Consumer complaint received 2018-02-12
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Information is missing that should be on the report

Complaint:
This complaint is in regard to Bank of America 's failure to remove negatives from my credit report as I was promised by their representative during the negotiation of a modification to the terms of repaying the balance of the HELOC I had opened with them in XX/XX/XXXX. 

I am currently trying to refinance my home and their failure to remove the negatives on my credit report are hurting my ability to do so. 

In XX/XX/XXXX I went to my BoA branch and requested information on HELOCs. I was concerned that, following my recent XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX ) and subsequent need for XXXX XXXX, I would not be able to return to work promptly, thus my interest in knowing about using some of the equity in my home. 

The mortgage representative was very aggressive : he told me that " everybody with any equity should open a HELOC '' and asked me how much of a line of credit I would want. I told him that I would probably want a credit line of {$20000.00}. He told me that " nobody '' opens a line less than {$50000.00}. I replied that I did not want to do that and asked questions about the terms of the HELOC and the repayment thereof of any amount used. He told me that the terms were 10 years of interest only, then 10 years of principle plus interest. I was hesitent and asked what if I can't make the payments due in the second 10-year period and what would happen if the value of my home fell. He looked at his computer and said " your home is worth {$280000.00}. " You have so much equity in your home that you will never have to repay any amount out of pocket ... even if the market fells. '' I agreed to open a credit line of {$50000.00} based on his assurances and subsequently, due to health issues beyond my XXXX XXXX, I needed to use the equity line to live until I was approved for Social Security XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. 

The assurances that I had been given by the BoA representative turned out to not be true. The housing market fell and BoA devalued my home to {$91000.00} and cancelled the unused portion of the line of credit. 

Although the housing value improved before the principle and interest repayment would start, at the time it was scheduled to begin, there was still no equity in my home. I consulted an attorney who told me to contact the CEO of BoA which proved to be impossible. I contacted BoA and told them that I would not be able to make payments in excess of $ XXXX/mo on the HELOC and needed to work out other options. At first I was told there would be no options. I was subsequently contacted by XXXX XXXX who said she would work with me on a modification. I told her that my biggest concerns were ( a ) negotiating a monthly payment that I could afford on a fixed income ( XXXX ) and ( b ) impact on my credit score.  I asked what would be reported for the months during which we were in negotiation. XXXX told me that once I was past the " trial period '' for the modification that they would " go back '' and delete the negatives on my credit report for those months. I came to an agreement with XXXX and accepted the modification she offered on BoA 's behalf. Subsequently, she remained in contact with me confirming that payments were being made and called me to advise me that the trial period was over and she would no longer be contacting me. 

Upon recent pursuit of refinancing, I discovered that BoA had not corrected the negative credit marks on my credit report. 

I attempted to speak with the local branch manager who  never returned my call, nor was my issue on the list of items on the BoA website ( that no longer gave a phone number to contact a customer service representative ) that would lead to resolution. I then discovered that BoA now has social media representative and I asked to speak with someone who could help me. It was suggested by the person who called me to contact the HELOC department and he gave me a phone number to do so. When I called BoA and I was transferred from department to department trying to resolve this. One of the people I was transferred to confirmed to me that I was correct in my expectation that my credit report would be corrected after the trial period however she would need to pass me on to another department. The subsequent people I spoke with ( such as the Escalation Department ) either did not know or denied that the credit report would be corrected after modification and said to send in a written complaint. 

I need BoA to honor its agreements, both verbal and written.

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