Consumer complaint received 2018-10-26
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: SC
Product: Debt collection
Sub-product: Mortgage debt
Issue: False statements or representation
Sub-issue: Told you not to respond to a lawsuit they filed against you

Complaint:
I owned a property that was foreclosed. XXXX XXXX  was the servicer. A deficiency judgement was filed in the foreclosure file in the county where the property is located. That deficiency judgement is now a lien on another property I own in that same county. I have been trying for at least a year to get someone who can help me with this because I've been trying to sell that property and need to clear the lien but haven't been able to locate anyone to help me. I've already lost 2 buyers for the property b/c of this. I either get the runaround or no one responds to me for weeks at a time. This includes from XXXX, and then they referred me to the attorney who handled the foreclosure. That attorney said they can not help me and they said they only represented XXXX. They sent me a copy of the deficiency judgement which said XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as Trustee is the Plaintiff and the plaintiff 's attorney named is that same law firm who says they do not represent XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX, only XXXX, and they would not speak with me further. That attorney 's office told me to contact XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. This was after back and forth with XXXX for a year b/c they would only communicate by email and it took them 3-4 weeks to respond to each of my messages and then they usually answered my question wrong b/c they could only comprehend the foreclosure on the original property and did not understand how filing a deficiency judgment creates a lien on other properties. The person I contacted at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX said they are " only the Trustee '' which means they can not help me. They referred me to Bank of America. I called BOA and they said they had no information on anything except the short time my loan was with them years ago and they had no knowledge of the foreclosure or a deficiency lien. I went back to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX who insists the Master Servicer was Bank of America. They claimed they forwarded my info to their legal department but I have not heard back from Bank of America and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX will not provide to me any evidence that BOA is the correct entity to contact, so I'm unable to prove to BOA that they need to work with me. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX also told me to contact XXXX, which gets me back to where I was a year ago that resulted in a dead end and they already knew that when they told me to contact them again. It seems like the " first point of contact '' that these lenders have are just entry level employees who don't understand the complexity of the matter and just want me to go away and they keep pointing the finger to each other as the one who is responsible. 
Meanwhile the property the lien is on has been evacuated by the tenants who were living there due to mold. I could not afford the repairs so I listed it for sale. This lien was discovered and as I mentioned, I attempted to reach someone to help me resolve it. While sitting empty while no progress has been made on this lien, it has been broken into, the HVAC stolen, damage done to it, etc. It has depreciated greatly while I've been struggling to locate someone to help me. There is also a mortgage on the property, so I'm struggling to pay the mortgage out of pocket. Now, the police have boarded up the property and are threatening to tear it down! I've have told this to all of the lenders I have tried to get to help me, and it hasn't motivated them at all to reach out to their legal department or anyone who would be knowledgeable of my situation. And of course, there is not a phone number available to anyone in the legal department that they are willing to provide to me. 
Further, the deficiency was reported to the IRS as income, so I've already been hit there to pay income taxes on it, plus now there's this lien, so I'm being hit double with the same debt. I was told by XXXX and the lawyer 's office that they were not intending to collect the deficiency but yet this deficiency balance lien they have filed means they ARE attempting to collect it and won't do anything to clear it. Not to mention the tens of thousands of dollars I've lost while being unable to reach someone to help me. I really need some assistance from someone who understands what is happening and can help to resolve this matter as quickly as possible. Please help me reach someone at each of these entities, preferably in the legal departments, so hopefully I can obtain a resolution to this burdening situation as quickly as possible. Thank you!

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