Consumer complaint received 2022-04-06
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: LA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Other type of mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
This letter is to attest to several instances of maleficence on the part of Bank of America that resulted in extreme financial hardship for me. There are three specific separate but related matters I would like to file a complaint about and have included my request for resolution at the end of each section. 

Matter 1 I have attached the letters from Bank of America proving their mistake in regards to the matter discussed below. 

I was approved for Corona hardship deferment back in XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX I applied for a 3 month extension of the deferment ( as I had several times before ) but my request was not serviced or responded to. The confirmation number for the extension request that was missed is : XXXX. In XXXX of XXXX I began to be contacted by Bank of America that A mortgage payment had been missed. I attempted to contact BOA to find out what had happened but received no response from my account manager and was never able to contact a live person. As a result I simply reapplied for the extension this time via the phone system. This extension was approved but what I admit that I didn't realize at the time was that it was changed from a deferment to a " forbearance '' at that time. I received a letter stating the forbearance was good through XXXX, XXXX which is attached. The following month I received another letter stating my forbearance was now good through XX/XX/XXXX. This letter is also attached. No explanation was given for these dates or their changes. 

It was on XX/XX/XXXX when I went to resume payments on the mortgage that I realized that a mistake had been made re. my deferment had been changed to a forbearance. At this time I once again began attempting to contact BOA to determine what was going on. They finally got back to me in the middle of XXXX. I explained the above situation and pointed out the letters and the confirmation number of the original request above. They agreed that an error had been made and referred my account to the research department. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter informing me that my account had NOW been approved to be in deferment through XX/XX/XXXX. This letter is also attached. 

This IMMEDIATELY caused me to show as being 3 months late in payments despite having never missed a payment that showed as due. In " fixing '' the original error that switched my account from deferment to forbearance Bank of America caused my mortgage to be 3 months delinquent to the tune of my current past due amount of {$3700.00}. Please again note that my account was never delinquent until I received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX ( again attached ), resetting my deferment to XX/XX/XXXX 3 months earlier suddenly causing me to be 3 months late in payments according to the system. I resumed making my regular monthly payments immediately but I can not afford the past due amount that is a result of Bank of America 's mismanagement of my account. 

I am requesting Bank of America move my past due amount and escrow to the end of my mortgage without forcing me to do a loan modification. I am not asking for the amount to be forgiven or my monthly payment lowered. 

Matter 2 Bank of America says that the only way to rectify the past due amount on my account is to apply for a loan modification. I am doing so but it is a long and arduous process as I am a XXXX member. XXXX is a program whose mission is to provide affordable homeownership to low-to-moderate-income people and communities. Bank of America makes it extremely difficult for XXXX members to do anything related to their mortgage. Bank of America assured me that while this past due amount was in dispute and I applied for the loan modification I would not be negatively reported to the credit bureaus. However, they have now done so twice causing my credit score to plummet from a rating of Excellent to Poor in a matter of a month. I am requesting Bank of America completely remove its negative reporting of my account to the credit bureaus until this matter is resolved. 

Matter 3 As briefly alluded to above Bank of America treats XXXX members as second class clients. I am not able to reach a real person to discuss anything regarding my mortgage. Bank of Americas phone system makes you put in the mortgage account number before transferring you. XXXX members are able to immediately reach a mortgage customer service representative to discuss their account, this was attested to me by the independent mortgage counselor Bank of America assigned to reach out to me to discuss my past due amount. I discussed my situation with him and he tried to call Bank of America in order to help me discuss the issue. He was shocked to discover that he could not get through to a mortgage representative for my account. He said he had never encountered that before. 

Instead XXXX members are sent to the voicemail box of their account manager and forced to leave a message which they are told will be returned in a maximum of 1 business day. These calls are regularly not returned at all and if they are its usually at least a week. I have left well over two dozen voicemails over the past year dealing with this issue and have received a return call twice in that time. I am requesting that Bank of America be forced to treat XXXX clients with the same priority and respect they give other clients. 


XXXX XXXX

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