Consumer complaint received 2018-02-28
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CT
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
We are in Chapter XXXX. Final Decree issued in XX/XX/XXXX. 

This debt is a HELOC on our primary residence. Up until approximately XX/XX/XXXX, we had been making monthly payments of approximately {$1300.00}. Our HELOC then went to a principal and interest payment of approximately {$3600.00}. 

Originally we filed for Chapter XXXX bankruptcy protection ( XX/XX/XXXX ). In XX/XX/XXXX we were advised to instead file for Chapter XXXX protection. In XX/XX/XXXX we began a modification process with B of A. I'm not sure what the final outcome of this process was if any. Our HELOC debt was to be incorporated into our Chapter XXXX plan. The plan called for a modification based on an email received from B of A 's counsel ( See XXXX email ) suggesting a monthly payment of {$2100.00}. Shortly before our confirmation hearing ( XX/XX/XXXX ), we were informed that there was a section of the code that excluded this from occurring!! Again, this was two days before our confirmation!!! We were then advised to go through the modification process outside of our Chapter XXXX. At our confirmation hearing the Judge confirmed with B of A 's counsel that B of A would work with us to modify our HELOC to a lower payment. We immediately started this process again, as we were informed by B of A that our prior application had timed out. 

We Re-applied - 3 different RFIs as part of the process. Many phone calls to B of A during this process to be sure we provided accurate paperwork. All B of A correspondence came through our attorneys office. We were finally informed on XX/XX/XXXX that our application was in underwriting. Telecon scheduled with B of A to discuss for XX/XX/XXXX - B of A never called. Received our first correspondence through our mail XX/XX/XXXX with their Congratulations package. Congratulations on being approved for an Extension Program. No real details / no disclosures / no explanation / plus 3 pages worth of what we didnt qualify for. We called them on XX/XX/XXXX, our representative was not available and spoke to another rep : no explanations / no further details / paying is our only option. We then contacted our attorney - provided him with the correspondence for his review. B of A ( our rep XXXX!! ) calls our attorney on the XX/XX/XXXX to find out if we plan to pay the trial period payment. We spoke with our attorney and decided to have him call B of A again to see if he could get a handle on what they were offering us / what this trial period extension plan truly meant. Our attorney called and spoke to another rep as XXXX was not available. B of A told him that if we pay the trial periods payments, they would reevaluate and offer us a different program, and that it would bring our HELOC to a current status, but they will not put this info in writing. B of A also informed our attorney, that their policy is that HELOCs are not eligible for modification ( really? B of A wouldn't put that in writing either ). We called B of A again on the XX/XX/XXXX / never connected. Called again XX/XX/XXXX, and spoke with XXXX ( XXXX not available ). XXXX stated that he can not advise us of anything. He did state that this extension simply adds the delinquency to the back end of the loan!!! " SIMPLY ''!!! This is nowhere in our congratulations paperwork. He went on to say that we do not qualify for any other programs. He would not go through the different programs, nor their criteria as there were too many!! He suggested we call the bankruptcy service area of B of A and gave me their number. We attempted yesterday but they were closed. We decided to file with cfpb first. We are losing equity on a daily basis. They have not attempted to assist us in our attempts to modify. Our payment went from {$1300.00} to over {$3600.00} and their congratulations package had our trial period payments at {$3300.00}. But trial period to what exactly? We have no idea! We can not afford this payment. We are in the midst of paying of Chapter XXXX plan payments. The Judge was firm in his decision to allow confirmation of our plan despite not having a modification worked out with B of A yet, based on their counsel 's word that B of A would work with the XXXX 's modification application to put us into a lower payment, and to continue paying the Chapter XXXX plan. They are equity stripping and putting us in a worse financial predicament. Please help.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation