listen especially since it is an election year. Here is the email I sent:
“Ms. Bondi, please do not sign an agreement with the greedy banks who have caused the meltdown of our economy and who so recklessly ruined so many lives. The Banks do NOT deserve immunity for their crimes. They are guilty of racketeering and should be prosecuted like any other person who would commit these crimes and go to prison. If banks get immunity, what message does this send to the rest of the country? That wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement, forgery and other racketeering crimes are okay? The sad part is that if the “average joe” just forges a check, he will be prosecuted and go to prison. Why are the banks any different? Everyone knows who holds the reigns in these evil and corrupt corporations (ie CEO’s).
I am a CRIME VICTIM of Bank of America and there are millions more. I see that you have the following clause on this page that reads: “Whoever knowingly makes a false statement in writing with the intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of his official duty shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 837.06, Florida Statutes”. I find this clause very interesting because Bank of America has provided “false statements” in writing with intent to mislead Mr. Bill McCullom (previous AG) and also the OCC and the Governor of Florida in regards to the investigation of my complaint that I filed in mid 2010. I have proof in writing of these “false statements” which were truly misleading and an “obstruction of justice” which is another racketeering crime under RICO.
I am currently in litigation against this criminal enterprise called Bank of America and I have no intention of giving up. Even though I have my physical and emotional ailments due to Bank of America’s abusive practices, I have to fight for my autistic children. Bank of America tried everything possible to STEAL my home and manipulate my mortgage account. I also asked for help (loan modification) but was tricked into defaulting like they have also done to many other Americans. I am sure you know that this is fraud. Therefore Ms. Bondi, please do not sign this settlement with the banks. It would be like making a treaty with the Devil himself. Thank you for your time”.
Lets get to work!!
We too were mislead by BOA. We made our “trial” modification payments and then were foreclosed on. I am looking for an attorney. Do you know how to go about that?
Thanks for any help.
K. Burkey …
Please see my note to J. Brown below.
Reading the comments and keep hearing about BOA (killer snake) recommending skipping a payment or two in order to go into default and then they can help you. OMG, I fell for that too! It didn’t sound right at the time, but I never thought this would allow them to “GET YOU.” They are no better than the thugs who are involved in many illegal activities and call it business; however, the federal government worked hard and long to put these criminals behind bars. What about the legit criminals like BOA, etal.. who are not being stopped from carrying out their unethical and illegal methods of making money. Their totally underhanded tactics are taking America down. People want change…start with the giants who are destroying families by taking away their homes and putting them in the street. Then, work down from there. I know the banks are not charity institutions, but please don’t allow the “Mr. Potters” (from It’s a Wonderful Life) of the banking industry to destroy the basic American dream… Home ownership. God give us strength to fight.
My husband and I have been hit really hard by the Bank of America scam. Dealing with two layoffs for over two years was bad enough, but to be told by Bank of America that once we filled out paperwork for assistance our mortgage had been given to a debt collector, was heart breaking. You would think a company that holds the name “america” would show more professionalism and compassion towards their customers. To make matters worse, we were sold to a company by the name of GreenTree who don’t seem to be any better than Bank of America. We are getting the run around and being force to do all of this paperwork and not see any results. We have been paying our mortgage for the past two months and we are only three months behind, but are being given the runaround have no idea where this is going. I’m scared for my family and it breaks my heart to know that companies can treat people like this and the government not hold them accountable. I think it will take a extremely long time for individuals to trust companies like Bank of America and the government again.
When I refinanced my house in 2004 I wanted a fixed rate mortgage and I used a mortgage broker. My income was more than enough to handle the mortgage, and my loan to equity ratio was below 70%, and my income put the payment at 30% of my net, I was comfortable with the situation. I cannot believe the pressure we had to put up with, and we finally agreed to an adjustable rate at 6% for a couple of reasons, it was guaranteed to stay at 6% for 5 years, and if the rates went down, it would reflect those rates.
A lot happen in 5 years, I left the company I was working for because they were slowly shipping my job overseas, I left with positive references form all my superiors. The position I took was for half of what I was making, but it was a small company and I was building their internet business with the promise to share in the profits.
When the economy collapsed, the work I had done had been successful, bit the owner of the company suffered business reverses in other areas and I was let go. The real irony was when the 5 years were up I was expecting my mortgage to go down, rates were down, but they didn’t. When I looked at our mortgage I found a sheet that was not initially provided to us, the rate was set so that it would not go below 6%. The page had my initials on it along with 20 others so I had no recourse.
Countrywide had our loan, and we applied for a loan modification, My income, when we bought the home, the ratio between my income and mortgage had exponentially exploded and the value of our house in Castro Valley had dropped significantly. B of A bought Countrywide and we had to refile for a loan modification, we actually had to refile 3 times before we could get a response from B of A, “We service your loan on behalf of an investor …That has not given us the contractual authority to modify your loan…” The caveat is the county records say B of A is the loan holder. I have written my congressman, called B of A and I have gotten no information as to who owns the loan.
The bank is doing all it can to continue to collect 6% rather than give me the same opportunity they got from the government. It is called greed!
How do become a “member” of this lawsuit? We have a long, sad story as many of us do now…..
J. Brown …
I wish it was that easy.
After going through this, I’ve come to believe that our educational system intentionally omits learning about the law. Somehow we’re taught that class action lawsuits are the be-all-and-end-all of holding a big-bad-bank or corporation into account.
It doesn’t.
Three things.
First, a class action brings all the fish into one barrel. This essentially silences all those voices … from dozens, or hundreds, possibly thousands or even tens of thousands … down to one.
Banks and corporations love this. They only have to send one small legal team to attack and defeat this one voice. It’s cheap and easy.
But also, second, often cases are “settled” rather than fully prosecuted. That means the banks/corporations can use the leverage of the processes of suing to force the “class” to accept some lesser amount AND avoid ANY admission of guilt.
In my opinion, this happens WAY too often, is almost normal procedure, and RARELY hurts the bank or corporation since amounts are TINY compared to the profits they reaped … and there’s usually NO compensation for the anguish they caused …
… and that in addition to class actions taking possibly DECADES to settle.
I recently got a check in the mail for a class action against Ebay (which I was unaware) for 47 cents. Despite how many people were paid, I’m sure Ebay wasn’t hurt by this 47 cents.
Third, a FAR more effective way to hurt them and hold them into account is when each one of those potentially hundreds of thousands of people FILE INDIVIDUALLY against them. They are forced to respond to EACH AND EVERY case, spending bizillions of dollars on hundreds of lawyers in court after court. They HATE that.
And notice that I said “filings.” There’s a difference between a “suit” and a “filing.” You can ask (petition) the court to force the corporation/bank to do something it’s not doing or stop them from doing something they shouldn’t … like foreclose or evict.
A “suit” is different. A suit merely asks a court to look at a contract … and what people did or didn’t do under the contract … and decide if anyone did anything wrong.
For your own sake, I’d strongly suggest you read through this forum to learn what others have learned. I’d pay particular attention to a list I developed from discussion here that appears on the previous page. Simply click on “Previous Comments” in light blue at the top or bottom of this column.
A class action should be your LAST choice … not your first … and that suggestion comes from one of the only attorneys I’ve known to post in this forum.
We are also a victim of B OF A we have been trying to modify are mortgage since June have sent out and faxed tons of the same paperwork over and over again and every time they say they lost it or never received it .Now yesterday I see that they are planning on putting our house in forclosure We do not want to lose our home but we the ring around every time we talk to them and they will not work with us I do not understand what we are doing wrong and why they will not even help us!!!
I am really freaking out I just do not know what to do in the forclosure letter it stated Bof A would still be willing to work with us and we needed to obtain a mediation packet but we do not even understand what it is can someone please give us some kind of advise or help we are in California Thanks
Parrish
Parrish …
Please see my note to J. Brown above.
Bank of America tells these home owners that call in and ask for a lower interest rate to miss three months of payments then they will work on a deal to lower their payments. (who wouldn’t want a lower payment) Once the missed payments are registered Bank of America uses the mortgage insurance to collect the money and pay off the investors. Meanwhile the home owner is waiting and waiting and paying a “trial payments” higher than the original payment. The home owner cannot call a different mortgage company because it now shows that they are three months behind on their payments. Then, Bank of America kicks the owners out and sells the house for a full profit after collecting thousands in late fees.
You can read story after story of people getting the run around until Bank of America steals their house. Every day another post pops up and another person is put on the treadmill of sending paper after paper , fax after fax, call after call. Months and years of communication for nothing. Bank of American and no intention of helping anyone.
Contact your recorders office and find out who actually owns the home. If MERS is in the mix you may not own anything to Bank of America.
Check this out.
youtube.com/watch?v=wIbgAEUG4DM&feature=related
youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8E5YQtPSo&feature=related
youtube.com/watch?v=OrxSViQ7pIg&feature=related
msfraud.org/howtheysteal.html
youtube.com/watch?v=eClDqlPgBRg&feature=related
youtube.com/watch?v=sc39chef30k&feature=related
HIRE AN ATTORNEY AND SPEND YOUR MONEY ON FIGHTING BANK OF AMERICA.
Bank of America tells these home owners that call in and ask for a lower interest rate to miss three months of payments then they will work on a deal to lower their payments. (who wouldn’t want a lower payment) Once the missed payments are registered Bank of America uses the mortgage insurance to collect the money and pay off the investors. Meanwhile the home owner is waiting and waiting and paying a “trial payments” higher than the original payment. The home owner cannot call a different mortgage company because it now shows that they are three months behind on their payments. Then, Bank of America kicks the owners out and sells the house for a full profit after collecting thousands in late fees.
You can read story after story of people getting the run around until Bank of America steals their house. Every day another post pops up and another person is put on the treadmill of sending paper after paper , fax after fax, call after call. Months and years of communication for nothing. Bank of American and no intention of helping anyone.
youtube.com/watch?v=wIbgAEUG4DM&feature=related
youtube.com/watch?v=ZG8E5YQtPSo&feature=related
youtube.com/watch?v=OrxSViQ7pIg&feature=related
youtube.com/watch?v=sc39chef30k&feature=related
GET AN ATTORNEY AND USE YOUR MONEY TO FIGHT BANK OF AMERICA
Bank of America should be torn apart…..READ THIS
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/206537-consumer-group-to-regulators-break-up-bank-of-america
My husband and I are very desperate because since 2009 Bank of America is giving us the “RUN AROUND” for a mortgage loan modification. We think we been discriminated because we both disable, living on a fixed social security income and because we are Hispanic. We been going to different agencies,departments even we wrote to a senator with no luck, we don’t want to loose our home, but the level of stress is too much.Can somebody help us “PLEASE” we don’t know what to do, we want to know how we can be added to one of this lawsuits or an attorney that can give us legal advise of what to do. God Bless and Thank You ahead.
Sincerely,
Mr. & Mrs. Lopez
Connecticut
I finally have my trial loan mod at 4.672% at a fixed rate conventional loan w/Fanny Mar (down from 5.5% interest only). When the going interest rate is 3.5% or lower this does not seem like much help especially when my payments go up about $100 more as well. I am also told (in writing) that I “will” get the permanent modification after I make the 3 payments on time however nowhere on the paperwork does it state the interest rate or terms for the permanent modification. So if I accept this mod (which I most likely must) I wonder what the permanent rate and terms will be??????
Speak out now more than ever …
(Don’t skip this article)
cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57367022/is-bank-of-america-muzzling-borrowers/ cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57367022/is-bank-of-america-muzzling-borrowers/
Sorry Bank of America … only doing the right thing gets you good publicity.
Repression begets Revolution.
Read history.
When will you understand that life is more than profit?
Any suggestions for lawyer in New Jersey after 3 years of waiting for answer were being foreclosed by Bank of America any help would be appreciated! thanks
Dear friends,
I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People,
a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your
name to mine? If this petition gets 25,000 signatures by March 02, 2012, the
White House will review it and respond!
We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama
Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets
enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.
You can view and sign the petition here:
http://wh.gov/kKZ
Here’s some more information about this petition:
Force the Bank of America to give people who qualify, the loan
modification they should have given by now.
Trial payment plans are contracts, and the Bank of America broke them by
not giving permanent modifications to homeowners who made their trial
payments on time and provided the necessary documentation as well as
receiving official permanent modification qualifying documents. Obama said,
“Millions of Americans who work hard and play by the rules every day
deserve a government and a financial system that do the same,” Obama
said. “It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No
bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts. An America built to last insists on
responsibility from everybody.”
I didn’t click on the link (always leary of that in public postings – could be a virus), but I searched on the whitehouse.gov site and could not find the petition for BOA. Hopefully it will appear soon. My guess is you can get about 25,000 sigs…in one day.
I wrote a petition and only got a few to sign. I guess I didn’t write a good petition….Please write a new one and see what happens.
Bank of America son unos ladrones con leyes nos robaron nuestras casas y no hicieron las cosas bien nunca desde el comienzo cuando empezamos a tratar de modificar el morgage loan. Lo siento pero nos robaron bien hasta dejarnos sin casa.
Manon,
If you want to get the needed signatures by March 2 you will need to make it easier for people to find and sign the petition. I want to sign but am having difficulty doing so.
Also it would seem to me that Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac need to be named as B of A uses them as their scapegoat for not being able to move forward on many modification requests.
Below is a cut and paste from Fannie Mae’s website. Of course the statements have no basis in reality(except for the statement regarding keeping the money flowing to mortgage lenders) as the best rate they are offering on my modification is 4.625% and raising my payment by $100 more than it already is (according to B of A).
Exerpt from website:
Fannie Mae is a government-sponsored enterprise chartered by Congress to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders, to help strengthen the U.S. housing and mortgage markets, and to support affordable homeownership. We are a national mortgage finance company, but we don’t offer home loans. We stand behind mortgage lenders – local and national banks, thrifts, credit unions, and other financial institutions in all 50 states – to securitize or buy the mortgage loans they originate, enabling them to replenish their funds so they can lend to other homeowners. Similarly, we work to keep funds flowing to support affordable rental housing.
We’re also focused on helping struggling families. By working with our partners, we’re helping families prevent foreclosure and keep their homes whenever possible. When foreclosure is unavoidable, we work to sell homes quickly at or near market value to people who will live in those homes. That helps to stabilize neighborhoods and home values.
In 2010 BofA approved us for the Obamma plan/grant. Then we never heard another word from them or anyone else! We are part of the NEW POOR! Used to financially comfortable, but BofA destroed our credit!!
That is what our legislators don’t get! They destroy youR credit, possibly your marriage. For many years to come they suffer! Without good credit you can’t buy a car, you cant get a loan and possibly a new employer looks at the credit and you cannot get a JOB!~
I paid my mortgage each month. My payments were not applied to my account. No person at Bank of America can tell me where in money is. I did not miss a payment but my credit showed I missed 6 payments!
My life is destroyed!
Breaking News:
http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2012/02/attorney-wins-free-house-in-case-before-9th-circuit-court-of-appeals-a-mandelman-matters-podcast/
This is a VERY important post.
Strike that.
This is an EXTREMELY important post.
Let me explain why.
These cases … which, in many instances, shouldn’t even be cases in the first place … are settled in this environment … the environment of “court” … something has been turned inside-out, upside-down, and is bordering on the insane. It only seems rational.
Simple common sense says that somewhere along the line someone on the banking side of this argument should have said, “Oops. Sorry,” and taken the money back.
But that would interfere with profit.
Can’t have that …
… so the bank kicked in the legal system to force the homeowner to do something the law CLEARLY said they didn’t have to do.
We, as homeowners, are entirely on the outside of this system. We basically have NO idea what goes on here. Worse than that, we CAN’T BE BOTHERED to know what goes on.
This is a FATAL mistake.
It’s all too complicated. It’s almost not even the English language to us. It all seems like so much gibberish. It’s worse than not knowing how your car works and the mechanic takes you to the cleaners …
… but I’m not talking only about the money aspect … the lawyer and court fees … I’m taking about you being treated like a Human Being.
Have you ever had an argument with someone in your living room or kitchen and they just don’t “get” one simple fact of the argument and just keep arguing? It’s overly simplistic, but that’s what we’re dealing with here.
Not knowing how this “court argument” system works is a HORRIBLE thing for homeowners not to understand … and few, if any of us, understand it.
BANKS KNOW THIS …
… so they take advantage of our ignorance and use the system to take our homes.
There’s dozens of reasons courts keep “lay people” from knowing how all this works, and many of those reasons are good ones. It becomes a “fraternity” … mostly … to keep it efficient so these VERY specific arguments can be decided without going on forever … AND since every argument … that’s every single one … is decided based on PREVIOUS arguments AND a microscopic examination of every word and phrase of any (and every) law that can be applied to the argument, courts only want people who know these things to speak in court.
Here’s the problem … well … a couple, actually …
It’s all too easy for one of the “parties” presenting an argument … since things are SO complicated and are [supposedly] placed under an electron microscope for examination … to be TOTALLY full of crap, completely distracting the court or anyone in it … including judges … from what’s actually going on.
BANKS KNOW THIS.
But there’s another SERIOUS problem.
Courts only listen to people who are “allowed” into the system … people who speak the language, know the case citations and the letter of the law … supposedly. After a while, since banks’ lawyers are in court and dealing with the courts CONSTANTLY, and no one ever (rarely) hears from the homeowners or their lawyers, what the the banks’ lawyers say to the courts simply becomes ho-hum day-to-day business to the courts.
This case of canceling a loan NEVER SHOULD HAVE MADE IT TO COURT in the first place …
… but it did … with the bank arrogant enough to believe it could force a homeowner to accept a loan check they didn’t want and SAID, legally, they didn’t want.
I’ve said about a hundred times (essentially) in this forum that banks (and corporations) know every nook and cranny of the law and use that knowledge to profit … often illegally … especially these days … victimizing people at will.
This recording is the PERFECT example of the lengths banks (or corporations) will go to force themselves and their perverse sense of profit on a victim … because that victim has NO IDEA how the system works.
I could go on and on about this, but basically this homeowner at least knew the law said they could LEGALLY say, “No thanks, we’ll get our loan elsewhere,” within three days of signing the papers. The bank said (basically), “No, you WILL take this money and we don’t give a damn that you don’t want it,” then used every trick to force the homeowner to keep it.
My basic message here is very simple …
Learn at least the BASICS about how courts and the law works, being TOTALLY INTOLERANT of any aspect of that system that doesn’t protect your rights, but most critically NOT TRUSTING A SINGLE WORD banks utter, either on the phone OR in court through their lawyers.
Courts, lawyers, judges and “the law” have evolved into having NOTHING to do with Right and Wrong or morality or common sense, and ONLY have to do with arguing within the fraternity and very narrow confines of the court system.
BANKS KNOW THIS …
… and are using your ignorance of that system to take homes and turn a profit … twisting the law and the system to do it.
That’s what makes my claim of “illegal” a fact. When both the law and the system are twisted inside-out from what they are supposed to do, it’s not just immoral, but illegal, too.
If you skip this recording, which would at least give you some idea of how this all works, you might as well go live in a cave someplace …
(… and even there somebody is going to charge you for it).
If you know nothing about the law, the law will be used to take everything you have. It’s a simple lesson of history.
Bank of America blatantly breaks the LAW without regard! Then Home owners have to spend their last dime fighting to keep their home and sink in the destruction that is their life left behind by Bank of America. These courts understand that the law was broken but then feel some obligation to keep the homeowner from getting a free house!
This is not the place of the judge in my mind. They should determine that the bank has no right to foreclose on a property or that the bank forged paperwork or that their business practices broke the law. PERIOD. The bank caused the problem and they should be the one suffering the loss. Why should the judge be the one to clean up the mess and figure things out.
Melanie, I could not agree with you more! Bank of America are blatantly breaking the law while the rest of us would certainly go to prison for committing wire fraud, mail fraud, forgery and all the other crimes they have committed a million times over. Sadly, our judicial system turns a blind eye to these powerful corporations and their whitre collar crimes.
The homeowner gets screwed. The judges refuse to give the homeowner a “free house” even though crimes have been committed against us and with no repercussions. The reality is that we, the taxpayers/homeowners have already paid our homes. The banks received bailout by the billions and trillions and even though some of them say they paid it back, they made millions of dollars just holding onto it for a few months. Hey, I would love to have billions of dollars in my bank account for just 6 months, I would be able to live off the interest earned for a long time!! No homeowner has seen a dime of that bailout money which was actually OUR money. The banks are in fact privileged while we are simply the idiots that have made them rich.
I am currently in a lawsuit with these criminals at Bank of America and I am determined to win this battle somehow. Even though I have the truth on my side, it is sadly up to a judge to see the injustice committed against us. Yes, I SHOULD have the law on my side because wire fraud, mail fraud, embezzlement, and forgery (among other things) has been committed against me and I have the proof. The reality is that there are good judges and there are bad judges. It is anyone’s guess what we will get. Of course, if we are Pro Se litigants, we can go right ahead and even sue a judge for having our rights violated. An attorney would never do that. I am still waiting to see what will happen in my case. I did find a good website for pro se litigants. It talks about everything including what to do if you have one of these bad judges. Good info to have handy: http://caught.net/prose/prose.htm
It is a long, tiring battle but I refuse to let these criminals get away with the crimes committed against me and my family. I am already emotionally and physically damaged by their abuse and they have to pay for their maliciousness. We are not going down without a fight.
Melanie, Isabel and everyone else …
Here’s the kingpin (key reason) courts are deathly afraid of opening the “free house” door …
The key word here is “precedent.”
As I’ve mentioned, this system of argument in a court is partially based on PREVIOUS court arguments, what are called “citations” of how other judges have decided previous cases.
The word to apply there is “floodgate.”
If one court gives a homeowner a victory over the bank for acting badly, other courts can use that case to give more people favorable judgement, and the floodgate can be opened for thousands of judgements and awards for “free homes.”
That would put both the economy and banking systems in deep trouble … in their view.
Problem is, just awards, or what the courts call “remedies,” are the ENTIRE REASON courts exist in the first place … to fairly settle arguments …
… that is, unless you believe courts ONLY exist to give favor to the most powerful and influential party.
Without saying so out loud, many have come to believe that’s what courts are for. At the very least, that’s what courts have come to represent … having NOTHING to do with resolving arguments fairly.
Melanie …
A minor correction on you statement “The bank caused the problem and they should be the one suffering the loss.”
To the banks, there hasn’t been any problem at all … except for a few ingrates that won’t leave the banks’ properties. After all, you were lucky the bank let you live there in the first place, and now that they need fast money, you can damned well get the hell out.
The way they see it, it’s not your house in the first place. They only give you permission to live there … as long as you give them every penny they demand. When you don’t or can’t or want to renegotiate the contract, they’d prefer to turn the house over for a fast buck. Whether you end up in the street is irrelevant.
The world homeowners expect is not the world banks live in.
That’s how this argument starts.
One SERIOUS problem is that homeowners (a misnomer) are not arguing at all … but getting frightened, embarrassed, intimidated and simply moving out … by the millions.
With that, banks have come to believe they can get away with anything. All they’ve had to do is threaten people with paperwork … legal or illegal … and homeowners (again, an inaccurate word) flee their homes in terror leaving perverse profit to the banks.
In a way, that makes this nationwide catastrophe partially the homeowners’ fault … and I have to be frank and honest here … for being too frightened, ashamed and uninformed to fight for their rights.
I also have to say that I know EXACTLY how that feels, having been there myself … ashamed, frightened and ignorant …
… but that’s no excuse for robbery … which it’s been for years.
Both freedom and home ownership in this country have become an utter illusion … false … not factual … untrue. Courts exist, but they do not decide fairly … only based on legal power. But also , you may have title to a property on paper, but both the banks and government can take it in a heartbeat the moment they want to. Get in the way of a new interstate or stop paying property taxes … which is essentially rent … and you’ll learn what I mean.
Nothing is the way we were raised to believe it is.
God forbid anyone should get a “free house.” Our entire economy would collapse.
Can’t have that.
Good for you Isabel!! God be with you! I am just beginning my fight. I do believe we all have to flood Bank of America with lawsuits as well as flood our representatives with information.
I think the idea is still out there that the home owners should suffer because they did not pay their mortgage…..But, in most cases the homeowner did nothing wrong. They called to take advantage of a program that was available and got sucked into the Racketeering!
It has taken me a long time to get my representatives to hear me. At first they give a pat answer about a website that I should check out. Bank of America literally laughed in my face when I asked about the programs. We all have to teach our representatives the truth. As well as get the word out with as many lawsuits as possible.
Keep up the fight! The tide is turning!!!
Thanks Melanie!! If you need any help, please feel free to email me at Isabel-1229@hotmail.com. I know pretty much every crooked trick that Bank of America and their attorneys will eventually throw at you. My husband and I did many mistakes at first but we will not be persuaded by their deception any longer. Melanie, get ready for an epic battle that at times will feel useless because we are little people fighting a giant. If I lose my battle against these monsters, I will make it my mission to help all of the homeowners who were screwed by this criminal enterprise with as much advice that I possibly can if my health allows me to. These criminals need to be stopped because obviously our government is not going to do a thing about it.
How does one become part of these “Class Action Law Suits”
Frank …
I’d strongly suggest you read through at least the last two previous pages of this forum. Much is explained there.
Simply click on “Previous Comments” in light blue at the top or bottom of this page.
I’d pay particular attention to a list of actions you can take that I developed as a result of discussions here on the forum that reflects mine and other peoples’ experience with this mess.
It would be a thought to learn exactly how this system we live in actually works.
The most important aspect of that learning process is the fact that a class action lawsuit may not be your best course and may not get you what you want.
Don’t go with a class action….get an attorney and file as many lawsuits as possible. When you find an attorney that will fight spread the word so they can help everyone in your area.
Missing America
This is a time in this country where things feel upside down. All that we have known throughout our childhood is gone or diminishing. There was a time when right was right and wrong was wrong. Every child learned it and tried to uphold these beliefs to the best of their abilities. It does not mean that we did not faultier or stray but those core values seemed to somehow always to return to us.
I feel now lost in this Global age of craziness. Things are not as they should be…life is so complicated. How do I move forward and provide my son the tools with which to navigate this new world? One of greed, intolerance & insanity.
My story begins so long ago and yet not that long ago. A child of the 60’s with parents that did not indulge. A father who is a veteran of the Korean War, forever broken, and a mother who stood by him in spite of his brokenness. A man who was told he would never be able to go to college, have a family and yet here I am. He did not take no for an answer. He did not succumb to his physical pain. He got up every morning with the help of my mother and went off to work even though his pain was real. That was expected of him. He along with the help of my mother completed his Architectural degree from UC Berkeley; he along with my mother produced three incredible children whom was instilled the importance of higher education, he along with my mother made a beautiful life. It was not easy and no one ever said it would be. That did not matter. He did not ask for Welfare or Disability although he was definitely entitled. He knew nothing more than to do what was expected of him as a man, husband and father. A man of faith. He was connected to a woman who had the same values and determination that ALL was possible in this world if they pulled together and made it happen. They both firmly believed that human beings carry on in spite of the difficulties in our lives, and passed this on to myself and my sisters. One does not give up and let someone else take care of you. It is your responsibility as a human, as an American to make things happen. These are the people produced out of WWII and the Depression. No time for “poor me”. My mother always told me that without the Depression so many things would not have been possible. The Depression opened people’s eyes to create and become entrepreneurs. She so believed this to be true! These two people taught me that if you work hard, strive for greatness, get educated and always be true and fair greatness will follow regardless of your sex, sexual affiliation or beginning status of life.
I believed those words until about 2 years ago. I am standing on a cliff trying to determine if being good, doing the right thing and standing steadfast in what one believes is truly the way to succeed. Unfortunately, what I have found is that those who live by lies, greed and deceit are the ones who move forward in this great country of ours. Sometimes they move in a veil of faith or goodness but their evil still exists. Am I the only one who sees this?
In the last eight years, I have lost a son, gotten divorced, and lost my mother, not physically, but mentally from the collateral damage of oxygen deprivation after her Aorta burst. I have witnessed the foreclosure of my parents home and the indignity with which it was done. I have witnessed the pain and grief of my father as he was not only dealing with the illness of his beloved but the aggressive, demeaning way in which he was treated by the lender of the home that they could no longer afford due to the need to move to assisted living and 24 hour care for my mother. A once strong and proud man and Marine who had given everything to this country was being destroyed by some people in India who he couldn’t even understand and more than that had no idea of who this man once was to this country. My heart has been forever broken watching the pain he endured. He has never been anyone who walks away from a commitment, no matter how small. I have witnessed the destruction of a man’s soul through this process and for what…GREED and not his. He has lived a simple, yet comfortable life and its end has been marred by the greed of Realtors and Lenders that knew full well him and mother were not capable of ever paying off a 30 year loan even if my mother had not become so ill.
I have seen the economic downfall of my community and have been a victim of it. I have tried to do the right thing by not allowing foreclosure or short sale of my own home. I refuse to walk away, as many have done, and am committed to follow through on my obligation even if to some it is insanity as my home is worth less than over $100,000 of what I owe. I do not feel I have the right to walk away from an obligation to the determent of my neighbors and my community in which I have lived for 20 years. SUCKER is what I am told, but I believe in the words my father and mother gave me. Integrity, commitment, obligation, ethics, morals even though I know so many who have so much more have walked away, but what would I be teaching my son and how could I live with such a decision.
I have done all that was asked of me by my lender and yet to no avail. I have struggled over the last 25 months of this process through 3 trial period payments, lost docs, a myriad of calls, and a permanent modification from Bank of America …papers signed August of 2011 and yet here I am no resolution. I am losing faith in this country and its ability to continue if we continue along this path.
When did we become not the land that offers opportunity and success for those willing to work hard, but the land where deception and greed rule and are rewarded? When did it become acceptable to outsource our jobs along with our way of life so some few could have so much? When was our sight lost? How have we come to this place that doing the right and honorable thing no longer matters? What do I tell my 10 year old son? How do I pass on to him the values that were taught to me if they no longer are true?
When will something be done to stop this madness?
Marci …
Wonderfully written. Well done.
Sorry, however, to read of so much pain. Sadly, it’s a fairly common Great American Story these days.
Lots of questions.
It is truly madness.
I’ve done my best to retain my dignity and my values, resisting being dragged into others’ disturbed mindsets.
You actually HAVE “done something” by writing this post … and likely discussing this with everyone you know.
Something I’ve said before is the fact that you’ll always have a criminal element. You’ll always … and we always HAVE had … liars, cheats and thieves , many of them in positions of power.
But our INtolerance of their actions keep them in check … common people saying “no.”
This is where we’ve failed. Even though we were the famous slowly boiled frog, we forgot how to say no. We became apathetic, self-engrossed and left the mechanics of how all this is supposed to work to the “experts” … and the liars, cheats and thieves took over.
It’s gotten so bad that many people think lying, cheating and stealing is normal. That’s, I’d imagine, where you get disillusioned with your son.
With a grandson about to emerge into the world, I have the same questions and doubts … but I think I also have a few answers, as many others are discovering (or rediscovering). It’s a matter of relearning how to say no.
It’s not just a matter of speaking up, but taking action … and taking it intelligently … and never relenting.
Far too many of us got fat, falsely happy and ignorant and let someone else worry about the important things. That “someone else” took advantage and now we pay the price for our apathy.
Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson.
It’s come time to remind these criminals that we decent people were only in a slumber, not dead, and their time is over …
… hopefully, never to return.
But that’s up to us, individually, to manifest.
My second post, and the longer this goes on, and knowing the past history of who gains from our losses, I am asking how I can get to the highest court in all the land, with and attorney that cares about people and understanding what BofA has done to us, and how they continue to find ways to get out of all their lies, the same things they have done across the board to everyone filing mods. Fill out the same paperwork 10-20 times because they have so many plans to see which one is right for each person. It’s all stall tactics, makes us run up medical bills for nervous breakdowns, heart attacks, you name it. DO WHAT IS RIGHT OR GET OUT OF THE BANKING BUSINESS!!!! YOU gouged us for years with creative and well thought out fees, and hire people to constantly figure out ways to reword, add fees, increase interest rates because our heart rates are not the same, we have different color eyes, we are poor people, don’t have an important name so we get the gutter treatment. MJ, Madonna, all these bigs shots get the royal treatment….why? Because they have what you want…..their money, their business, so ass kissing in order, but remember to step on the unknown, poorer people, even average people. Just remember one thing to all of you who either try to help us, or are part of the problem, just remember……YOU WILL BE JUDGED ONE DAY!
Gary …
In a way, they have already been judged … and … in the “highest” court in the land …
“We the People.”
The Court of Common Opinion is speaking out … you being one of them. It’s just a matter of time before others wake up, enough to make a real change.
To echo something I’ve said many times here, I’d suggest a minor correction to your “do the right thing” observation.
“Those people” in banking firmly and completely believe they ARE doing the right thing. Profit for the sake of their executives, boards and stockholders is their sole reason to exist, so what other objective could they have? … not forgetting their own paychecks, of course.
Banks do not exist to “service” you, nor is it their job to provide you with a home.
You know you have a problem when ethics have to be mandated by law. If they had ethics, those laws wouldn’t be necessary.
(Research Glass-Steagall)
Your problem is worse when the rules that ARE written are far too complicated for the average person to understand … leaving only banks (corporate entities), lawyers and courts to even come close to understanding them … and even they argue among themselves about what they mean.
“Malice” is a huge aspect of the law. If you can prove someone (or some corporate entity) was malicious in gaining something they had no right to, courts don’t just take a dim view, they slam them against a wall.
Personally, I think malice has been proven beyond any doubt here … since this has clearly been outright malicious confiscation of property …
… period.
Now … it’s up to us to first say “no” and second to make the case … through personal action …
… first in The Court of Public Opinion … then in the courts themselves.
Marci,
Yes, by writing your letter you have done something because I have forwarded it to my Hawaii State Representatives and to Brian Moynihan. This lets them know that there are others out there who are aware of all the people that have been taken advantage of by the banks. This needs to spread like a wildfire and the best way to do that is to bombard our representatives with as many emails and letters from as many people as possible. Filing multiple lawsuits is great (but costly for those of us who are on tight budgets). I am fortunate to have top attorney as a friend but I do not want to take up too much of his time.
Not sure why the petitions seem to go nowhere. Don, this is a continuing issue (how do we speak out in numbers). I would love to take a full page ad out in the Honolulu Advertiser asking people who feel that they have been unjustly treated by the banks and lenders to contact me. Of course having the money to run the ad is the stumbling block. Any ideas?
Susan …
I commented recently on the group organizing issue. Unfortunately, banks (and corporations) aren’t stupid. I wish they were. They know full well that it’s difficult for independent citizens to organize. They fear it more than Hell itself, but know it’s a stumbling block for us.
Americans are a bit schizophrenic in that way … fiercely independent, yet wanting to “belong” and mimicking everyone around them. It’s like lawn care … with everyone living in a uniform housing development, yet out there making sure their lawn is greener than the guy next door … never actually conversing with him.
Makes me a little crazy, really. It makes no sense, yet we behave like that in droves.
Another schizophrenic aspect is leadership … the subject of your question. We all tend to be “sheeple” and want to follow some mandate, but at the same time hate being told what to do.
Since the power structure controls nearly every aspect and person we DO listen to … sports figures, newscasters, politicians (some of them), movies stars … the general population doesn’t have much reason to rally around anyone in particular.
We have no idea how to generate “self-leadership.”
Another CRITICAL aspect … or stumbling block … is frigging money … which the banks also know full well as a limitation to our getting together. We’re all too busy simply struggling to survive (which is something I believe to be intentionally imposed).
Bank employees (particularly their lawyers) are paid every day to go to work and put their energy into confiscating our homes. We don’t have that luxury.
Then, whenever someone DOES make the effort to go up against the banks, it becomes a “commercial” endeavor since none of it can happen without collecting money is some form or fashion.
But none of this means the situation is hopeless.
Two HUGE things you can personally do to break these limitations —
PERSONALLY fight, and fight hard … all while telling everyone you know what you’re doing and why, both friends, family, neighbors, co-workers AND every politician, governmental agency, law enforcement agency and member of the media you can think of.
Next, take on the task of organizing YOURSELF locally … which INCLUDES acquiring funding to build an organization … even if it’s just pennies. It’s not “that” hard to do. It may be intimidating, perhaps even overwhelming, but the key is getting a mindset that it’s NOT someone else’s responsibility to organize, but yours, personally.
I say “locally” since that’s a serious limitation … geography. Despite the international nature of the internet, rallying people to a single cause is a personal face-to-face endeavor. It’s simply human nature.
This criminal enterprise has been a smashing success … take note of yesterday’s so-called settlement with 49 Attorneys General … because we-the-people have NOT been saying “no” as a whole.
The very CORE of principles we live under in these The United States is “grassroots” … that means YOU, personally … not some force or power outside of you … not some “authority” … not some “expert” … not some “leader.”
Yes, we need leaders, but when it comes right down to it, that means YOU … and I mean every person reading this … despite what you think you’re capable of.
As a WWII reenactor, the lesson I’ve learned studying (and literally reenacting the effort of the people of that day) is that what we complain about these days is NOTHING compared to the sacrifices they made to fight and win the war … and we have NO RIGHT to bitch about a simple thing like organizing to fight these banks.
“I’m too busy” or “I don’t have time” or “It’s just too hard” or “I don’t know how to do that” … is … pardon me … utter bullshit … and no excuse whatsoever.
This banking debacle … a literally criminal enterprise … IS OUR FAULT … not the banks.
Why?
As I’ve said, you’ll ALWAYS have liars, cheats and thieves. Whether they get away with it or not is up to US … and no one else.
Particularly when it comes to money, ANY form of deregulation is BAD … VERY VERY BAD … and simply becomes a license to steal.
How do we organize to fight this thing?
Sad fact is that starts with YOU … and no one else.
There has been a petition created at We The People. It needs 25,000 signatures by March 8 – probably won’t make it at the rate it is going.
Below is the petition w/a link to the White House We The People site. the link is at the end of the email. You will need to register in order to sign but it only takes a few moments (isn’t it worth it).
Please take the time to review and sign this petition:
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Prosecute all parties responsible for mortgage fraud & issue a mandate so we keep our Homes, w/reasonable loan payments.
We The People greet you & your staff, Mr. President, & request your prompt assistance, as time is of the essence, & every day more Americans have their Dreams taken away.
The American Dream is a fundamental tenet of what define us as a Nation; we urge you to make it a mandate so that 1) a Fair & Level playing field be restored immediately & permanently, 2) we keep our Homes, making fair & reasonable mortgage payments, w/ loans modified to reflect actual property values.
We call on you to exercise your authority to a) bring to justice all perpetrators of the mortgage fraud, b) protect homeowners’ property rights, c) modify loans that will result on a reasonable monthly payment, d) mandate that no one can bring foreclosure proceedings without 1st producing the original Note & Deed of Trust.
Created: Feb 07, 2012
http://wh.gov/0iq
I went through the loan mod with Bac for 8 months. I had a lot of issues with it I had to contact attorney general, dealt with Back Ceo’s office. They lied several times. The Representative that I dealt with was written up removed from my case. The president of bac had to send a massive email about the documents that they must except. By the end of the loan mod they sent me a card apologizing to me for all the mistakes made. Collete from the ceos office told me that they were in the wrong. I had to send documents in several times. I had to have an attorney notarize documents in the end. They told me that was not acceptable. That’s when the guy was written up and removed from case for fraudulent acts. I know what I went through. I hope you can win this case for the people that needs your help.
Feb 10, 2012 Approx 11:00 a.m.:
I received a call from Ron (Employee #A350B) at Fanny Mae. He confirmed that my permanent loan modification (as long as I complete the 3 trial payments on time) will be a 40 year fixed rate loan at 4.625%. He told me what that figure is based on (including delinquent payment status). Of course we already know about the delinquent payment scam. What happened to 30 year fixed rate loas?????
According to Ron: B of A is the servicer (not a debt collector) for Fanny Mae. Fanny Mae backs the loan for the investors. Ah – so we are back to investors and the BIG question of who these investors are? Did they not get paid off already when CountryWide went belly up? Remember the loan was backed by Fanny Mae. So who is really trying to collect on the debt, the investors or Fanny Mae? AND since I was three months behind and my loan was securitized it was paid off again. Something is not making sense to me.
So now I must pay a higher interest rate than the current going interest rate AND at a 40 year (instead of 30 year fixed rate). Again – all I wanted was to modify out of the interest only loan and have slightly lower payments at a fixed rate conventional loan. Two years later I could be approaching a resolution though unsuitable by any means. An excellent example of banking and lending greed at it finest.
http://blog.pfaw.org/content/michael-keegan-speaks-with-al-sharpton-about-white-nationalists-cpac
It has been a while since I have posted but I just wanted to share a small victory with you in hopes of encouraging all of you to stand your ground and fight.
Yesterday I attended yet another foreclosure hearing. I have been to several as BOA has several of my rentals and is trying to take them all. Usually either my attorney or myself will point out the issues and the clerk postpones the hearing to give them time to get it together. But this time BOA sent their attorney as well as the trustee. I just knew this was it.
The issue we were arguing was the fact that the note was not endorsed. Both the one we received from the QWR and the copy that the trustee had brought to the previous hearing had no endorsement. However, the attorney they sent showed up with the original note and an endorsement had been stamped across it.
Their attorney argued that as the paperwork goes through the banking channels the endorsement may not be on it at each stage. But, the clerk didn’t buy it. (After all, it has been over 10 years)
There was quite a debate among the attorneys and I must say, for the first time, I felt like my guy earned his money.
By
I could tell the clerk was looking for every way possible to grant the sale. But, in the end he could not. He dismissed it!
So, if only for a day, justice was alive! I pray more attorney will come forward and try to make a difference and not just a paycheck.
Blessings to all of you! Keep up the fight.
Manon,
There are only 4 signatures onyou petition.
You should put it on http://www.change.org.
It may get more exposure there. I just signed a petition there to keep an 82 year old woman in her home.
Oops – sorry for typo above. I have a band-aid on my finger.
Hello Everyone,
I haven’t posted for awhile because I am buried in the fight for my home. It has become a full time job with overtime on top of my regular job. Just want to send out a warning not to file complaints with the Controller of the Currency, because I believe they are on the bank’s side. I received evidence , because they didn’t investigate my claims whatsoever, but only took the statements of the bank on the issues. I was never contacted by them to produce the evidence that I have, only received a letter from them that they were taking the side of the bank. I’m sure now the bank will use their letter as part of their case against me. So , don’t waste y0ur precious time. Most government agencies seem to be banding together, so be careful…..
We also applied for a modification loan in 2011. We first were told we qualified and were accepted. They we received letter after letter stating that they hadn’t received our documents. Then we received one stating that we were denied. We then decided to put our home up for short sale. We have over 5 buyers with money and availablity to buy our home but the forclosed on us. We were gathering some of our things and an investor came and told us the bank had forclosed on us and now this was their property. Bank of American didn’t have the courtesy to let us know they were foreclosing that day. We lost our home at the age of 71 1/2 years of age. What a disappointment to see how honesty and truth does not exist anymore. I am now trying to get our 1099 c put I am still waiting.
Ester …
I’m terribly sorry to hear of your horrible experience and loss.
What you went through is why so many of us call it outright robbery.
Check out this lawsuit!
http://media.charlotteobserver.com/static/images/pdf/BoAComplaint021010.pdf
They charged Bank of America with 7 things…
1.Infliction of Emotional Distress
2.Defamation
3.Negligence
4.Breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing
5.Breach of fiduciary duty
6.Promissory Estoppel
7.Misrepresentation.
Sound familiar?
Fantastic!
Great find Melanie!
It’s also in “plain English” so I highly recommend everyone read it.
I’d pondered attending one of these bank “outreaches” but knew full well it was utter crap. Nice to see people PROVING it’s crap in court.
Just ONE line from the suit tells it all —
“Defendants’ misrepresentations to Plaintiffs were intentional, reckless or negligent.”
Like I’ve said many times … learn to fight back … and fight HARD.
Note:
The law likes to complicate things and use “fancy words,” making them hard to understand, but here’s how a simple thing like a verbal promise is defined —
promissory estoppel — n. when a person makes a false statement to another and the listener relies on what was told to him/her in good faith and to his/her disadvantage. In order to see that justice is done a court will treat the statement as a promise, and in a trial the judge will preclude the maker of the statement from denying it. Thus, the legal inability of the person who made the false statement to deny it makes it an enforceable promise called “promissory estoppel,” or an “equitable estoppel.”
do i have to be in the state that the class action suit against BoA is taking place? how does it work? If someone could explain, i would greatly appreaciate it
Nicole …
In several places in the last few pages of this blog/forum I explain my understanding of how things work, or can work. Two pages back, a fellow said he “wanted in,” and I responded with what I pasted below … but if you scan back over Previous Comments (in light blue at the top or bottom of this page) I say it in several other ways to several other people.
You can also use “Find” and search for what’s been said about a “Mass Joinder,” another way to go into court.
Here’s what I said —
A tough question for you, but you want “in” to what? The lawsuit listed on this web site/blog?
That’s only for residents of Washington State (with another suit in California by the same firm). Contract and Statutory Law is State-by-State. Besides, you’d also have to “qualify” for the conditions of the class, and in the process lose the lion’s share of the details of your case, which is what suits are won on … the details.
Not only that, a class action suit SILENCES many voices, does NOT give them a louder voice … that, on top of keeping the banks’ defense of these allegations cheap and easy by letting them send one small legal team into court.
Banks (or any corporate litigant) WANT you to believe a class action is bad for them … when it’s not. It should be a last ditch effort, not the first thing you do. The FIRST thing that should happen is that these tens of thousands of homeowners should file INDIVIDUALLY, forcing the banks to respond with tens of thousands of lawyers.
That’s expensive, and banks HATE spending money.
Besides, “suing” isn’t necessarily going to get you what you want, which is likely your modification. Once you “sue” them, you become a litigant and your modification negotiation is likely dropped, waiting for the court to make a decision, which could take years … and there’s ways for them to take your home anyway in the meantime.
Now “FILING” is a different matter, such as a “Motion to Compel” or and “Emergency Injunction.” Those aren’t “lawsuits” but are things where you can ask the court to force the bank to do something, or stop them from doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
Like most people, I came here almost totally ignorant of the law. That’s completely unacceptable if we are to fight “these people” properly. They have access to HUNDREDS of lawyers, and we know nothing. That’s how we got into this mess.
Self-education is the key … followed by EFFECTIVE ACTION … not groveling and scrambling for lawyers who are running away from these cases at lightning speed.
For your own sake, I strongly suggest read through this page and the last to see how you can help yourself.
Isabel S
I have my own litigation going against Bank of America I filed in March 2011 and we are in the getting ready for trial stage. I will be glad to share with you any help I can give you. I filed my own suit and I am not a lawyer but I have a lot on Bank of America. They are with out a doubt the worst of all corrupt institutions.
Chuck Osterman
Way to go Chuck!! I would definitely love to get in touch with you. My email is: Isabel-1229@hotmail.com. I am so glad to see another pro se warrior who is also fighting Satan’s Bank (Bank of America). It is not easy but it can be done. I don’t trust attoneys anyway. I have yet to know if the judge is going to deny or grant Bank of America’s recent motion to dismiss my case. I filed my lawsuit in Decemeber 2010 and I am suing them for racketeering among other things. It would be great if I could pick your brain. Would love to hear from you.
I am also planning on filing a motion to compel or injunction against bank of america. I would like to speak with you Isabel My email is mdroppa@comcast.net and my number is 412-384-2538.
Ditto that Isabel … Keep plugging at ’em Chuck!
I am also planning on filing a motion to compel or injunction against bank of america. I would like to speak with you Mr. Osterman My email is mdroppa@comcast.net and my number is 412-384-2538.
Would like to hear more on your case with B of A.
I file against Wells Fargo last year had my deposition taken and currently waiting if they make an offer or if I need to schedule a deposition of one of the crooks at the bank.
T Gast …
Who are you asking? Which case? The class action the original subject of this forum? Isabel’s? Chuck’s?
A deposition is about the same as “testimony,” which is part of the process of gathering information for the court. Exactly what have you filed? Have you been before a judge with your complaint? What have you asked the court to do? What state are you?
I see that Loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac are not impacted by the $25 billion dollar settlement. With so many loans backed by these “agencies” why are they not being held accountable? Am I missing something?
Has anyone dealt with the Morgage Law Group ?
A friend sent me this article from Veterans today – Military and Foreign Affairs Journal (Feb 22). Article by Mike Harris.
I think is is worthy of discussion. I have only included part of the article as it is long:
At long last, it appears that the USA is still a country of laws and not a country of big banks and corporations.
A New York Federal Bankruptcy Judge named Grossman has finally ruled that the illegal scheme called MERS, that has defrauded both homeowners and large investors is nothing more than a scheme developed by bankers and mortgage brokers to also bilk the county recorders out of the fees due at title transfer.
MERS is the method the bankers preferred to quickly and illegally to evict millions of homeowners from their homes. In the process MERS allowed the Banks to separate the note from the security. This allowed the securitization and bundling of millions of home loans into trade able securities. The only problem is that the MERS process destroyed the chain of title. Now 50% of the real estate in the USA does not have a clear title to determine who actually owns the real estate and who owns the note. The net result is the notes for the home loans are worthless paper.
The Banks no longer have legal standing to evict any one from their home. That is the good news, the bad news is that no one now can prove they have a clear title. So who owns these homes and other real estate?? That is still unclear.
For the time being possession is 90% of the law and people with MERS homes and other MERS real estate, may need to resort to the concept of adverse possession and live on the property for the required time (which varies by state) until clear title can be issued by the state or county to the party which occupies the property.
Hello,
Yes, we should start emailing each other. B of A claims that Fanny Mae is responsible for setting the payments and not B of A. I have it in writing that I will be granted a permanent modification after the 3 trial payments. BUT it does not state what the payments will be.
I have an attorney and will proceed to file if my permanent loan mod payments are higher but who do I file against is the real question – Fanny Mae?
ssseahorse@msn.com
I LOST MY HOME FEBUARY 7,2012 , BOA TRANSFERRED MY LOAN TOO SAXON MORTGAGE, BOTH WOULD WORK ME LOAN MODICATION ,THEN TRY 2 SHORT SALE ALSO, MY ACCT STARTED WITH END OF 2010, BROKEN ANKLE OUT OF WORK OVER 90 DAYS, TRY LOAN MODICATION NEVER RECEIVE REINSTATEMNT PACKAGE FROM BOA, 031811 THEN TRANSFERRED SAXON MORTGAGE, ALL PAPER WORK SENT IN OVER , OVER AGAIN,CLAIM NEVER BANK STATEMENT WHICH I HAVE -4043667007/6787101515. PLEASE CALL GO INTO MORE DETAILS OR WHOM I CAN CONTACT FOR HELP.
I just received an email from someone named “Enelda” asking this —
Hi I am interested in getting in the Class Action suit against BAC. Do you know where I can get this started? I have been thru the HAMP program and because I paid 2 payments in January and 1 every month after. I was taken out because I no longer qualified. Can you please help me?
I thought I’d share my response to her, since many of you may have a similar perspective —
Enelda …
I can see from your questions and comments that, like many people (including me at one time), you don’t have a clear understanding of what a class action lawsuit is, how it works or what it can do for you.
We are MISled to believe a class action lawsuit will either get us what we want or hurt some big bad corporation, or both.
In reality, neither is the case for the most part. It’s simply a lie … and yes, I believe it to be a carefully constructed lie.
The short answer to your question is that there’s NO short answer … or easy solution … to what you’re going through.
That’s the way the banks like it. The more complicated and confusing, the better. It frustrates homeowners, confuses them, makes them give up, and homeowners often simply move out … and so far literally millions of homeowners HAVE simply moved out, letting the banks profit without a fight.
Getting involved in a class action lawsuit should be your LAST resort … not your first choice.
Here’s some reasons why —
It’s not designed to get you what you want, which is likely your modification. A class action lawsuit won’t likely do that in the end … which could take years, possibly decades.
Class actions RARELY hurt the big bad corporations that people sue. They simply have too much legal power … thousands of lawyers … and even when they’re wrong in what they did, the banks or corporations “settle” with the suit … meaning only write a small check … without a court decision and often admitting nothing … and settlements are often pennies on the dollar. RARELY are they told they have to “do” something, like give people their modifications. They simply write a teenie-weenie check and walk away … IF THEY LOSE, which they often don’t.
Corporations, like banks, LOVE class action lawsuits since it brings all the “complainers” into one court … with ONE VOICE … not hundreds or even thousands of voices. That’s BAD, not good.
What hurts the banks or corporations is having to answer those voices one-on-one in hundreds or thousands of COURTS … each requiring attorneys. Sending one small legal team into one court under one case is CHEAP AND EASY, so they love it.
There’s also the difference between “filing” with a court and “suing” in court. This is misconception is HUGE, and most people have no sense of it.
Suing merely asks a court to settle an argument … period. Filing with (or “petitioning”) the court asks it to force someone to do something they’re not doing or stop them from doing something they shouldn’t be doing … things like a “Motion to Compel” or an “Emergency Injunction.”
Just like I believed at one time, most people are simplistic about how courts work and simply think “suing” is all there is … and a class action amplifies many voices.
This is a carefully concocted lie.
If what you want is your modification, then FILE against the bank, asking the court to compel that bank to do what it said it would … or ask the court to stop the bank from doing something it shouldn’t … like take your home … which is likely being done illegally.
If you’re simply angry and want to hurt the bank, a class action lawsuit is NOT how you do that. If you want them to hurt, MAKE THEM SPEND MONEY on thousands of filings and lawsuits, house by house and homeowner by homeowner. Work to educate OTHER homeowners, and get them into hundreds if not thousands of suits and filings, forcing the banks to spend money … WHICH THEY ABSOLUTELY HATE to do, and hurts them financially. After all, the ONLY thing they care about is MONEY.
IF ANYTHING, even before a class action, file a “Mass Joinder” which is similar to a class action, but each and every homeowner’s case is heard by the court. In a class action, each and every homeowner is treated EXACTLY the same, and ALL of the details of your individual case are LOST. Any detail or fact of your case which does not fit the “class” is COMPLETELY IGNORED …
… and cases are won and lost ON THE DETAILS.
I know this is complicated and difficult to understand … THAT’S THE WAY THEY LIKE IT.
The banks’ worst enemy is an EDUCATED HOMEOWNER who knows how the system works.
Banks are NOT in the business of keeping a roof over your head. They are in the business of MAKING PROFIT … and these days that’s profit at ANY cost, even if it’s illegal, much less simply manipulating the legal system.
If you’re looking for simple solutions … like believing a class action lawsuit will get you what you want … it’s a complete fantasy.
There are NO quick fixes or easy solutions … none … not any … period.
Lastly, on the Class Action Lawsuit page where you got my name and email, I have a list of 20 items that might help your case along … but … they are things YOU have to DO … not leave for someone else to do.
Largely, that involves forcing (or simply asking) people and agencies responsible for overseeing the banks will ACTUALLY DO IT. Agencies and individuals of the Federal government, the States, the courts and law enforcement are charged BY LAW to make sure the banks do NOT do what they are doing. ONLY YOU, and everyone you know, can compel these people to do what they’re paid to do and mandated to do by law.
Sorry that this took so many words to explain … but it’s the simple facts of the matter.
Learn to fight … but learn HOW to fight … and never give an inch or waste a single calorie of effort doing the wrong thing.
Hope this helps.
— Don
As a lawyer that has represented both corporations and now plaintiffs in mass tort law, I can saw without equivocation your advise and statement to her are either untrue or generalizations. Corporations hate class actions with a passion. The problem with CMO, REMIC or MERs claims, is that no one including the government knows what to do to prevent a further implosion and and even larger Tarp bailout which makes for bad politics at thus juncture.
I worked in investment banking at BofA for a brief period of time. You guys are kind on base, but off base in a few major aspects. Questions such as whether your loan was bundled and sold or trade as a bond, CMO, or a REMIC , the differences between the two, who actually owns the security or a fractional pro rata sliver of each property may be worth your time to research to truly understand the standing issue. The nightmare scenario is having the individual bind holder each owning a fractional proportion of each piece of security/property bundled and sold as a bond. Who then owns bonds and whether they would be interested in bringing a foreclosure are amusing questions to ponder. What is the guarantor’s role in the security in case if a default and so forth. Then the whole discussion about fractional lending, mortgage insurance (AIG for instance) and whether servicer banks and bond holders have already been compensated for defaulted loans are areas worth researching.
Advising someone to waive their rights to protect themselves or opt out of anything absent proper legal advice is wrong on many levels. I do agree problems exist with even retaining certification as a class such as commonality of claims. There aspects if HAMP and modification program charges that potentially would make certification easy and result in much leverage against the banks.
I am in by no means giving legal advice, but suggesting topics of interst that one may wish to research if wishing to discuss this subject matter at a higher level.
Banks are simply not too worried at present because the top 4 who have the most trouble or non conformings know or believe that powers at be will not let them fail. That being said, the amounts being reserved by the bank[s] are astonishing so they know eventually someone will have to pay the piper for all of this securitization mess. The question is when, for how much and who will get. Tax payers really getting slighted if FM and FM are ultimately footing bill as guarantor.
Rh …
It’s excellent to see an attorney chime in on this forum/blog. It’s very rare.
I have to tell you that I’m not the one that suggested that corporations and banks love class action lawsuits. An attorney did. I merely followed the logic and research and came to the same conclusion.
Neither am I suggesting people waive their rights, but merely investigate ALL avenues … and understand the issues fully … before diving into [exclusively] a class action.
It makes perfect sense that banks/corps would prefer a class action … bringing all plaintiffs under one case with one legal team … cheap and easy. Those dozens, hundreds or perhaps even thousands of plaintiffs would bury the banks/corps in paperwork and legal costs if they were to file individually. The main “perfect sense” aspect being “hurting them where they live” … which is their costs. They hate losing money, particularly since their singular objective (devoid of morality, sense of community, sense of service, common sense or common decency) is PROFIT.
Thousands of plaintiffs filing against the banks could even be “The Perfect Storm” that finally forces these profit-hounds to sit up and pay attention to their immoral, unethical, destructive behavior … and could even land some of them in jail … WHERE THEY BELONG. “Profit at any cost” is a crime against Humanity … period.
One alternative to class actions is a Mass Joinder, which many attorneys aren’t even aware of. This type of suit gives each plaintiff a voice in court. The details of each [joined] case have to be heard, wherein with class actions all cases must be homogenized into boiled-down common attributes.
I relish your input as an attorney. So few even dare post a single word here.
I would caution you in your immersion, however. We all tend to acquire tunnel vision when dealing with a complex issue. The fact of the matter … the “fraudclosure” matter … is that the system has become utterly corrupt and people are unjustly losing their homes to liars, cheats and thieves … who THINK they’re doing the right thing … ask any bank employee … INCLUDING the CEOs. They all think their mandate for profit is perfectly justified … and homeowners are simply standing in the way of that profit.
Unfortunately, even the courts have been jaded and evolved into a perspective of “it’s just business.” But the fact remains that “just business” is wrecking people’s lives and throwing them into the streets. There’s something very wrong with a system that does THAT … in the tens of millions.
“The System” is supposed to protect people from attack … which this “fraudclosure” system has become … a clear, blatant attack on PEOPLE’S HOMES. Details of how it works or even why and how it happened are nearly irrelevant. People HAVE A RIGHT to live on this planet … and NOT in the street where the banks would prefer them to live simply because they want to see a few more dollars pass as premiums to their stockholders and bumped up salaries to their employees, most abhorrently represented by CEO salaries and bonuses.
Look at the END RESULT of what is occurring … not the process. If the end of the process produces mass misery and loss (even death, which fraudclosure IS producing), the process is wrong.
Period.
Let’s keep focused on the goal … which for everyone here is to make this criminal system CEASE TO EXIST and returned to a system of true justice for The People.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20779387/highlight/245522
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/20779387/highlight/245522
The mortgage crisis explained
How do I find a class action against bank of America in Georgia. I would love to sign up.
Thank you
Brian …
Please read my letter to Enelda above.
I’ve been encouraging this for about two years now …
youtube.com/watch?v=_8BSNaisywM
Not to be missed.
http://homesweethomeforeclosed.com/
How do I join this class suit
I have enjoyed reading all your quotes about BoA. I too am just starting the fight. I discovered on Valentines Day my house was going into foreclosure because I have not made a payment since September. I have since sent 58 pages to the BoA lawyers showing I have made the payments. As of yesterday I am supposedly still going into foreclosure. I am hiring a lawyer on Monday to take care of this mess plus. I have suffered so much anxiety from these people it is not funny. I also received a notice from Fannie Mae saying they will try to redo my loan. Anyone heard of this? FM said they own my loan and if I get approved for this help I will go straight through them. I am as lost as all of you, so thank you for your help.
I have been fighting with BAC mortgage since 2009. I turned to Fannie Mae in Feb 2012 and they submitted all the paperwork I gave them to Bank of America and they have yet to hear back from them. Its totally insane
I have said many, many times that Bank of America really does not give loan modifications. I also was deceived by Bank of America and shortly after I starting the whole loan mod process, I realized it was a scam. This was more than 2 years ago. I filed my lawsuit against BofA in December 2010 and in my complaint I explain how Bank of America has deceived and “intentionally” lost or destroyed documents in order to deny qualified homeowners a modification. This is fraud. Nonetheless, there have been two whistleblowers who have come forward in a recent lawsuit in which they explain how Bank of America fraudulently denied loan modifications. Again, loan modifications with Bank of America are useless but if anyone has tried and has been denied, now you have a stronger case because this recent lawsuit will just confirm that we are indeed the victims of one of the most fraudulent schemes of our times by one of the most corrupt criminal organizations of our century, Bank of America. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/08/440628/whistleblower-claims-bofa-blocked-help/
“The bank and its agents routinely pretended to have lost homeowners’ documents, failed to credit payments during trial modifications and intentionally misled homeowners about their eligibility for the program …”
“. . . Bank of America “let through just enough HAMP modifications to avert suspicion and allay congressional critics, while not enough to incur any substantial losses to its own bottom line.”
In the 2009 I finaly recieved a HAMP modification to my 1st mortgage after only 6 months of updating my financial status, because as you might known this information has to be less than 90 days old. I immediatly started trying to get one on my 2nd mortgage, also with B.O.A. I have updated all paper work so many time I can’t count. Had to delare bankruptcy at the end of 2010. Seems this also messed things up. Working on another update now. What a sorry mess, the exec’s must realy need the money.
MY BANK OF AMERICA HOME LOAN WAS SOLD TO M&T BANK WHEN I APPLIED FOR A LOAN MODIFICATION. CAN I MAKE A CLAIM AGAINST BANK OF AMERICA TOO?
Writer Francesca Lia Block enlists her fans to fight Bank of America http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0313/Writer-Francesca-Lia-Block-enlists-her-fans-to-fight-Bank-of-America
Mortgage Settlement Defines Racketeering: http://www.businessinsider.com/mortgage-settlement-defines-racketeering-2012-3
I’ve known that the big banks (especially Bank of America) are racketeering and as a crime victim I filed a lawsuit against Bank of America in December 2010 for, you guessed it…..racketeering.
Another Racketeering (RICO) crime by Bank of America: “Obstruction of Justice a Feature of Bank Interaction with Foreclosure Fraud Investigators” http://news.firedoglake.com/?p=28217&akst_post_id=28217&akst_action=success
In August 2010, I did a capitolization modification with BOA. I ave made every payment. In Feb 2011 , I call because it was still showing
a past due on the statements. I was asked if I had recieved new documents, I said no . They had made a math error and the payment would be $5.00 per month. I asked for the new amount so I was making the correct payment. Last summer, I get a call saying my house was going into foreclosure. I had to pull off the road I was so upset. It was like reliving a nightmare that took me 1 year to get. They said the mod I did was null & void because I didn’t send paperwork back in Feb. I told them I never recieved any only in Aug. that I notorized and sent back. It took about 2 hours but I got to the dept. that sends out the paperwork who backed me up saying they never sent me anything in Feb. only in August. I called back, gave BOA the number to the dept to check it. They had made a mistake. They give me a “special case worker” gave him the numbers but now, they have
it blocked because when you give my acct. # it goes straight to him. I told they had to be a way he could get in touch with that dept. I get an attorney, she talks to them, they make me submit new paperwork. This is the 3rd time. I get a letter in Nov. saying I was denied due to
NOT SENDING THE PAPERWORK BACK IN FEB. I couln’t believe it. They never even read my file to see that it should be on there time after time about not getting paperwork in Feb. I have now filled out
papers with Fannie Mae. They said it would take less time. BOA asked for me to send paperwork again, this makes the 4th time to them. I checked my credit report. After the mod all the late payment went away. Now they are back and it looks like I am 9+ months late. I have made every payment since Aug. 2010. I have been told that I live in a non judicial state NC and they could foreclose on me anytime. It this true? I have my copy of the mod and they even sent me my payment scedule that shows all the payments that are now just going into an account on the side. They made the math error, they never sent me new papers and now my life is Hell because of it. I have complained to the Att. General, bank commision, Controller of Currency. Any suggestions what to do next?
I have been having trouble with BOA since October 2010 when I was making trial payments for a modification loan and the first payment was not posted correctly and the bank would not acknowledge their mistake even after the local branch assistant manager sent an email verifying the mistake. The next two payments were made and then in January 2011 I received a letter stating that I was disqualified for not making the proper payments. I wrote letter after letter even to the CEO and they would not correct the mistake and sent me letter of foreclosure which they withdrew later but my credit had been destroyed and they did nothing to help until in December 2011 they came back with another offer of modification and guess what, they messed that one too by not posting the last payment correctly and therefore another letter of foreclosure hearing in the mail last week. I spoke with a person from the CEO’S OFFICE on March 15 and they said we will see what we can to about it. But interest and all kinds of additional charges have been added to my account and no of these have been there since my original modification should have started in January of 2011. What are we as consumers suppose to do?
Brian, Stephen, Sherleen, Don N., Donna, Billie and Gary …
… and any other newcomers to this site …
I can see I need to repost my list again on this page. I try not to since it takes up so much space. You may find it helpful.
I know what I’m about to suggest is time-consuming and stressful, but you should also consider reading [backwards] through this site. Lots of folks, not just myself, have learned a lot from this experience and shared it here. That’s where the 21 point list below comes from.
Taking the time to research, learn and understand how all this works will go a long way to helping you save your home. Remember, there are no heroes. We have to be our own heroes.
Read back as far as you have time for, and concentrate on posts that tell you things you didn’t know about banking and mortgages.
Below are 21 items that may help you save your home –
The list below was accumulated from the experiences of a variety of people going through the same pain and similar circumstances as the stories being told here including myself. Unfortunately, these stories are in the tens of thousands, coast-to-coast. We all have to learn what’s happening and how to deal with it, a sometimes painful, but revealing process.
You DO have rights. For the most part, this is NOT your fault. Hopefully, you’ll find this list informative and it will help you turn the tables.
If you want to keep your home, you have to fight for it … but ALSO, you’ll have to learn how this game is played. Unfortunately, this IS a game to them. It’s how they can manipulate things to get as much money as possible. After all, that’s what their stockholders DEMAND … profit, profit, profit. That means getting money (your home equity) from YOU.
Please try and read ALL of this, and research for additional information. Google is your friend. So is Wikipedia. Whenever you get legal terms you don’t understand, look them up so you know what they mean.
1 ) If you haven’t made a journal/diary of your mortgage modification experience start NOW. Record every instance every time it happens in detail. This is critical for a court case, but can also be helpful for Attorneys General and Agency complaints and for your politicians, should they get involved.
2 ) Sit down and write out as complete a timeline as you can from the beginning of your experience with as much detail as you can recall. Take time to do a thorough job. Equally valuable as “1)”.
3 ) Call your State and Federal representatives, Congressman/woman, State Assemblyman/woman and inform them of your situation. Calling is preferred over emailing. It puts a human element into the contact. Ask for help. Don’t hesitate. It’s their job to oversee your community and the goings-on in it. It’s why you elected them. INSIST that they help you if they try to wiggle out of it. Mine were VERY cooperative and helpful. See the Carbon Copy List below for suggestion of who to contact, but research for ANYONE in your State that monitors contract law or banking..
4 ) Get any attorney you can find to advise you from church, synagog, friends, family, neighbors. Retain one if you can afford it or call legal aid if you can’t. These are “contractual negotiations” that involve Statutory Law and a lawyer will navigate that best. Tempt them with the possibility of getting a piece of a class action suit.
5 ) Call the Hope Hotline 877-300-5454 or Money Management International direct 888-881-7558. Use MMI (or a similar NON-profit) literally EVERY TIME you call the bank. A representative will be with you through your calls and the nightmares on hold. They will also keep a record (although it can’t be released without a subpoena from a court). But if it goes to court, you can get it that way. It’s also better to have the BOA people hear you’re not alone on the phone.
6 ) Call and call and call and call until you get results and cooperation. If you’re using MMI, they’ll ask for supervisors. If you’re not, YOU ask for supervisors. I know from more than two years of this garbage how much it cuts into your personal (or even work) time and how traumatic it is, but big corporations BANK on you getting frustrated and giving up. DON’T GIVE UP. Hold their feet to the fire.
If you’ve been “escalated” to the Office of the CEO and President, record the call (check local laws – SEE ITEM 20) and make NOTATIONS during the call. INSIST on instruction IN WRITING for any of your document submissions and do not accept verbal instruction. Verbal instructions can be contradicted or misunderstood.
REPORT ANY very short response times imposed on you (See Carbon Copy list below).
7 ) Keep up your payments as close to on time as you can. This is ALL about the MONEY. It’s a contract and your end is feeding this behemoth monster your hard earned cash. You agreed to it when you signed the mortgage. Courts (and negotiators) will want to see your willingness to pay, as will your politicians and regulatory agencies. It’s your “good will” that you’re willing to work it out.
8 ) Find as many people as you can in your State that are going through this AND keep in contact with forums like this or others — in other words FORM GROUPS. The ONLY power any of us have over this monster is NUMBERS. It is literally “United We Stand, Divided We Fall.” One-by-one they can take us down, but as both national and State groups, they’ll have a hard time of it.
9 ) Once you’ve contacted your politicians (See Carbon Copy list below) and they’ve started to help you, tell all your friends, family, co-workers and anyone else who knows you to write to them and THANK them for helping you get through this difficult time. DO NOT have them criticize, complaint or tell stories. Just a short thank you will make it clear to your politicians that people are watching their performance. No need to get into detail. They’ll KNOW they’re being watched just through a simple thank you.
10 ) File a complaint with your State Attorney General and the OCC (http://www.occ.treas.gov/customer.htm) and EVERY OTHER GOVERNMENT AND LAW ENFORCEMENT agency you can think of (See Carbon Copy list below). Research your State and complain to any applicable agency. Be sure not to “rant” and provide information in the form and with the content they request.
11 ) Contact your telephone company and request call records to and from BofA, or get all your calls and highlight them. Add that to your package of evidence.
12 ) Compose a letter asking the media … television, radio and newspapers … to look into this problem. Describe your situation BRIEFLY, then forward it to every news program and news agency you can think of. There are lists of contacts throughout this blog. Key Point: News people are a bit “legalistic” in covering stories and require documentation and facts. Although they respond to emotional pleas, they will likely ignore incoherent rants, finger-pointing and unproven accusations. Be factual in your letters and phone calls. The emotions will come across even if you try not to. AVOID EMAIL since emails are all too easily ignored.
13 ) Learn about, compose and send a RESPA/TILA (Truth in Lending Act) qualified letter, or “Written Qualified Request” (QWR) to the bank and other regulatory agencies, and include anyone (politicians) who might be monitoring your case (see below). The Federal government REQUIRES banks to provide you with DETAILED information on your mortgage.
RESPA is explained on these two government sites –
hud.gov/offices/hsg/rmra/res/reslettr.cfm ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea10.shtm
Samples of letters can be seen (copied) here –
http://www.nololawlibrary.com/foreclosure/7-2d.shtml
foreclosureindustry.com/2009/08/qualified-written-requests-respa-and-mortgage-servicing/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/11903044/Respa-Letter
Insert your personal information, rewrite the opening paragraph(s) to describe your personal concerns, and customize the “demands” to your own case, preferably with the help of a lawyer.
DO NOT send via email, and use the Postal Service, certified mail, return receipt requested. Copy all related people/parties the same way.
See below for a suggested list of Carbon Copy (CC) recipients to a REASPA/TILA letters.
IMPORTANT NOTE — The banks have been OPENLY denying complete and proper responses to QWR’s, including denying information about your “Blue Ink Note,” either where it is located or actually producing the note/mortgage. “Blue Ink Notes,” the original mortgage you signed, MUST PHYSICALLY EXIST, and banks are required by Statutory Law to PROVE they still have it, either by affidavit by an officer of the company, or in court with the Note in their hands.
This is a FUNDAMENTAL TENET of contract law. The physical paper contract must exist.
Receiving a COPY of the original mortgage DOES NOT SATISFY this requirement. A copy IS NOT THE ORIGINAL NOTE. Many mortgages were “registered” with the MERS system, which is being challenged nationally as an ILLEGAL SCHEME for the banks to avoid paying transfer fees to counties. MERS SHREDDED at least 40% of 63,000,000 mortgage contracts, and yours may be one of them.
14 ) Also … and this is tricky … this is ALL about contract law, which is called “Statutory Law.” It literally has NOTHING to do with Right and Wrong, but what contract law expressly states. This is NOT “Common Law” that talks about the rights of a human being. This is about your “fictitious corporate self” that’s a party to the contract … NOT YOU as a human being. Statutory Law only sees the “contractee,” not the human being. Statutory Law couldn’t care less whether you live in that house or not … just whether the contract is fulfilled.
READ your mortgage and READ your restructuring agreement. Everything that’s happening to you is based on THOSE, not Right or Wrong … or have someone who understands legal language read them and explain what they mean.
Contract violations are what Class Action Law Suits are based on … contractual violations, and that’s all a court will listen to.
SEE ITEM 17 regarding “Filings.”
Remember, this is a nation (now, anyway) of laws, courts and parties to contracts … NOT common decency or even Common Sense. Work to save your home. Complaining gets you no where. Working hard and learning “the game” they play is the only thing that works.
15 ) One other thing has emerged … try to GET OVER ANY SHAME OR EMBARRASSMENT. For most people, this is not your fault. You have no control over the financial environment and you are merely exercising your rights. In fact, you should be BOLD about exercising them. Don’t let anyone convince you that “you were just asking for it.”
More than that, you must become a WARRIOR to save your home. Banks are NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF SERVING YOUR NEEDS and are ONLY in business to PROFIT. If that means taking your home … even illegally … THEY WILL TAKE IT. This is a war for the very roof over your head.
Learning HOW to fight is CRITICAL, but realizing the banks are using shame and embarrassment is your first step to getting there.
16 ) Consider stretching your budget to file an INDIVIDUAL lawsuit (Also SEE ITEM 17), rather than being lumped in with a class action. Jamming up a bank’s legal department with multiple suits is far more effective than allowing them to combat one class action. A class action puts you in a barrel with all the other fish.
It’s also been suggested that you can file yourself, without an attorney. It’s called “pro se.” When you sue personally, you can name names. You’re not held to the same standards as a lawyer. You can sue everybody, including the “negotiator” or “customer advocate” or even the court itself if they contradict the law, by filing criminal charges against even the judge. You can name anyone on any paper that relates to your mortgage.
But if you can’t file individually, keep in touch with people in your State. You can’t simply “put-your-name-on-a-list”. It’s not that easy. You have to work to FORM a class action suit. For the moment, no Federal class action exists and they MUST be State-by-State. Band together and hunt hard for an attorney who will take it on.
17 ) AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION — “Suing” isn’t necessarily going to get you what you want, which is likely your modification. Once you “sue” them, you become a litigant and your modification negotiation is likely dropped, waiting for the court to make a decision, which could take years … and there’s ways for them to take your home anyway in the meantime.
Now “FILING” is a different matter, such as a “Motion to Compel” or and “Emergency Injunction.” Those aren’t “lawsuits” but are things where you can ask the court to force the bank to do something, or stop them from doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
These are basic legal principles many people aren’t aware of. Most people think courts are for either “prosecuting” or “suing” … not so.
Courts will also protect rights, if they agree with someone that applies to the court that rights … or a contract … are being violated. “Suing” doesn’t do that. “Filing” can.
18 ) There’s also been the suggestion that you file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a complicated and often expensive process, and not everyone qualifies … as described here …
http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/Bankruptcy/BankruptcyBasics/Chapter13.aspx
It can be a difficult decision, time consuming and possibly expensive, seriously affecting your credit for years, but a solution none-the-less.
19 ) Isabel Santamaria from Florida is spearheading the collection of your stories for use in court against the banks. This is a CRITICAL use for items 1) and 2), your journal/diary and timeline, or simply a statement of your experience.
Banks are being found guilty in court for a pattern of fraud when many “affidavits” are presented describing the same pattern over and over with many people. Telling just your story in court doesn’t cut it. Judges, courts and juries need to see the testimony of many homeowners to understand (and record) a pattern.
You should have these timelines and journals notarized, scanned, and placed in the “repository” or online data base we are developing so anyone suing or filing against the banks can access the statements when filing a suit.
In advance, you should be aware that you can’t remain anonymous to the court. You’ll be providing your contact information and signing these statements. Judges and juries need to see that you’re a real person.
You can’t just “claim” widespread, systematic abuse without documentation. You have to PROVE it with affidavits. A database is being created and the details are being worked out. More news and details later as they develop. Email Isabel at Isabel-1229 [at] hotmail.com for details and updates.
20 ) Although it’s controversial and you should check your State and local laws before hand, you can record your conversations with the bank WITHOUT telling them. When they say “This call may be monitored or recorded …” they have broken a basic principle of law called the “privacy covenant,” where phone calls have a basic expectation of privacy. Once they say that, you can record to your heart’s content. But again, some attorneys express caution, so check your State’s laws.
21 ) Research is showing that filing for Quiet Title can be tricky and possibly expensive, although not impossible. It’s my opinion that it’s going to be based on a LOT of research before you dive in. Apparently, the courts will be VERY careful to dot every “I” and cross every “T” and several people are suggesting a Quiet Title specialist attorney.
Of course, introduce “attorney” into it and you immediately add $$$.
Make that a specialist and I’d imagine you’d easily double it.
That’s probably where the research plays a critical role … including ramming a RESPA/TILA letter down the banks’ throats, as well as hunting down actual paper records of your loan in your county/parish.
It’s not going to be as easy as “the bank did me wrong, so I want my house” and the judge saying “ok.” There’s going to have to be provable fraud or broken “chain of transfer” eliminating their right to your property.
Even before you approach an attorney, you’ll need to know these things AND have accessed the documentation to prove it, or you’re wasting your time. It’s far from impossible, and could even be highly likely given the MERS debacle … well, shall we call a fraud a fraud … but going the Quiet Title route is going to be work, work, work.
This is a list of politicians, governmental agencies, law enforcement and other organizations you should Carbon Copy on ALL YOUR CORRESPONDENCE with the bank. Contact them directly if you can … by phone … and talk to a real person. See my note at the bottom –
Michael J. Powers, Ombudsman
Federal Housing Finance Agency
1625 Eye Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-4001
Federal Housing Finance Agency
1700 G Street, NW
4th Floor
Washington, DC 20552
Jon T. Rymer, Inspector General FDIC
Room VS-E-9070
Virginia Square, L. William Seidman Center
3501 Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22226
U.S. Department of Justice
Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Fannie Mae
Mortgage Fraud Program
3900 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20016
Larry L. Hattix, Ombudsman
Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Office of the Ombudsman
250 E. Street, SW, MS 9-3
Washington, DC 20219
Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
Administrator of National Banks
250 E St SW
Washington, DC 20219
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Attn: Fraud, Waste and Mismanagement
451 7th Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20410
Office of RESPA and Interstate Land Sales
Room 9146
Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street SW
Washington, DC 20410
Federal Trade Commission
600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC. 20580
Both Federal Senators (Google)
Federal Congressperson of your District (Google)
Both State Senators, or the State Senator responsible for your district (Google)
Your State Assemblyperson (Google)
Your Attorney, even if they aren’t retained yet
Your State Attorney General (Google)
Your District Attorney’s office
Check for specialized lawyers under the DA (Google)
The Sheriff’s Office of your County or Parish (Google and name the Sheriff)
Any and all media you can think of (publicity is critical)
For telephone numbers and email contacts for all of the above use Google — but WRITTEN PAPER CORRESPONDENCE has greater impact.
For those of you who have read my posts these last couple of years, I finally have my permanent main mortgage modification … after more than THIRTY MONTHS of dealing with this behemoth monster, but that’s only the end of Phase 1.
The only reason I entered into a modification application for the first mortgage was that banking regulations say I have to modify that one first. My foreclosure was triggered by my HELOC (Home Equity Line), not my main mortgage.
I won’t go into detail at the moment, but I believe the use of my list of agency, government contacts and law enforcement above AND the use of the word “confiscate” in communication with them … as in: “BANK OF AMERICA IS ATTEMPTING TO CONFISCATE THIS PROPERTY” … in large letters on the cover sheet of my mailings may have made a substantial difference in getting their attention.
It will be interesting to see if they continue to attempt to confiscate my property throughout Phase 2 … which is applying for a mod on the HELOC loan … particularly since they imposed [the fifth] Sheriff’s Sale on this property this past Fall under the HELOC account … ILLEGALLY … WHILE I WAS NEGOTIATING the main mortgage, which is required to be modified first.
It’s been a hell of a ride … but it ain’t over yet.
Thing is … I’m taking these people to the mat … whether they like it or not.
Learn to fight … fight hard … and fight smart.
I would like to communicate with Don S. of PA. Does anyone has his E-mail address?
CM …
All you hadda do was ask.
donsweet [the”at” sign] verizon [put a dot here] net
Hello, Don:
WOW! You certaining did learn to fight. I can relate to all of the posted scenarios. I have been trying to modify my mortage for two years. I finally had my boyfriend move in to help qualify for the mortgage. They now want him to sign a 4506 T. He feels he should not have to. He is not on the mortage. Any thoughts on this? I have complied so many times only to be asked for more info…mj
MJ …
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
In other words, I was dragged into this kicking and screaming … but I’ve become a screeching, needle-clawed badger in the process. They don’t usually expect that.
That’s how you fight this thing.
My (wild, unprofessional) guess about the 4506T is two-fold. First, it’s another excuse to harass you and it’s another form they can demand from you that they can lose or use as an excuse to make some sort of negative determination.
A non-participating boyfriend (not party to the contract), is really, technically, only a “boarder.” What’s relevant to the modification negotiation is how much money he brings into the household.
That’s all.
And that’s all you have to show.
Remember, do NOT fall into the trap that everything the bank wants, demands or asks for is valid. Do NOT look at the bank as an ultimate “authority” and you have no choice but to do as they say.
That IS true, in a way, in that you need to follow their requests … BUT ONLY up to the point they are being either reasonable or correct. When they start being unreasonable or incorrect or outright illegal, you can call in every agency, politician and law enforcement entity that will listen to illustrate to them the error of their ways.
They are LEGISLATED BY THE UCC (Uniform Commercial Code and other laws) to make every effort to renegotiate prior to any foreclosure. It’s called “loss mitigation.”
But they don’t want that.
They want the house.
DO NOT fall deeper into their trap. DEMAND proper behavior from them, and back that up with what you teach yourself.
Get pissed.
Get escalated to higher and higher “authorities” in the company.
Get educated on what they SHOULD be doing and demand they do it.
Get others involved so they know they’re being watched.
Never let them forget that you will NOT allow your home to be confiscated illegally.
Letting THEM take control gives THEM control.
The mortgage modification process has become a TRAP to ensnare people who have no idea how the law works, how to renegotiate a contract and are people who pale like children under the “authority” of the bank.
You have rights.
Learn what they are and assert them to help save your home.
Come out from under the delusion that the bank is there to help you and keep a roof over your head.
Once they get their hooks into you … if you don’t learn and fight … you’re almost as good as in the street.
so what does a person do after you have tried to go threw all there hoops and they tell you sorry you don’t qualify because you are selfemploied ..and B of A tells you that your only option is to stop paying your payment and you will be able to get a modification then when you try to get in touch with them for the modification they never get back to you ….this goes on for 9 months and then i got the news that the house was going up for auction tried to stop the auction many different ways and it was auctioned off this week …i just got notice the next day who to contact about either renting or moveing out….what can i do now ?????
I am currently in foreclosure status, however I am behind only one payment soon to be two. Third party negotiating with CCS and Bank of America for modification and it has been pure HELL! The underwriting finds more need for additional documents every week. I am stressed and I have a heart problem. Retired recently and income decreased over $500.00 a month. Catching up payments, but everyweek i need to send underwriting more information. Bank of America makes a mockery out of modification and make you work like an idiot to furnish paper work that will not be accepted for modification.
HELP!
I have been attempting to get results from a application for home loan modification with BofA initiated in late Nov.2011. I have also sent in reams of documents after document with signature and loan number placed at the top corner. I get request to re-submitt more of the same but updated statements etc. An attorneys office out of Oklahoma City, OK, called MICHAELSON,CONNOR, & BOUL, Inc sent me a notice that they are representing BofA and starting the foreclosure process against me. I was 3 months behind due to a recent loss of income and emergency medical dental work on my spouse, who also is a permenently disabled cancer survivor and receives a ‘tiny’ SS benefit. The attorneys office sent the notice via US Postal Service, 3rd class mail and was dated Feb.6th. They stated that I had 20 days to respond to the notice or else I’d have to vacate the property. I received the notice in the mail on Feb.17th (a Friday evening). The following Monday was a federal holiday (President’s Day) and I was unable to contact anyone to find out what this was about or how to respond given the short deadline. It required me to submitt documents to my employer’s HR dept. and have them fill out forms related to my service and verification of reliability of maintaining my position. Also other forms and a letter stating my reason to remain on the property had to be sent before the Sunday coming , (in other words – I had 4 working business days to get all forms and submitt ). It was Thursday evening before I was able to speak with anyone representing the attornies office who told me “Yes”, they must have all the documents before that 26th of Feb. to avoid proceeding into foreclosure and vacating the property before it is transferred to HUD. I sent as much as could get accomplished and a request for extra time considering the circumstances. They have since denied my request to remain in occupancy of the property and I just got a letter today stating that I will NOT be allowed to remain on the property. My case worker with BofA tells me one thing about being patient and wait while they analyze the documentation, then I get threats like the one from Michaelson, Connor, and Boul, Inc telling me I must move out. I am about to go seek a civil rights attorney, because the paper work sent did not allow ample time to review or make appointment to seek counsel about the documents prior to the deadline stated. I have sought financial advice from a local non-profit consumer agency, who’s advised this whole situatuation seems odd with the attorney’s office so far away from this bank, headquartered only an hous drive from where I live, near Charlotte, NC. I have heard from within the BofA’s own ranks that some corruption is surrounding the dispersement of those treasury funds and the determining as to which households and loan applicants are chosen to receive those modifications.
We have been dealing with issues with bank of america since december 09 been thru over 10 representatives of that bank and still having numberous issues. we have multiple letters some dated same day or within days of each other then when calling into the bank to find out about these letters we are told they were sent in error. We got our local congressman involved late last fall things were finally looking up got a couple bad reps from bank of america then poof finally got one getting the credit fixed got the letter stating so got the update credit report showing. then poof got credit pulled this past week and its all back on and now showing lates AGAIN we haven’t been late an yet again we show them the proof, we are stuck int he vicious circle and do not know what to do, we yet again have had 3 new reps just in the last month each time we have to start over it is an awful long process and enough to get you sicker then you already are…… What do we do? The banks need to be accountalbe for there bad actions how can we do this, make them the banks accountable?
Terri D, welcome to Bank of America’s “Vortex of Hell”. Most, if not all of us here on this forum have been a victim of Bank of America’s racketeering scheme one way or another. You are obviously a victim of Bank of America’s violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act. They also FALSELY and intentionally reported late payments on my credit even though I had the proof of payments made. They also reported these false late or non-payments to FHA. They also intentionally misposted my payments and some were not even posted at all even though I had proof of payments. Some of the money was also not placed in my escrow account as well. Bank of America formally reported to the OCC, AG of Florida, and Congressman Bill Posey that they had fixed my account (December 2010). Actually, to this very day I still have the same misposted payments and payments missing in my payment history. Can you say “fraud” and “obstruction of justice”?
You, like many us wonder when these white-collar CRIMINALS will be held accountable for their crimes and it is anyone’s guess especially with our government backing them up. What a sad country we have become……compensate or reward the financial criminals and punish the victims.
My email is: Isabel-1229@hotmail.com
I’ll repeat a Facebook post of mine here —
Law enforcement, the courts, the majority of politics, the legal profession, governmental agencies, most county registrars, but particularly Wall Street are not just in denial of these blatant, obvious criminal acts, they are in NEGATIVE denial, meaning they’re actively, openly promoting denial … under the instruction and influence of the banks and the foreclosure industry.
No criminal admits guilt. None. Ever. ALL rationalize their criminal acts as just and right. More than that, institutional crime PROMOTES themselves as benevolent, even necessary. Not only that, they frame the victims as DESERVING of the crime and even ASKING FOR IT.
Banks … in pursuit of unbridled, uncontrolled, unlimited, immoral, illegal and institutionally mandated profit … have NORMALIZED home theft.
Why?
Because they can.
How?
Money, influence, extortion, raw power and LAWYERS.
Kind-of defines the tools of organized crime, doesn’t it?
Edit —
This is the real war. Foreclosures are a symptom of a larger more insidious disease, not the disease itself.
This is a key element of the deception … which is a planned and orchestrated deception … so the sooner we get the list above … and the general public … on the right path of the facts of the matter, the sooner this corrupt system will be held accountable … with public trials, prosecutions and time behind bars …
… not “settlements” that never should have seen the light of day or pennies-on-the-dollar fines that never see a victim’s hands.
Scott, Rose, Keith and Terry …
Please read through this forum, paying particular attention to my list above, and learn how all this works. It may not be what it seems or what we were brought up to believe.
To read previous posts, click on “Previous Comments” in light blue at the top or bottom of this column.
Have been trying to modify our loan for over 2 yrs. now, tried to sale it, then my family was almost killed in this house with a malfunctioning heating unit, even the dog had to have a blood transfusion, but no one wants to be responsible. Not re-imbursed for deposits, storage fees, doctor costs, or any other problems solved. Even spoke to Patricia Barbosa, CEO and Greg Schmidt, CEO and was passed off to another rep. that had an accent so bad we couldn’t understand him??? HELP….our congressman even wrote BOA a letter. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Save your home from foreclosure!
Hello, I’m Lauren and I live in Oregon. My local OCCUPY foreclosure group helped me file a restraining order to stop the auction of my home on Mar. 5th. Since then I have become an Occupy activist against Bank of America.
Our group is working on a class action lawsuit against Bank of America. The beautiful thing is you do not have to live here in Oregon. We also have other avenues to stop your foreclosure, but we need “The People” behind us to sway the courts in our favor. The law is clear, but until we figured out the “shell game” that B of A uses, we could not use the law to stop them. My lawsuit filed this month reflects the “Law”.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT: If you have documented your plight with B of A, and you have records of what has transpired we can help you. We are also developing affidavits, that will be used in individual lawsuits, across the country where applicable.
For more information and to get help, please email me at: fight4urhome@yahoo.com
Matt Taibbi video talks about Bank of America fraud: rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/taibbi-talks-bank-of-america-on-current-tv-20120323
NOT to be missed —
youtube.com/watch?v=ySgpT8P5mG8
In May 2011 we applied for a loan modification from BOA and was told we would make three trial payments of $791.31. We made those payments starting on June 1st 2011 and then did the same on July and August. We never heard from them so I called them the end of August and asked them what we were suppose to do and they told me keep making the payments. I can not tell you the hours I spent on the phone.
I am 71 and my husband is 78. To make a long story short I keep making the payments until the modification loan was closed on March 26th 2012 but we still don’t know for sure it’s a done deal. We still call every month to make our trial payments. The thing that makes me angry BOA has ruined my husbands credit. They report to the credit bureau every month that we are behind. The original payment was $!,095.50 and the modification payment is $791.31. They have drug this out for almost a year and everytime we make a payment they deduct the $791.31 from the $1,095.50 and add it to the back of the loan and tell the credit bureaus we are late. I called BOA and they say they know they have ruined our credit and they will fix it in a few months but I don’t believe they will. This is so unfair because this is a government program and we proved we were entitled. Since the loan is only in my husbands name his credit is ruined.
I to have a mortgage with Banc of America. In March of 2010 I applied for the home modification. My husband was out of work and we could not afford the raise in our house payment ($500 a month more). I applied and received a letter back saying we did not make enough money, wasn’t that the idea of the modification? So I reapplied again. Well so far I have sent and resent papers that they say they do not have. I have faxes saying it was received. I just heard from them last night and they want more paperwork. Do they even know where the paper work goes. Do they shred it as soon as they get it. I have been jumping through the hoops for a year now. I tried to get a refinance but they have screwed up my credit so much that the refinance that almost went through was denied.
What I would like to know is: How do I get in the class action law suit? They strung me along for 3 months, asking for the same information over and over, THEN, SOLD MY LOAN TO M&T BANK: They told all my information was sent to M&T Bank. M&T Bank new nothing about it, and BOA said they had no records of my modification. WHAT A SCAM!!!
Hello my dear friends and fellow Bank of America victims. I hope you all are doing well. I haven’t posted any comments here in a while but I guess now is the perfect time. Here is the latest on my case:
On March 30th, Judge Antoon (presiding judge) dismissed my complaint on counts 2 & 4 (Breach of Contract & FDCPA) WITH prejudice and dismissed WITHOUT prejudice my complaint on counts 1,3, & 5 (RESPA, Intentional Misrepresentation & RICO). I was not even aware that he had issued this ORDER and I find out luckily because Judge Baker (magistrate judge) issued an ORDER denying my subpoena in the light that Judge Antoon dismissed my Complaint and I received this Order for the subpoena on April 6th. I almost had a heart attack and quickly called the clerks office and she explained that some counts were completely dismissed but some (RESPA, RICO, Int. Mis.) were pending on an amended complaint (pleading). I told the clerk that I had NOT received any Order from Judge Antoon dismissing my Complaint and I requested that she mail me the Order ASAP so that I can see on what I have to work on. I also told her to please put on her notes that I did not receive the Order on time and that I am just having it mailed now. I got the Order the very next day on April 6th. This considerably cut my time in half to amend my pleading. I had 14 days from the date he issued the order. My Complaint was supposed to be filed by no later than Friday, April 13th. If it were not for the Order issued by Judge Baker regarding the subpoena that was dismissed, I would have never known about the dismissal and therefore I would have not been able to amend my Complaint by the required deadline and my case would have been fully dismissed. I have received every single document (that I am aware of) issued by the court except this one, the most crucial one to date. This was extremely fishy to me. I smell a huge rat like the ones that are as big as cats and roam the streets of New York. I am almost sure that I was being screwed over. I sent my Third Amended Complaint express mail so that it could be there on time by the 13th. I also sent a notarized affidavit signed by my husband and I, stating that we did NOT receive the initial Order from Antoon and therefore we had very little time to amend our complaint.
Here is the link to our Third Amended Complaint which I definitely believe should fully comply will all of the lame excuses that Judge Antoon stated to dismiss my pleading http://www.scribd.com/doc/88974710/Third-Amended-Complaint-Echeverria-et-al-vs-Bank-of-America-et-al. Feel free to use this info and spread the word because after all, it is public records. If this judge screws us over, I will scream it off of the roof tops and my husband is going to organize a campaign against the judicial corruption demonstrated against homeowners.
I submitted along with my new pleading, an expert witness report from my psychologist’s evaluation and other reports substantiating my claim. I have also included “Infliction of Emotional Distress” to this new pleading and I hope it sticks because it is a difficult thing to prove here in Florida. I will keep all of you posted on what happens. Take care and keep fighting!
P.S. Feel free to contact me at: Isabel-1229@hotmail.com
I have had the worst experience with Bank of American Mortgage Company. I applied for a remodification in 2009. I wanted to get my mortgage payments lowered because of the economy and manufacturers closing. I purchased my home in 2002, after paying for 7 years getting my payoff balance to 84,000.00, with payments of $747.00 a month. It took them almost a year to approve the modification. They approved me with higher payments and took my payoff balance back up to $104,000.00 which was higher than the original purchase amount in 2002. I was told my payment amounts would be lowered to $686.48 a month after paying for over a year , I was notified my loan was in default my payments should have been $877.oo a month which was higher than it was before the remodication. There is so much more that happened, I don,t have enough space to write. I am discouraged and want to be added to the class action law suit.
I was denied a loan modification twice, by Bank of America. I want to join in on the law suit.
I have been 100 percent disabled since 12/2004 and tried unsuccessflly to get a modification, had the home sold and in escrow to a well qualified buyer, and all the kept doing was transferring us to a dial tone
I applied for mortgage loan modification with Bank of America over a year ago and was strung along by them continually asking for more and more information which I supplied. They then would ask for the same paperwork over and over as time expired. After approximately 12 months I was told that I did not qualify without any reason. Refusal to accept payment for reasons they caused was their next ploy. I would like to join a class action suit against them.
After dealing with BOA for about 4 years with the mod mess, I went to Fannie Mae. It took 3 months and I start the trial payments for 3 months then it becomes permanent. Today , I also recieved a trial mod from BOA. I going through Fannie Mae, I don’t trust BOA. I had complained to the Attorney General, Bank Commissioners and the Controller of Currency, something must of worked. Billie
I can see it’s time to bring any newcomers up to speed.
Let’s start out with the following, and I’m only putting it in caps so other new people scanning the page will see it.
THERE IS NO CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT YOU CAN SIMPLY JOIN THAT WILL GET YOU WHAT YOU WANT.
That’s where we have to start. The lawsuit mentioned in the article that started this blog/forum is ONLY for residents of Washington State and ONLY under very specific criteria AND has been in the works for several years.
Simply signing up for a lawsuit is NOT how our system works. The powers-that-be would love for you to believe that, but it simply isn’t so.
Especially with this nationwide foreclosure fraud, YOU have to be the one to fight for your home. You can’t leave that fight up to someone else.
Scan up this page … not very far … and you’ll see a list of things you can do that may help call the bank into account. I am a homeowner just like yourself, and I developed that list from discussions here and elsewhere from people who learned how to fight this thing.
Yes, GET ANGRY, but learn how this works and learn how to fight EFFECTIVELY.
For whatever reason, our society has taught people that class action lawsuits automatically punish big-bad corporate offenders …
NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
If you read through this forum for my posts and others, you will see why this is so.
One thing that helps us believe the wrong thing is feeling like “I don’t have time for this crap” … and that means taking the time to either learn how things work or do the actual fighting.
Both corporations and the legal system LOVE when we don’t have time and don’t know what we’re doing … both profit from our ignorance and apathy.
But the fact is, only YOU can save your house. Only YOU can make thing happen. Yes, a lawyer’s help can be invaluable, but as you can see from the list above YOUR knowledge and legwork is really what makes things happen.
Read, learn, think and ACT to get your modification or hold the banks accountable for their actions. Learn HOW to fight by learning the system.
I am a victim of similar cases. I applied for a modification in 2009 to get my payments affordable. Bank of America approved me after constantly contacting them after a year. The approved me at a lower rate and notified me almost a year later my payments were incorrect it was $130.00 more than the original amount. Not to mention I had been paying on my home loan loan 10 years and all the funds went to waste. Over $90,000.00 just an estimate they redid my loan an the new balance was about 14,000.00 higher than the original balance from 2002. I am discouraged about the entire matter. It’s more to the story.
I know this is going to sound completely naive, but I do not understand why attorneys don’t want to take these cases or why BoA is free to violate every single rule in the Make Home Affordable Program, Handbook for Servicers.
I, too, am a victim of the BoA scam. I was current on my payments when my husband left and I obviously saw a default on the horizon. They offered the modification application and have since put me through 8 months of clearly deliberate delays, a groundless denial, switching out customer service people three times, refusing to accept legal documents, sending a copy of my note instead of the original that I requested, failing to send an initial response in 30 days, failing to completely answer my 2nd QWR (they ignored the first), losing a document then miraculously finding it only after filing a foreclosure and the subsequent foreclosure sale that they can’t refer while I’m in the middle of negotiating the modification.
I am twice disabled and am having a near impossible time handling my divorce, the loss of beloved pet of 18 years, the loss of my dear mother (who got me this house through her death), and trying to be able to maintain a new part-time job on top of trying to research laws and send letters to congressmen and the attorney general and attorneys in general.
I know that all of us have these same types of struggles and as I read these posts, I am literally stunned that this has not been stopped after the national lawsuit and the “agreement” from BoA not to continue these practices. I don’t understand why that doesn’t matter. Why attorneys aren’t chomping at the bit to take these cases.
I also cannot believe that people are still banking with Bank of America. I know for myself, if I ever try to buy another house and find out it is either owned by BoA or will be bought by BoA, I’ll walk away. It is the one reason that will make me okay if they successfully take my house – I won’t be paying them any more money.
Great observations Karen …
I’ll touch on lawyers for a second.
Attorneys have a “mindset” that is quite unavoidable, given their circumstances.
It really boils down to this … in the courts —
“The big fish always wins.”
Banks have tens of thousands of lawyers on the payroll. Each and every one of them is vying for a raise. Each and every one of them has the mandate to find profit for the bank … under pressure every minute of every day to find ways to suck … or bilk … more money out of its customers.
The rationale is “It’s just business,” meaning it’s simply their job to do it.
Lawyers live in an “us-and-them” world, and corporations (with banks at the top of the pyramid) the ONE AND ONLY MANDATE IS PROFIT … and over the decades that mandate has become PROFIT AT ANY COST even to the point of COMPLETELY REVERSING BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONTRACT LAW.
Most attorneys are VERY intelligent … despite the proliferation of lawyer jokes … and THEY KNOW (lawyers outside the banks) that banks are winning despite the fact that everything the banks are doing is A FRAUD, A SCAM AND A LIE on the entire system.
That’s scary.
That’s a REALLY BIG fish … eating everything in the pond.
When the average person starts to understand this, lawyers not affiliated with the banks will develop the power to fight.
I’ve very encouraged by your posts. It shows that even newbees are motivated enough to turn this tide of utter corruption.
Karen, even though attorneys know that Bank of America and the other criminal banks are guilty of the largest scam of our century, they do not want the trouble of fighting these monsters who are being covered up by the government, judges, and the rest of the judicial system. It seems to be an uphill battle for them because these massive corporations have power, protection and money which has bought them out of trouble for many years. The attorneys will take this into consideration and determine that they will spend more money fighting these monsters and justice will not be served. THe other reason is that attorneys are usually sharks and unless you don’t pay them hefty amounts of cash to take your case, it will not be worth their time and effort. They want a payday no matter what. Very few attorneys are honest and have actually gone out of their way to help the victims in these crimes.
I just went back and read as many posts as I could. I am curious about the Chain of Transfer thing. I can’t make any sense of what I’m reading. I did as someone here suggested and typed in my info on the MERS site and it came back with Bank of America and Fannie Mae. Was it supposed to show something else? My mortgage was initially with Countrywide, for about a year, before they sold it to Bank of America. When I wrote to Bank of America and told them to produce the original note, they send me a copy of the signature page of my mortgage contract with Countrywide. Is the bank supposed to show documents showing the Countrywide contract with me and then another contract from Countrywide to Bank of America or what? Can anyone clear this up for me b/c I’m very confused.
Thank you,
Karen
Karen …
Great job on research! That’s what people *should* be doing … facing their demons right in the eye.
“Knowledge is power.”
Anyway, let me clarify something CRITICAL about the banks producing the original note. Let me also emphasize the point with caps, primarily used to attract the attention of people like yourself that want to know the facts.
BANKS MUST PRODUCE THE ACTUAL PIECES OF PAPER WITH YOUR ORIGINAL SIGNATURES, NOT AN ELECTRONICALLY PRODUCED COPY.
Even courts, lawyers and judges don’t get this aspect of “produce the note.” Real estate law (and contract law or Statutory Law) … hundreds of years old … is VERY specific on this point. You MUST have the ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT, which is just another name for the physical paper.
The MERS debacle is the banks trying to convince everybody that the piece of paper isn’t important, when the piece of paper is THE VERY FOUNDATION OF CONTRACT LAW.
So … even though it’s hard to force banks and courts to recognize the ACTUAL LAW, when you demand the original note, they either have to produce and affidavit SWORN TO BY AN OFFICER OF THE COMPANY as to where the note is actually stored … or … THE ACTUAL PAPER in order to satisfy this basic tenet (foundational principle) of contract law.
This nationwide scam and fraud is WHOLLY BASED on the banks twisting contract law into something it isn’t … by convincing EVEN THE COURTS … that the Statutory Law regulating these activities is something it’s not.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
– Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister
I’ll also touch on “chain of title” or “chain of transfer.”
Banks created MERS to DEFRAUD the more than 3,000 county registrars across all the 50 States.
Let that statement sink in.
MERS is AN INTENTIONAL FRAUD invented to terminate payments to counties (or “parishes”) that the banks were sick and tired of paying. They were also sick of the hundreds-of-years-old principle of filing paperwork with counties when the ownership of land changed hands.
Banks saved HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN EACH COUNTY … literally billions … by refusing to maintain long-term traditional real estate contract law … and invented their own “registration system” out of thin air … CONTRADICTING HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF TRADITIONAL LAW.
Check it out. It’s true … every last word of it.
I am happy to see that at least Louisiana clerks of court are now suing the banks over the MERS issues. They’ve estimated their losses into the billions of dollars just as you said.
I fear that until this type of lawsuit is won, the “lowly” homeowner doesn’t have much power. It seems that the courts have decided that the issue over the notes is irrelevant because it is the path of least resistance, so hopefully the LA lawsuit can REset the precedent that shouldn’t have needed resetting in the first place.
If they win, at least there will be case law established for the homeowners to use. It will be far too late for my situation, but hopefully this can turn things around. The thought that a corporation is above the law and does not have to abide by any rule or law, even their own, is so unsettling to me that I have no words to describe it. It means so much more than some people understand.
I was actually told twice that BoA would modify my loan did a trial period,have resubmitted the same information 3 times all 3 times my paperwork has mysteriously disapeared.
I have a housing counselor with bay area housing she was present when I was told that they would remodify,their attourney also heard it.
I hired an attourney to sue them was told she is really good and this is all she does,a week before appearing in court and after I just dropped her another big payment she tells me that we’re only going for the modification,and the tells me I am her last case and she is going to do something else because she is tired of losing.(are you kidding me)
She didn’t bring up any pertinent information about what BoA has done and now the Bank of New York mellon is setting the sale of my house.They made me and alot of other people look like we didn’t live up to our end of the bargain.My court date was apr 16.
I would love to be involved a class action against them.they have caused alot of mental and physical anguish in alot of people.
Cindy … Please see my recent posts.
Cindy, you are absolutely right. Bank of America’s deceptive and fraudulent practices have caused many people mental and physical anguish. Sadly, I am one of those people. Bank of America destroyed me emotionally and physically. They just don’t care. My husband and I warned them numerous times to stop the unnecessary harassment, lies and fraud but they continued anyway. Due to the severity of their harassment which was causing me a lot of physical and emotional distress, we decided to hire an attorney. I just could not handle it anymore. They were embezzling money from my escrow account, mislead me into missing a payment so I could qualify for a loan mod (it was all a scam to take my house), losing my documents, not posting my payments, threatening me with foreclosure (even though I had only missed one payment because THEY told me to), and the list goes on and on. I had to endure all this torture in a few short months. My body and mind were just not able to handle it. Even though I hired an attorney, they continued to harass me over the phone and with letters. I continued to receive foreclosure threats. My torture with Bank of America began in January 2010 and by April 2010 I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, severe depression and anxiety due to the intense amount of stress that I had received by this evil criminal enterprise called Bank of America. I was suicidal and suffering numerous mental breakdowns almost on a daily basis. I had to begin seeing a psychologist in order to get answers and to keep the little sanity I had left. I continue to see a psychologist every week. I am on many medications which include pain creams and narcotics to help me get through with the pain. I try not to take the meds though because I do not like to take pills, especially narcotics which will impair me. I am also on meds for my depression. My cabinet looks like a pharmacy and I have a lot of medical expenses due to this. I now have this painful and life changing condition (fibromyalgia) with additional expenses for the rest of my life (or until they find a cure) thanks to Bank of America. I hate them with every ounce of my soul because not only have they altered my life but they also altered the life of my autistic children and my husband as well. I am not able to do the activities I once did on a regular basis as I did before. I am really, really, hoping that I can get better some day, for my children. My kids are always saying: “Mom, you are always sick or tired. We can’t have fun like we used to anymore”. It breaks my heart that my kids are also affected by these criminals. I really hope that they are held accountable someday for the crimes they have committed against humanity in general. I filed a lawsuit in December 2010 and it has been a rollercoaster. I just submitted my most recent amended complaint/pleading this month and we are hoping that the judge will be fair and see the massive fraud committed against us. Read it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/88974710/Third-Amended-Complaint-Echeverria-et-al-vs-Bank-of-America-et-al.
Please contact me anytime at Isabel-1229@hotmail.com. Best of luck to you Cindy and to all the others who have been tortured by these financial terrorists.
Hello,
It has been good to read all the emails for April. I have been quietly awaiting the paperwork for my “permanent” modification. The paperwork was supposedly ordered on April 18. I wonder if there will be any surprises when it arrives. I have already been told the best rate I will get is a 40 year fixed rate loan at 4.625%. My payments will be the same as they were before. Not sure how this is supposed to help me but I am told that this is the best rate that Fannie Mae is offering. So I will have to go for it and continue to voice my dissatisfaction to my state and local reps, etc. Since we all know that Fannie Mae is one of the most corrupt agencies why is there not more publicity regarding them???? What happened to Pres. Obama’s pledge to help those who got caught up in the lending schemes?
Susan
Susan,
From what I can gather, Joseph Smith Jr. is supposedly in charge of policing specifically Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac through the Federal Housing Finance Agency as well as the banks involved in the lawsuit and subsequent agreement. I have not written to him yet but will be as soon as I get off work.
At Don’s suggestion, I read more last night and I get the impression the only thing that anyone really cares about at this point is the specific violations related to banking and foreclosing such as this securities fraud. I don’t understand much of it but it has to do with the deed and the note on your property. Apparently, they have to stay together and never separated. If they are separated and the bank can’t produce them, they can’t foreclose on your home and if they do foreclose, it is foreclosure fraud. Something along those lines.
I just read about it last night so I don’t know a lot about it but I have to figure out HOW to request that they produce them both. Ask them? File something at the courthouse? What?
There’s so much more but I have to get to work! I’ll check back later when or if I know anything more.
14 months and counting…
Although all the news on this page is bad, it helps me know that I am not really going insane, I’m just going round and round with BOA and it’s made me dizzy. We first submitted modification papers to BOA in Feb 2011. 13 months later, after resubmitting all materials at least 3 times, they offered us a reduction in our monthly payment of $28!!! We are now trying to get them to activate a short sale and are getting the same run around, resubmitting paperwork…the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing and evidently, they have the most antiquated computer systems in the world! It’s all B.S. And if you rant on Facebook (which I’ve done), they give you a Twitter #name that you should contact! Customer Service at its finest in 140 characters or less. My question for anyone who reads this is: If we leave our home and move out of state, will they eventually put 2 disabled senior citizens in jail?
Barb …
33 Months and counting.
That’s not a typo.
33 months.
Obviously, I sympathize with your frustration, but I’ll make a minor adjustment to your thinking. It’s not incompetence, but planned and orchestrated to LOOK LIKE incompetence.
I’ve said this before, but one of the first things they teach lawyers about walking into a courtroom is that you can’t look (or be) malicious. That means you can’t look like you’re being mean or vindictive. In fact, you have to make the other guy look mean and vindictive.
You can’t look mean, but you CAN look incompetent. Courts forgive stupidity, so if you set up your system to look like you don’t know what you’re doing AND you’re not being mean … just idiots … they’ll believe you.
As outrageous and unbelievable as this sounds, lawyers have been going into court for dozens of decades with exactly THAT in mind … look good while making the other guy look bad.
Banks have been walking into courtrooms across the country immediately pointing a finger at homeowners and saying “This person wants a free house! … making homeowners look like the bad guy trying to steal … when THE BANKS have manipulated the ENTIRE system to steal.
Huge corporations do not spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to set up incorrect procedures or to train their employees to do things WRONG. The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing is PLANNED … so it LOOKS like they don’t know what they’re doing … yet all the while they’ve stolen millions of homes.
Yes … they are THAT smart.
Think about it.
They have tens of thousands of lawyers on the payroll. They have tens of thousands of others vying for raises looking for profit every minute of every day … even competing with each other to find it. Little bitty minds working in thousands of office cubicles day after day feeding ideas to their managers about where to find another fraction of a penny in profit …
… and profit is the ONLY objective.
The ONLY destination an organization like that can evolve into is a CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE …
… so it’s only natural that we find ourselves dealing with people completely devoid of morality, common decency, empathy, compassion … and even common sense … that are hell-bent on robbing every single red cent they can get their hands on … whether it’s legal or not.
30 Clerks of Louisiana filed a RICO lawsuit against the banksters (including Bank of America) just a few days ago for massive wire and mail fraud: mattweidnerlaw.com/blog/2012/04/bombshell-clerks-from-across-louisiana-sue-the-banks-for-rico-wire-fraud-racketeering/. I already knew that!
Bank of America is the worst bank ever!!!!!! They are rude, insulting, always say they cannot get the information they swear, threaten, hang up on me mid sentence, yell. I request and they have been harassing me EVERY DAY 24/ 7 Holidays, Sundays nothing is sacred!!!!!!!!!!!! They start calling 8:30 am and do not stop until 8:45 pm. sometimes it is every 5 minutes for one half an hour other times it is every hour on the hour. Some days it is every 15 minutes all day and the one that takes the cake is that they monitor my phone and when they see I have either received a message or have used my phone, they call in the middle of my conversation and call back every minute if I do not pick up the call waiting!!!!!!!!!! Is not this against some law??? I have been billed and late charges put on late charges for 4 years and four people at BA told me they can not modify my INTEREST ONLY loan so no matter what I pay none at all will be put on my balance. HELP HELP HELP111 I certainly know someone out there can help me and not only do I want this BS to stop immediately I want the entire loan to be erased and a settlement four time the loan amount for harassment pain and suffering and the fright I feel every time my phone rings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP
Cynda Lee, I share your pain. Why don’t you turn off your call waiting? Your family & friends will call back if the line is busy (like the ‘old days’). Do you have caller ID? If so, do not answer any number you don’t recognize. At this point, all we can do is take the attitude “I will not let this corrupt company ruin my health and/or life.” Stay in your home until the judge’s foreclosure gavel hits his desk. The longer you are in your home, the more money BOA loses. It’s reverse to what we were taught (to be good people, pay our bills, go to church); but the only way at this point is to keep any more of your money from getting into their hands!
I have been through all the same things that have been written about.
I am organizing a tour…BOA STEALING HOMES ACROSS AMERICA
we’re comming to a neighborhood lke yours and taking depositions and video and suing the USA,for failing to protect us from a criminal network,please send us your story…They went to far when they broke into my house/or allowed it to be broken into.sold it without giving me a chance to pay it off…im still in the house,but believe they will pay off the judge when we finnally go to court……
I think at this point everyone in America should stop paying any mortgage.. The people of the U.S. need to come together and say Hell no we will not take anymore. You messing with our finances, our investement our future.. Its time for Mortgage Holders…lol.. who do not own our mortgage anyway to go away.. How about it ,,, the American People.. All for One, One for All….