Complaint Review: Bank of America - Charlotte North Carolina

We started the short sale process on a property I've owned since 2001 in December of 2012. The loan is an FHA loan and I have both HUD's permission to pursue a short sale as well as permission from BOA. My 3rd party negotiator filed the required paperwork, then re-filed it when they came back and asked for more documentation, and then filed more forms, and then filed for extensions because the bank negotiator assigned to me did nothing with my file for two months. We then started the escalation process, again and again and each time, my 3rd party negotiator claimed that 'I think we're finally talking to the right people'. The last time this happened was about two weeks ago and I began to hope there might be an end to this drawn-out nightmare.

Then, on July 19th, I not only get a phone call from a clueless 'agent' to inform me they've sold my loan to M&T Bank, but I get written confirmation of the transfer of 'servicers' in yesterday's mail. The letter was dated July 10th, which means that whoever my 3rd party negotiator has been speaking with has been lying through their teeth when they said 'we're working on this'. In reality, they've been planning on dumping my loan off on another servicer. I've already paid off the MIP on this loan, so they aren't going to get any goodies from the government if they foreclose and the property (a small, one-bedroom townhome) is only worth 2/3rds of what I paid for it at its current market value.

Not only has BOA been outright lying to my negotiator and myself, but because the loan is an FHA loan, it's deliberately trying to avoid dealing with HAFA regulations with regard to an FHA short sale. I've been waiting for an answer from them about the buyer's offer for a long while now and I believe they've been purposely dragging their heels, until it became apparent that they'd have to allow the short sale. They chose to sell off the loan, all while deceiving me and my negotiator as to the status of my short sale. When I asked to speak to the new negotiator they'd assigned me, the excuse was that 'oh, her voice mail box hasn't been set up yet' and of course, her supervisor wasn't available.

The level of incompetence and sheer maliciousness towards distressed homeowners is mind-boggling. They kept whining about 'reading the notes' attached to my file. Apparently, the amount of notes attached to my particular short sale rivals the number of pages in 'War and Peace', because they put me on hold five times just to 'review the notes'. There is no reason for this runaround and I’m left with the conclusion that I and my 3rd party negotiator have been deliberately stonewalled.

Color me unamused.

I will be filing grievances with HUD, the Colorado Attorney General's office, the Federal Reserve, and any and all Consumer Protection agencies I can find. If necessary, I will pursue legal action against this bank for fraud. My loan transfers to M&T Bank, which has dismal reviews when it comes to short sales. It is likely I will have to start this process all over again with the new bank, even though the letter sent to me by BOA indicated that the new bank would honor the paperwork already filed. From my research on the new servicer, that also appears to be a lie.

If there was a way I could rate this bank and its employees with a 'zero', I would do so. I will never, ever do business with this organization again. They seem to have plenty of money for advertising their services and for sponsoring in mini-series on History Channel, but they can't see fit to comply with HAFA regulations and prefer to give distressed homeowners who are trying to do the right thing by pursuing a short sale the bum's rush. The real bums are the ones who keep people hoping for a resolution in short sale limbo and then lie to them about the status of their files.