Consumer complaint received 2023-11-13
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: GA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: VA mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage
Sub-issue: Changes in loan terms during or after closing

Complaint:
Mortgage Servicing Fraud refers to a variety of abusive servicing practices that may occur individually or collectively to a loan after it has closed. Mortgage servicers are usually a third-party company hired/contracted by the lender/note holder to perform the day-to-day tasks associated with collecting loan payments. Some of these practices include, but are not limited to : * Manipulating the accounting of loan to appear in default despite being current.

* Refusing to accept properly tendered payments.

* Charging fees for collection letters, inspections and BPOs.

* Charging interest in excess of that actually owed.

* Placing payments into suspense accounts without cause.

These activities appear to be more commonly encountered by borrowers with equity in their property, regardless of their prime or sub-prime status. 

When it comes to mortgage servicing fraud, these wrongs are usually committed by third-party companies that hold neither title nor interest in the properties whose loans they service. Most commonly these days, servicers are employed by owners of Residential Mortgage Backed Securities or XXXX trusts. Mortgage Servicing Fraud stems from fairly boilerplate language used in the Pooling & Servicing Agreements that govern the relationship between the trust and the mortgage servicer. 

For instance, many Pooling & Servicing Agreements allow servicers to keep assumption fees, modification fees and basic late fees as what is known as " additional servicing compensation ''. Language such as this simply removes any incentive for a mortgage servicer to keep a borrower current in their monthly payments because to do so potentially cuts the servicer 's profit margin significantly. There are additional means for servicers to make additional profit in servicing securitized loans but this is the most basic means of profit after the relatively small monthly servicing fees that servicers contractually agree to as a rule. 
As far as why a company would do this, the answer is both simple and yet complex. It all comes to down to money. For years consumers have been duped into believing that defaulted loans and foreclosure are not profitable for " the bank '' when, in some instances, it is absolutely more profitable than allowing the borrower to pay off his/her loan especially when taking into consideration the various manners of insurance and/or investment " shorting '' and/or " hedging '' in which both note holders and servicers are allowed to engage by Our Home Purchase, Our Home Servicing, All 13 Banks involvement has n been recorded the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX as fraudulent activity yet we are still fighting Foreclosure of our property 4 Law Firms rotating the foreclosure processing as we continue to make a plea for help by government entities such as CFPB, OCC, SEC, Veteran Administration.and onward. All parties below are a part of our continued fight rightfully owned and owed by the list below : XXXX XXXX XXXX - SEC charged the firm with misleading investors in a complex mortgage securities transaction just as the housing market was starting to plummet. XXXX XXXX agreed to pay {$150.00} XXXX in a settlement that enables harmed investors to receive all of their money back. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX XXXX XXXX - SEC charged the firm with misleading investors in offerings of residential mortgage-backed securities. XXXX XXXX XXXX agreed to pay {$290.00} XXXX to settle the SEC 's charges. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX XXXX - SEC charged XXXX XXXX 's brokerage firm and a former vice president for selling investments tied to mortgage-backed securities without fully understanding their complexity or disclosing the risks to investors. XXXX XXXX agreed to pay more than {$6.00} XXXX to settle the charges. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) Bank of America XXXX SEC charged Bank of America and XXXX subsidiaries with defrauding investors in an offering of residential mortgage-backed securities by failing to disclose key risks and misrepresenting facts about the underlying mortgages. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) Bank of America XXXX SEC charged the company with misleading investors about billions of dollars in bonuses being paid to Merrill Lynch executives at the time of its acquisition of the firm, and failing to disclose extraordinary losses that XXXX sustained. Bank of America paid {$150.00} XXXX to settle charges. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) Countrywide - SEC charged XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX other executives with deliberately misleading investors about significant credit risks taken in efforts to build and maintain the company 's market share. XXXX also charged with insider trading. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX SEC charged XXXX former top executives of XXXX XXXX  and XXXX XXXX with securities fraud for misleading investors about the extent of each company 's holdings of higher-risk mortgage loans, including subprime l XXXX XXXX XXXX SEC charged XXXX former XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX for fraudulently misleading investors about the financial state of the firm 's XXXX largest hedge funds and their exposure to subprime mortgage-backed securities before the collapse of the funds in XX/XX/XXXX. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) loans. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) State Street - SEC charged the firm with misleading investors about exposure to subprime investments while selectively disclosing more complete information to specific investors. State Street agreed to repay investors more than {$300.00} XXXX to settle the charges. ( XX/XX/XXXX ) WE declare and decree XXXX XXXX dollars for over 10 years in this fight over our property IN XXXX WE TRUST XXXX XXXX

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