Consumer complaint received 2016-02-14
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure

Complaint:
We applied and were turned down for a home loan modification with Bank of America. In XX/XX/XXXX we refinanced our mortgage with Bank of America to a Home Equity Line of Credit ( HELOC ) with the following terms : the first 10 years were interest only and then a XXXX period of interest and principle would start. We refinanced this way so that we could access equity in the home for a new business my husband was starting. We intended to refinance the loan before the 10 year draw date had expired. In XXXX XXXX we were notified by Bank of America that the loan was going to convert from the draw period to the repayment period in 1 year and that the mortgage payments would increase from {$2000.00} ( interest only ) to {$8000.00} ( interest and principle ). They stated in the letter that if we could not make the {$8000.00} payment, we could apply for a home loan modification. Since we had intended to refinance anyway we began that process XX/XX/XXXX but we were unsuccessful because we found out that our property value had decreased by {$350000.00}. So we started the home loan modification process with Bank of America. Unfortunately, Bank of America has you work with a frontline representative who relays messages from the Underwriter who evaluates your financial information for the home loan modification. It took 3 months to get information entered and resolved when a 30 minute discussion would have resolved any additional document requests and questions. Documents were " not received '', questions were re-asked on a number of calls, we spoke with at least XXXX frontline representatives since they can all assist each other so many times I was speaking with someone unfamiliar with our case. Needless to say, we were not approved for a home loan modification but we were approved for a short sale of the property. We were not approved for a home loan modification for XXXX reasons : we are currently not in default and therefore do n't qualify for some of the programs and we have insufficient income for the remaining programs. Bank of America gives you the option of appealing the decision within 30 days of the date of the result letter. Our letter dated XXXX XXXX, does n't arrive until XXXX XXXX. I did call to find out about appealing the decision and actually spoke with someone that could converse on our qualifications. We found out that they did not include income my husband receives from XXXX of the businesses because we could not provide a quarterly balance sheet. I was then told that I would have to reapply for the home loan modification in order for them to consider new income. But, of course, the new mortgage payment of {$8000.00} would be used instead of the {$2000.00} payment in the original application. We also disagreed on how they calculated our monthly income as well. We did go ahead to file an appeal and are now waiting to get that process going with a whole new set of representatives. This has just been a very frustrating process and it certainly seems evident that Bank of America has no wish to do any sort of home loan medication. It makes no sense to not work with a customer who is and has always been paying on time. And certainly for us to continue to make {$8000.00} mortgage payments will drive us into default but it is so obvious that this is completely needless.

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