To: Barbara J. Desoer,, President of Bank of America Home Loans and ... Mortgage Banking, President Donald Trump, The Oregon State House, The Oregon State Senate, Governor Kate Brown, The United States House of Representatives, and The Unit...
BofA bullies disabled clients who need help with HAMP
Conventional home loan lenders, like Bank of America, are making it extremely difficult for good customers, who are now upsidedown in their mortgages, to get better terms on these existing home loans. The federal government's HAMP compels customers to become delinquent during the 3 month trial period, which thereby wrecks their credit and curtails any future chance to refinance into a more-affordable government insured loan later. This situation unfairly affects the elderly and disabled, who are not in financial positions to relocate. Please sign this petition to make legislators aware of this problem.
Why is this important?
In June 2012, an elderly veteran's widow and dear friend of mine, Carol and I (I am also disabled and the wife of a disabled veteran) applied for the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Finally after 6 months of calling every week, completing necessary forms, and faxing countless documents to BofA, we finally received tentative approval. BofA's offer was only a 1.1% interest rate reduction on our current mortgage loan, down to 4.75%. (We had bought our home together in 2006, put 20% down, and are paying 5.875% on the balance.) Presently our home's value has dropped by over $130K. And like so many others customers who bought houses at the wrong time/place, we now owe much more than it is worth. Our handicaps also make it extremely difficult to sell or move. So even though we have been loyal customers of BofA for over twenty years; have never been LATE on any of our payments; and both have excellent credit records; this is ALL BofA was willing to do to help us.
To make a bad situation worse, when we asked the bank (by phone & in writing) to please recalculate our combined income before our trial period starts, due to an unforeseeable decrease in our income, the bank's representative said, "NO. Once an offer has been made - you can either take it, or leave it; but if you DO NOT accept it, WE (the bank) will NOT make you any other offers in the future, even if you decide to reapply with your presently reduced income." "WOW! Really?" I asked. I don't think this is how the federal program is suppose to work. So I called his supervisor, who never called me back after 3 messages left. And then I contacted his supervisor's supervisor, who also ignored my messages. So yesterday I called the federal HA HELP hotline. The representative there said since our loan is a conventional one (neither Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae), BofA CAN do this and there is NOTHING the government can do to help us. "Really?"
And now Carol & I have discovered, if we do accept BofA's DEAL(?), it will wreck both our credit records because it forces customers to go late (by their only paying the lower payment amount) for three consecutive months during the trial period. THIS IS SO UNFAIR! We've heard BofA is too big to fight, but do you remember David & Goliath? We think 'the pen is mightier than the sword!' Please help us fight Goliath by informing others and by asking your friends and family members to sign this petition. And lastly, if you're a customer of Bank of America, be cautious.
To make a bad situation worse, when we asked the bank (by phone & in writing) to please recalculate our combined income before our trial period starts, due to an unforeseeable decrease in our income, the bank's representative said, "NO. Once an offer has been made - you can either take it, or leave it; but if you DO NOT accept it, WE (the bank) will NOT make you any other offers in the future, even if you decide to reapply with your presently reduced income." "WOW! Really?" I asked. I don't think this is how the federal program is suppose to work. So I called his supervisor, who never called me back after 3 messages left. And then I contacted his supervisor's supervisor, who also ignored my messages. So yesterday I called the federal HA HELP hotline. The representative there said since our loan is a conventional one (neither Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae), BofA CAN do this and there is NOTHING the government can do to help us. "Really?"
And now Carol & I have discovered, if we do accept BofA's DEAL(?), it will wreck both our credit records because it forces customers to go late (by their only paying the lower payment amount) for three consecutive months during the trial period. THIS IS SO UNFAIR! We've heard BofA is too big to fight, but do you remember David & Goliath? We think 'the pen is mightier than the sword!' Please help us fight Goliath by informing others and by asking your friends and family members to sign this petition. And lastly, if you're a customer of Bank of America, be cautious.