Bank of America: You Say You’re “Here to Help”? Get Helping!

· by: melissa

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Please…take a minute to watch my video.

It’s the same old story, heard from thousands of families across the country…

Family buys home. Family lives in home. ARM adjusts. Countrywide helps Family get a loan modification. Bank of America takes over Countrywide and screws Family up, down and sideways.

Yeah, that’s our story. In a teeny, tiny little nutshell. But there is so much more.

I’m not keeping silent anymore. I don’t care who knows. I’m not ashamed, I’m too angry to be ashamed.

In 2008, after our ARM adjusted, we called our mortgage company because we needed help. At the time, Countrywide held our papers so, that’s who we went through.

We had paperwork flying all over the place, tax returns, pay stubs, a lock of hair from the head of my first born child, urine sample after eating asparagus. You name it, we were sending it, faxing it, overnighting it, emailing it over to Countrywide.

They came back to us saying that we had to pay $2300 for three months, on time, and then we’d qualify for a loan modification.

So we did.

On time.

For the next three months.

And supposedly, we qualified for this loan modification which, according to our paperwork, was going to be $1252.66 a month. To be exact.

Yay, we were saved. We could breathe because our mortgage payment left enough money to pay bills and feed the kids.

Shortly after we had been approved by Countrywide and had entered the new agreement, Bank of America took over Countrywide.

They informed us that our loan modification was null and void. BUT, they had a program for us that we’d surely be eligible for. All we had to do was go through the whole modification process. AGAIN.

So, we did.

And…

We were DECLINED.

We tried again.

And again.

And again.

Despite Bank of America letters stating that they are “here to help” that arrived in my mailbox on a regular basis, they told us that they COULDN’T help us. We didn’t qualify for any of their “programs” they had in place. But, they would say, try again in a couple months, they are updating their programs and there will be one that we will qualify for.

That never happened.

We were constantly and consistently told that there was nothing for us.

DECLINED. DECLINED. DECLINED.

Recently, I went on Twitter and tweeted about what was going on. B of A’s help guy on Twitter answered and gave me some contact numbers to try. In his tweet, he told me he could help. HA!

DECLINED after DAYS of being shuffled around from person to person, department to department.

There was not a single loan modification program for this teacher who had been at his job for 19 years, never unemployed, never without a paycheck.

I believe the truth to be, there aren’t ANY programs in place for ANYONE. 90% of at-risk homeowners that apply for a loan modification are turned down.

That? Is not helping us, Bank of America or any other financial institution that claims they want to help homeowners stay in their homes.

Recently, we found out that what Bank of America did to us was considered FRAUDULENT. Because we had already been entered into a home loan modification BEFORE they took over, they were supposed to honor it.

We didn’t know.

If, in 2008 when B of A took over our mortgage, they had just left well enough alone, we wouldn’t be in the beginnings of a foreclosure process.

Now, we are getting tons of solicitations from lawyers because Bank of America has put our status in the Legal News. Vultures, the whole lot of them.

We are going to lose our house. Our home. Where we thought we’d live forever.

The only home our youngest child has ever known.

And, to make matters even more complicated, due to our mortgage not only being NOT modified, the payment has GONE HIGHER. An amount that, if we paid it monthly, we wouldn’t be able to feed our kids or pay our other bills.

Bank of America told us that if we pay the scheduled monthly payment, we wouldn’t have a problem. But, the problem is, we can’t afford the scheduled monthly payment. Because they haven’t helped us.

So, our credit is shot.

Which means, if our home is foreclosed upon, we have nowhere to go. As in, we will be homeless.

I am SO ANGRY.

I felt so helpless. Until I learned of a young woman who created a petition through Change.org. In this petition, she asked Bank of America to do away with the $5/month credit/debit card fee. And she won.

I don’t know what I’m hoping for. But I created a petition, which is on my sidebar. I am hoping to just cause a ripple. I am hoping that, if we are going to be foreclosed upon, even though this shouldn’t be happening, that I’m going to go down fighting. I will keep on fighting until there is nothing left to fight for.

For my family. For all of our families.

For every American out there who is losing their home because of the lack of scruples our financial institutions are showing.

For all our homes that we have loved and are being thrown out of.

Please. Sign this petition.

Share it.

Help me make it go viral.

Help me TRY to make some sort of dent. Some sort of difference.

If not for my family, then for others out there who are in the same predicament we are.

All it costs in 30 seconds and a virtual signature.

Here is the link to our petition.

Thank you.

Comments

comments

Comments

  4. Jen says

    I just signed too! So sorry, there are no word to express how badly I feel for you and your family. It’s an outrage!
    Jen´s last blog post ..hello

  5. toddheathenking says

    i was #61 and i sent it to about 400 ppl on my facebook…and i hate getting involved in these sign-up things, but accountability is the only way to fix the problems with the banking industry

  9. Sara at Saving For Someday says

    Melissa, I’m terribly you’ve been dealing with this mortgage stuff for so long. You said it in your video – foreclosure is a big business for them. That they are actually given a bigger incentive to foreclose versus modify is disgusting! Our elected officials sold us out to the highest bidder, the mortgage lobby.

    I’m signing your petition because I believe what’s happening to you and so many others is just plain wrong!

    Stay strong!
    Sara at Saving For Someday´s last blog post ..Mamavation Monday: Planning Ahead for Disney World

  10. Managed Chaos says

    You have my support Melissa (and I just signed). This is a horrible, yet seemingly easy situation to resolve if only B of A would buck up and do the right thing.

  11. Jennifer says

    I hope they hear and listen to you Melissa. It isn’t like they weren’t bailed out. We have been thinking of refinancing just so we can move our loan away from them. We were late on our payment ONE month and they sent a Fed-Ex letter to our door with one of those “we know you need help” packages. Maybe if they would stop spending money on frivolous mailings and start spending it on actually helping people stay in their homes that they WANT to pay for then they would be better off.
    Jennifer´s last blog post ..A girl trip

  19. Elissa says

    I am so sorry for what you have gone through. I could not agree more BofA is no help. My husband recently lost his job and instead of waiting to get behind on payments I called to see if there was some kind of temporary relief they could give us. When through all the hoops to be declined any kind of help. So they would rather we not make payments at all, than help us in our time of need. Real class act.
    Elissa´s last blog post ..Super Girl and the World’s Shortest Giraffe

  20. Sharon O says

    I don’t know what else to say but I’m so sorry for all you are going through! And the powers-that-be don’t understand what the Occupy movement is about… they are so out-of-touch.

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