Consumer complaint received 2024-03-26 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — Escrow, taxes, or insurance
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
The Hurricane that hit the XXXX XXXX of Florida caused many Homeowner Insurance Companies to try to cancel or not renew homeowner insurance policies in Florida. I received notice from my homeowner insurance company, after they did an inspection of my house that they wanted me to replace a hot water heater in the house and repair a small flat roof area of my roof to renew my homeowner insurance policy. Although neither repair was necessary, I replaced the hot water heater with a new hot water heater and had a licensed roofing company reseal the small flat roof area that was not leaking. Subsequently the Homeowner Insurance Company did not renew my Homeowner Insurance on XXXXXXXX XXXX because they alleged that the roof repair did not meet their requirements and wanted me to now tear out the flat roof that was not leaking and replace it with a new flat roof. I argued with them and tried to get them to renew the Homeowner Insurance until XX/XX/XXXX when I placed on a new Homeowners Insurance Policy on the Property for {>= $1,000,000} of coverage which more than covers Bank of Americas mortgage which was originally {$750000.00} but had been paid down to {$650000.00} as I was continually making additional Principal Payments on an interest only loan. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX I received notices requesting that I provide to Bank of America " proof of your current insurance coverage within XXXX ( or XXXX ) days. I complied with their numerous requests as we had {>= $1,000,000} of insurance coverage in place which was far in excess to Bank of America 's insurable interest in the Property. 

Upon being given proof that the insurance was in place Bank of America then demanded to be given proof of homeowners insurance for the period of time from XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX during which period there was no homeowners insurance in place. In accordance with the terms of the Mortgage if Bank of America had acted in that 60 day time period and put forced pay insurance in place I would be obligated to pay that premium. In this instance they did NOT act and never put forced pay insurance in place to provide insurance coverage during that time period. 

Instead they paid a premium and passed it on to me in the amount of $ {$3800.00} for that forced pay insurance on or about XX/XX/XXXX, which is approximately XXXX XXXX months after XX/XX/XXXX and approximately XXXX XXXX months after XX/XX/XXXX. In other words they are trying to pass on an insurance premium to me, their customer, which they decided to pay on their own where there is NO INSURABLE RISK unless someone can go back in a time machine and cause damage to my Property. The XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX forms, and my Mortgage in particular, does not allow Bank of America to make believe that they have a time machine to travel back in time and purchase a Homeowners Insurance policy when there is no insurable risk!! They can only purchase a Homeowners Insurance policy under the terms of the Mortgage when there CURRENTLY is no Homeowners Insurance in place to protect their Mortgage. In my case, by the time they decided to purchase their premium inflated forced pay insurance there was already a {>= $1,000,000} homeowners insurance policy in place for months and there was NO RISK that justified paying any premium! 

I called Bank of America 's XXXX numbers on numerous occasions and the only people that answer the phone calls have little knowledge and no authority to correct the error. Eventually they will pass you on to their superior who also has little knowledge and no authority to correct or address the issue. Subsequently the Bank of America employee will fraudulently tell you that they will try to connect you to their " Insurance Department. '' That statement is always a lie as they transfer you to the Insurance Company, who of course states that they can not correct the issue, but would not do so in any event since it is in their economic interest to collect the premium while not really giving any insurance coverage because there is Zero Risk! 

I am sure that I am not the only person to become a victim of Bank of America 's fraudulent scheme to wrongfully charge their Borrowers forced pay insurance premiums under similar circumstances and I trust the CFPB will take the appropriate actions to protect me and other consumers from Bank of America 's illegal practices. 

Respectfully,

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 monetary relief