Consumer complaint received 2019-09-17
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am a XXXX senior citizen on a fixed income. I am current on my mortgage and have been since XX/XX/XXXX when I obtained a permanent loan modification from XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ). Prior to my loan modification in XXXX I had force placed homeowners and flood insurance policies. I purchased my own homeowners insurance policy in XX/XX/XXXX and that policy has remained on my home since that time. I purchased my own flood insurance policy in XX/XX/XXXX and that policy has remained on my home since that time. 
I have not missed any mortgage payments since my loan was modified in XXXX. Around XX/XX/XXXX, servicing of my loan transferred from XXXX to Bank of America ( BOA ). I never received a written notice that servicing was transferring from XXXX or BOA. I found out about the change when I went to make my payment to XXXX and was told to make the payment to BOA, which I did. 
In XX/XX/XXXX, BOA sent me an escrow analysis that showed a shortage of {$4700.00}, which would cause my monthly mortgage payments to jump from {$1200.00} to {$1600.00} starting XX/XX/XXXX. Because I had always paid my mortgage payments in full every month this could not be correct. When I called XXXX about this issue, I was told that because servicing had transferred to BOA, XXXX could no longer update my account and all errors had to be fixed by BOA. When I called BOA to address this issue I was advised that BOA could not fix the errors of a prior servicer and to contact XXXX. 
Eventually I was able to get a loan history from XXXX which showed charges for my chosen flood and homeowners insurance policies plus 14 charges marked as Flood Insurance Disbursement or Misc. Insurance Charge from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. These additional charges totaled {$3700.00} and appear to be charges for force placed insurance during times I was covered by my own insurance policies. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I sent a Notice of Error to Bank of America and to XXXX. I attached proof of my insurance coverage and attached the loan history showing the force placed charges to both Notices of Error. The unlawful charges were even highlighted in my Notices of Error. I asked Bank of America to remove those charges and do a new escrow analysis. I asked XXXX to remove those charges from the loan account history and to send those updates to BOA. 
In a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, BOA purported to respond to my XX/XX/XXXX Notice of Error. In BOAs XX/XX/XXXX letter, BOA mentions charges for force placed insurance for periods prior to XX/XX/XXXX when I did not have my own flood insurance. Please note that XXXX and I executed a permanent loan modification with an effective date of XX/XX/XXXX. Paragraph 1 ( a ) of that agreement states : Borrower agrees that the unpaid principal balance due on the Note of {$130000.00}, shall be increased by {$140000.00} the amount of the unpaid installments, interest, late charges, fees and costs, and if applicable any advances for unpaid property taxes and/or insurance premiums. ( emphasis added ).  Thus, XXXX was required by the loan modification to include the previous insurance advances in the principal balance of my loan. If XXXX failed to do so it violated the terms of my mod. 
If XXXX did include the advances as required by the loan modification, then BOA is allowing me to be charged twice for periods in which I did not have coverage. 
To date, neither BOA nor XXXX has credited my account for the force placed charges from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX when I was covered by my policy. My payment shot up in XX/XX/XXXX as a result of the false escrow shortage. I have continued to stay current on these unlawfully inflated mortgage payments because I am terrified of ending up in foreclosure. These unlawful charges have caused me a great deal of financial and emotion strain. 
Attached hereto please find the XX/XX/XXXX escrow analysis I received from BOA, the XX/XX/XXXX Notice of Error I sent to BOA, BOAs response thereto dated XX/XX/XXXX, and my XX/XX/XXXX loan modification.

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