Consumer complaint received 2018-09-22
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
Back in XX/XX/XXXX I purchased my first Townhome and the lender whom serviced my loan was Countrywide. However due to the financial crisis that hit in XX/XX/XXXX my loan was sold to Bank of America ( BOA ) as they bought out Countrywide sometime in late XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX I was laid off as part of a 2nd round of lay-offs at my employer of the time as a result of the same financial crisis. My first thought was to reach out to BOA to help refinance my home so I could make my payments more affordable by lowering my high interest rate of 6.25 % and maybe forgiving some of the high principal amount for which I bought the home at the peek of the housing bubble which, the home was not even worth any longer. All so that I could reduce my approx $ 2300 monthly payments ( includes P & I, MI, Taxes and Homeowners Insurance ) to a more affordable amount. Rather than just walking out on the loan and handing my home back to the lender I decided to do the right thing and somehow whether the storm using my savings to continue making mortgage payments on time. This being a win-win situation for both parties. Needless to say, BOA simply refused to help out or refinance my home. 

In XX/XX/XXXX I finally got a job but it paid nowhere as well as my previous job did. So I kept calling BOA and continued to ask them for any kind of assistance only to be rudely told there is nothing they can do for me. Finally once the Home Affordable Modification Program ( HAMP ) was passed by the Obama administration I was miraculously sent a representative, back in theXX/XX/XXXX, from a third part company ( XXXX ... something was the name ) .Unfortunately, the name of the third-party company I can not remember however, it was a company hired by BOA XXXX help people file or show eligibility for HAMP so that they could qualify. The nice rep helped me calculate my income to debt ratio using my now lower income at the time and thus the financial difficulty I was having keeping up with the large mortgage payments due to the high interest rate I bought the house at ( 6.25 % ) combined with my other monthly expenses.

Once the application had been filed with BOA I received confirmation of eligibility and a detailed explanation of how the program will work. I was clearly told multiple times over the phone and in writing by BOA representatives that I would continue to make the new smaller trial payments of around {$1900.00} for 3 months after which the new loan terms ( lower 4.25 % APR + {$5800.00} differed balance = $ XXXX monthly mortgage payment ) will be made permanent. BOA also indicated that during this trial period of 3 months, even though, I will still be making payments on time they will appear as late on my credit report. However, BOA also mentioned that once the new loan terms are made permanent all late payments will be reversed on my credit report. Which, I was fine with and thus happily agreed to at the time. This is where the nightmare began. Starting XX/XX/XXXX I kept making trial payments up until XX/XX/XXXX. The trial period continued on for 13 months!!. Needless to say I started calling and complaining to BOA after the third trial month came and went. My credit score tumbled and the late payments kept on being reported to my credit report. I was, initially, also told that I would be assigned an Account Specialist who will be in touch every month to constantly monitor the status of my trial. That never happened either. Except during my constant calls to BOA after the 3rd trial month the assigned Account Specialist would never pick-up. I would leave multiple voice mails and then after a week or two the next time I would call the rep would be a completely different person as the automated system would announce a completely different name of the newly assigned specialist. This as I have learned dealing with BOA over the years as well as reading the numerous other online complaints, forums and class action lawsuits was a tactic to frustrate the customer into giving up.

Finally, miraculously, something or someone woke up to my pleas at BOA and I was sent paperwork on XX/XX/XXXX to sign and send back to make my home loan modification permanent. At this point I had no credit, my score was at an all time low, thanks to BOA so I complained some more and BOA finally reversed XXXX of the late payments from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX as part of making my modification permanent. I was happy as my score went up significantly until I started applying for another home loan starting last year in XX/XX/XXXX. Which, is when I found out that the late payments from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX still exist on my credit report. All the mortgage lenders I spoke to since have told me that is is adversely affecting my ability to get another home loan with favorable terms as their scoring model ( FICO 3 ) weighs things differently. With heavy emphasis on earlier Mortgage accounts and late payments. Needless to say since XX/XX/XXXX I have filed numerous disputes with all 3 credit bureaus and have called BOA numerous times to no affect. BOA continues to use their same old backhanded frustration tactics. Finally, they even went as far and sold my loan to another lender ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) in XX/XX/XXXX ( as yet another tactic ) just to get rid of me. Despite that I keep calling them and they continue to lie and deceive and keep telling me a request to reverse the payments was filed with the 3 credit bureaus and that a letter with a decision has been mailed to me. But to this day I have not received that letter despite them telling me a week ago that it was mailed again. Has to be one unlucky letter in the history of snail mail. 

Finally, I am filing this CFPB complaint as a last resort hoping someone out there can help another consumer that has fallen victim to the greed which, is BOA. 

I hope justice will be served.

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