Consumer complaint received 2021-02-05
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: AL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
Bank of America is my mortgage lender and during the Covid19 pandemic shutdown in late XXXX of 2020 they were offering a special deferral program to their customers with mortgage accounts. My small business was shut down by government mandate and I contacted Bank of America about their program. I made a phone call on XX/XX/2020 and what I was told by the customer representative over the phone was that they were offering to defer my mortgage for the month of XX/XX/2020 to the back end of my mortgage loan without any penalties. My understanding from them was that that payment would not be considered late, but that it would be postponed to the end of my loan without any fees or added interest and that this was a grace they were extending because of the pandemic. I accepted the offer with that understanding and they told me that at that time they were offering the deferral solution on a month to month basis and that if I needed another grace month for XXXX then I could call back at that time. Because the government had my business closed for a total of 9 weeks I did call back for the month of XXXX to request an additional month of deferment and the customer representative with whom I spoke that time told me that they had actually already automatically entered me into a 3 month deferral program ; this included the months of XXXX, XXXX and XXXX of 2020. That was fine with me at the time because I wasn't certain yet when I would be able to be back in business. As it turned out, I was able to resume business in the month of XX/XX/2020 and began to make my regular monthly mortgage payments again as usual, on time, and believed that the deferral period had lapsed at that point in time. 

Meanwhile, during the shutdown, I was still receiving paper statements from Bank of America that stated I was late on my mortgage payment ( s ) for XXXX etc. and I made a number of calls to customer service over that period of time, out of concern, to make sure that I understood the agreement properly. I was assured by more than one customer service representative that the paper statements were incorrect and that it was " safe to throw them away, '' and they explained to me that their computer programs and software were not updated yet and that the procedures they were going through were unprecedented and it would simply take time for the system to catch up and process what was truly happening. They assured me that my payments were NOT late, and that I had indeed been entered into a deferral program ; they told me not to worry about it and that if I had any questions I could just call back. I did call back a number of times over those three months as I continued to receive paper statements saying otherwise ; asking for my " late payments. '' I was told by Bank of America every time I called that those paper statements were invalid and that my mortgage payments for XXXX, XXXX and XXXX of 2020 were not due, but they had been deferred to end of my loan without penalty. 

I then contacted a loan officer at XXXX XXXX XXXX  about refinancing my home because the rates had lowered and I went through all of paperwork to get that process finished yet it halted when XXXX XXXX checked my credit and found that Bank of America had my mortgage listed as if it were in forbearance. I was shocked to hear this and I made yet another call to Bank of America and spoke with a case manager. This case manager seemed very sympathetic and apologized for their mistake and also seemed to understand the situation and my frustration. He offered to send me and the lender at XXXX XXXX an official letterhead statement explaining that I was no longer in a special payment period and that I had been making my payments on time consecutively and that they would be prompt about correcting the report to the credit bureau, as it had negatively effected my score as well. I thought the situation had been remedied but months later now my credit report is still showing that my house is in forbearance and I am still receiving paper statements from Bank of America claiming that I am late for 3 months of mortgage payments and they are demanding to collect it from me or else they will keep my home in forbearance. I have made additional calls to Bank of America and have been given very conflicting information that does not coincide with what they have told me in the past and from what I initially agreed to, and they had gone back on their word to me. 

If they keep all of their phone calls recorded and on file then anyone who goes back and listens to the many hours I have spent on the phone from the beginning with them will understand. 

This entire situation is unjust and seems criminal to me that Bank of America would lie to me over the phone and mislead me into an impossible position of rectifying it with them alone and this must require help from your bureau to mediate and rectify.

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