Consumer complaint received 2020-01-24
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Closing on a mortgage

Complaint:
The following dates and persons spoken with or communicated with, is to the best of my recollection. I may have some minor errors in who and when, but it is the best accuracy I can provide considering the number of people I met with or talked with. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I was making a cash withdrawal for XXXX gifts and the teller stated that they had some bank associates with free time and would I like to speak with one to possibly try one of the offerings they have. I said I would if my equity line payment could be reduced I would be interested and I was introduced to, XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX, who explained that they had an equity line offer with a reduced interest rate for the first year, if I would be interested, I could roll my existing equity line balance into a new loan. My first question was, would there be any closing costs, transfer fees or anything that would increase the amount I would be borrowing on the new loan and the answer was, no. I reiterated this question a few times, with the same response. 

XX/XX/XXXX, I was greeted at the bank and then set up with an on-line interview for the loan application. with, XXXX XXXX, Senior Lending Officer, NMLS ID XXXX We went thru the entire application process and all went well and I checked again to be sure I was borrowing only the amount of the balance on the old loan and it was affirmed, again. 

XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I went to the bank for the closing. We verified again that the new loan amount would be our balance on the old loan and no more. Yes, was the answer, again. We were given a letter to sign and return within 3 days if we wanted to back out. We did not get a chance to use it because the new loan amount was posted after the three days expired. I would have used it if I knew what my new loan amount was going to be. 

I received some initial paper work from XXXX XXXX, NMLS XXXX, phone, XXXX and a courtesy call. 

Over the next few days, as I monitored my accounts, I noted that our old loan, ( XXXX ), after some recent payments had a balance of XXXX, the amount I was led to believe would be " rolled over ''. 

XX/XX/XXXX, the old loan balance was XXXX XXXX, the new loan, ( XXXX was XXXX an increase of, {$590.00}. 

I filled out the survey they emailed me with a poor rating due to the loan balance increase. 

I received a phone call from, XXXX, ( I believe ),  XXXX, phone number, XXXX. She said she was XXXX XXXX 's manager and wanted to help with the issue. I was told that there was an over payment of about {$610.00} +/- because of the timing of the loan transfers. She blamed the over payment was the result of the bank processing the loan at " lightning speed '' and me being so responsive to their requests for information. I was also told that the over payment amount was, " floating around out there '' and when it was noted it would be refunded. I did not want that to be refunded and she said she would see to it that it was applied to the principal balance of the loan. It was also noted that instead of " rolling over '' the old loan amount, they " paid off '' the old loan and that payoff made my new loan XXXX buck higher. I was told that she could not fix it directly, I would need to talk with their Service Department. 

I called XXXX, which I did and they were absolutely no help and basically, it is what it is, I am so sorry. I fix wanted I could talk with someone in their Retention Department '' ( The above conversations were 2 separate calls, one before calling the Service and Retention Depts. and one after. Not easy to remember what she said in which call. ) I called XXXX and spoke with XXXX, who while sympathetic was less help. He gave me a reference number, XXXX and said some would call or maybe mail me a letter in 2-3 days, depending on how busy thy were. If not, I could call XXXX. They did not call or write as of this date. 

I got tired of the nowhere phone calls and vague answers and emailed XXXX XXXX with all the aforementioned issues and he seemed to try and help, but could not. His last email to me he stated that the over payment was {$420.00} and that I would get a check in the mail, but it might take up to 30 days. 

I broke off communication with the bank, as it was clear that no one had any clear information and could not resolve the issue. 

What I have now is a new loan with a starting balance of 600 +/- more than I was led to believe and am now paying interest on that new amount. I lost money. 

See, the first equity line in XX/XX/XXXX  was to pay off his student loans as they were too much for him to handle and the equity line would offer more reasonable payments for him. He pays the equity line payments back to me each month. The new equity line would give him a reduce rate for a year and help out his finances while he finishes up a project.

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 monetary relief