Consumer complaint received 2017-09-07
Company: BB&T CORPORATION
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
I would like to ask for your kind assistance with BB & T who has wrongfully and aggressively pursued a foreclosure, together with illegitimate forced place insurance and junk fees, to exploit the equity in our familys home. This situation was entirely caused by BB & T refusing to speak to me, a rightful person on the mortgage, in almost all instances and inform me about the status of my account as they are by law obligated to do, despite my many efforts to communicate. I believe BB & T has illegally denied me access to my account details and used the passing of my mother, who was the primary borrower, for their own financial gain.
To start, inXX/XX/XXXX my Mother initiated a home equity line of credit with XXXX XXXX. I jointly owned the home with my Mother, therefore, my Mother was the borrower and both of us were listed as grantors on the mortgage note with XXXX XXXX. Tragically, my Mother passed away in XX/XX/XXXX and since I was a co-owner of the property, I began to make my Mothers mortgage payments on the loan. The loan balance was approximately {$51000.00}.
Soon after my Mothers passing, I contacted XXXX XXXX. I submitted the original death certificate and the title of the property with my name on it as a co-owner to a XXXX XXXX branch in FL and they acknowledged me as the person responsible for and in charge of the account. As a result, I successfully continued making my Mothers monthly mortgage payments to XXXX XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX merged with BB & T, at which point BB & T changed my account. When I called BB & T to ask for my account number and insurance forwarding information, they told me that BB & T could not give me any information about this account because my name was not listed on the loan. I was very surprised since XXXX XXXX had all my information and had no issues communicating with me. I called BB & T several times and talked to several BB & T representatives who refused to speak to me. I was told that BB & T did not see my name on the account to which I responded that my Mother had XXXX XXXX and I was the co-owner of the property and a person listed on the mortgage note. BB & T still insisted that they could not see my name in their system. The phone calls to BB & T caused me much distress since I had to bring to BB & T attention every time that my Mother XXXX XXXX and revisit the traumatic experience of losing my Mother.
At all times, I continued making payments to XXXX XXXX and my payments were accepted and credited to the loan by BB & T. I also continued sending the proof of property hazard and flood insurances to the XXXX XXXX account every year, which were accepted every year. In early XX/XX/XXXX, I decided to call BB & T again to inquire about the account status. I was hoping to have a better luck this time and that they could locate my information, but the problem persisted. I called multiple times and made a lot of efforts to communicate and resolve the misunderstanding, untilXX/XX/XXXX when finally a BB & T representative answered who had the appropriate knowledge and patience to take the time and search deeper in the system and found my name and all the documents that I had presented to XXXX XXXX. She then made a note on the account stating my name as a speaker on the BB & T account and assured me the problem was resolved. The BB & T representative also said I needed to call other BB & T departments to change my mailing address and request online access. I was relieved at that time, but to my utmost surprise when I called the other BB & T departments a few days later they could not see my name on the account again or locate any notes from a few days before! I called back the BB & T customer service, but the note and all information about me had magically disappeared.
At that point, I did not receive any BB & T correspondence since they had not allowed me to change my address to my new one, access the account online, and BB & T mortgage statements and notices were sent to the wrong address. Nevertheless I continued making monthly payments to XXXX XXXX. InXX/XX/XXXX, the line of credit matured, but I only found out about it a few months later when attempting to call BB & T back and talk to someone at BB & T. When I called, BB & T only told me the loan had matured with no further explanations about my options because I was not on the account. When I insisted, the BB & T representative suggested that I go to a branch, which I did not have access to in my new state. At that stage, I tried calling the equity loan experts in several branches in FL, where the loan was initiated. I tried to discuss options to make monthly payments until I could find refinancing options or sell the property, since due to the lack of communication on BB & T side I did not have a chance to do so earlier. Then in XX/XX/XXXX, BB & T finally replied to my email stating that I should call a number provided to get more information. The number turned out to be the foreclosure department, where I was told a foreclosure was already filed with court and I should talk to BB & Ts attorney now. Ironically, for the first time, BB & T acknowledged me as an account holder, after BB & T filed the foreclosure action against our family home.
It was in that moment that BB & Ts motive became very clear to me, so I hired an attorney. The attorney recommended that I probate the property and he agreed to help me try to make an agreement with BB & T to settle the BB & T debt without litigation. My attorney immediately requested a payoff balance. When we received the BB & T payoff after a long wait time, it was largely inflated by illegal forced placed BB & T flood insurance charges for the past 5 years and other junk charges/fees. There was a 20 % increase in the principal balance due to these charges!
The imposed charges/fees are as follows : 1 ) Five years of force placed flood insurance when the property was already insured ( XX/XX/XXXX-XX/XX/XXXX ). I have provided BB & T proof of flood insurance for all of the years, which had been sent to XXXX XXXX every year prior because BB & T had refused to speak to me and provide me with the account information. BB & T acquired XXXX XXXX, so they are the same Bank. After speaking to the only one helpful representative inXX/XX/XXXX, the proofs of insurances were then sent directly to BB & T. BB & T attorney has received these proofs and forwarded it to BB & T and they have been trying to look into it and make a decision for the past few months, while continuing to accumulate interest and even more charges during this time. Please note that in addition to flood insurance, the proof of hazard insurance and the monthly payments were also sent to XXXX XXXX during these years, which have been accepted successfully. If BB & T could not receive the proof of flood insurance, they should also not have received the proof of hazard insurance and any of the payments, but they did. 2 ) BB & T attorney fees and foreclosure costs were incurred as a result of BB & Ts own negligence and withholding time sensitive information about the account status from a person on the loan. 3 ) After maturation of the loan in XX/XX/XXXX till this date, BB & T has been accruing interest on the balance even though they went on accepting my monthly payments until XX/XX/XXXX 4 ) I have also been forced to hire an attorney simply to communicate with BB & T, which has led to additional costs.
In XX/XX/XXXX, I personally sent BB & T a letter, as the personal representative of my Mothers estate, asking for the amount of the debt and removal of all incorrect charges and interests. Further, my attorney scheduled a conciliatory conference with BB & Ts attorney and a BB & T corporate representative on XX/XX/XXXX, after much back and forth via e-mail, in the hopes of negotiating a resolution that would satisfy both sides to avoid wasting additional time and resources. At the meeting, BB & T refused to discuss anything with us in terms of resolving the mortgage. The BB & T corporate representative only stated that they were still looking into insurances and that they will not provide a payoff at this time. She mentioned that BB & T would not take less than what BB & T declares because BB & T knows my property has equity. For that reason, I really feel it is BB & Ts aim to accumulate added interest and/or charges on my Mothers account, while they purposefully prolong the negotiation process that has been ongoing sinceXX/XX/XXXX. BB & T is demanding an unreasonably inflated payoff and trying to get their hands on our family property, which my Mother had managed to purchase single handedly after years of hard work and left for her children after she XXXX.
As a result, my attorney advised me to write to CFPB and reviewed my letter. My evidence is the call logs and possible recordings that BB & T possesses. My husband, aunts, brother and father have witnessed my diligent attempts to resolve this ongoing issue despite my time restrictions and large emotional burden and stress. Had I known that I had to pay the entire amount right after maturation, I would have prepared the appropriate funds in advance and easily avoided the foreclosure. To date, I am still awaiting a BB & T payoff that reflects the true outstanding amount of my mothers debt, without added interest, charges on the account and expensive BB & T forced place insurances. The foreclosure remains pending in court and I have not been served.
I really need your help. I know the CFPB central mission is to make markets for consumer financial products and services work for Americans. I believe I have been treated unfairly. BB & T has refused to speak to me and provide loan related information after they merged with XXXX XXXX right through the maturity of the loan and, in my opinion, has illegally engaged in equity theft of our family home. BB & T knowingly violated CFPB procedures regarding successors-in-interest of a deceased borrower. I feel that only the government can protect consumers like me from this type of banking abuse. BB & T has stubbornly refused to speak to me and continues to add interest and charges to my account, causing me further damages. I can not afford to continue waiting for BB & T because I am incurring additional costs to get the correct amount of my Mothers debt, every day. BB & T caused all of this.
I anxiously await your prompt response to this request. Thank you in advance!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation