Consumer complaint received 2018-07-25
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I started researching loan modification options for our HELOC loan originating with Bank of America that had converted to a conventional mortgage within the past year. We had noted that we were struggling to pay the new mortgage payment of approximately {$2300.00} per month as the 10-year draw period ended. During the draw period the loan could be paid at interest only of about $ XXXX/month. Hence, the modification paperwork that we received in XX/XX/XXXX stated for us to send them the requested information by XX/XX/XXXX to see if we qualified for a home loan modification. We submitted the bulk of our 200+ pages of documentation in XX/XX/XXXX. However, in XXXX, we began to discover that each time we called to see if we satisfied Bank Of America 's document request, the servicing agent would always tell us there was another piece of information we had to submit. Oftentimes, they would waste our time talking about things that we had already submitted i.e., bank statements, profit and loss statements for individual businesses, Schedule of Real Estate Owned, clarification of rental income. It was quite a voluminous amount of paperwork that we submitted. Also, it became readily apparent that if we debated too persuasively or vigorously with the service representative, our calls would get mysteriously dropped. They would always ask. " Can you hear me '', " Can you hear me, '' " I can't here you. '' After three times  of this, we knew it was a ploy to disrupt our momentum. We also thought it was peculiar that Bank of America never put anything in writing when corresponding with us. There was no paper trail, no  email documentation, not even a portal to upload documents and check on the status of what was currently received and what was outstanding, just a one way fax number was offered. Therefore, we only had the service rep to rely on. He or she could have been anyone for that matter because they told us conflicting stories about the process and our loan status.

One thing Bank of America was truly consistent about to their credit was that they always made the grand announcement that, " Bank of America is a debt collector. '' That was the one regulation that they adhered to arduously. Meanwhile, the servicing agent would tell us what the underwriter said as though they were channeling the " XXXX of XXXX. '' Some agents would try to be helpful and others were rather hostile and defensive. By this time, we learned that we must call at least twice a week to get a status report because no one actively called us to guide us through the process. So we became our own best advocates calling in once to twice a week, praying that we would have some type of positive interaction with that human voice on the other side or better yet receive word that Bank of America was ready to render a professional decision, but our hopes were dashed on XX/XX/XXXX when the servicing agent said that we received a " soft closure '' on XX/XX/XXXX which meant we were no longer active candidates and our loan was no longer being considered for Modification. The agent then said that this closure became fully effective on XX/XX/XXXX when news of this had fully reached their departments. 
Based on the egregious level of unprofessionalism, I cant say I was surprised by their underhanded tactic. Upper management had no guiding principles with which to steer them toward public service and accountability. They had no requirement for transparency. It was obvious that there was a leadership vacuum and virtue was nowhere to be found. It hurts me to say, that there strategy seemed to be, " Just stall them until they become weary and give up and fall by the wayside and we can chalk it up as " Attrition '' ( A numbers game that says that a great number of earnest patrons will give up because the process was designed to be humiliating and defeating ). It's so sad. 

I'm sorry to ventilate like this and use CFPB as my wife and I 's personal therapist. But, It has been such a painstaking ordeal that my wife and I have been through. We intuitively were able to recognize that our debt to income ratio was high. So we wanted to take proactive steps and be responsible citizens ; we humbly asked Bank of America if we could cooperatively enter in to a modification agreement. We did not know that we would get tossed around like the proverbial rag doll with nothing too show for our cooperative spirit and good will gesture. 

Bank of America would ask us for one thing and act as if their final determination hung on their latest request. However, when we would satisfy that request ; they would simply make a new request for something else and this would perpetuate the same endless cycle. By late XX/XX/XXXX we were confident that we were wrapping up our last step in this tortuous quest to seek financial relief through Bank of America 's loan modification. " And we were dropped!! '' No explanation, no exit speech, just a " flimsy, sewn together excuse, made up after the fact. '' I wish I could say it was heartbreaking, that would be more honorable and redeeming. But it was simply ... HUMILIATING!!! It's been a strange dichotomy. When we walk into the bank, they greet us and thank us for being valued customers since XX/XX/XXXX, but behind the veil or should I say behind " the mask '' outside of the banks four  walls. Bank of America expresses contempt for my wife and I by subjecting us to the devaluing loan modification process that we are experiencing. Notice I said, " We are experiencing '' and not have experienced. I believe, that CFPB will be that lightning rod that helps breathe new life into this dead end process. Thank you CFPB for providing this forum and platform with which to redress this grossly maligned modification process.

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