Like everyone else in the country, when the economy went south late I found myself with need of assistance with regard to my mortgage payments. I was originally with Countrywide but Bank of America bought them out early 2009. Soon after this, the Obama administration announced a new program to help people just like me get their high interest rates reduced.
In March I contacted Bank of America and told them I was interested in taking advantage of the Making Homes Affordable (MHA) program. I gave them all of the pertinent info over the phone and was told that they would be turning this over to the appropriate department.
In April I got my monthly bill from BofA and noticed that it stated I had not paid March's house payment. So, I called BofA and was reassured that nothing was getting reported. They confirmed my payment was received but was being escrowed while awaiting the outcome of my application. I made April's payment over the phone and hung up.
In May, June and July I called and made on-time payments. I also asked if the delinquencies that were mounting on my printed monthly bill were indeed NOT getting reported to credit agencies. Each time I was reassured that everything was alright and that nothing negative was getting reported to any credit agency. However during this same three-month timeframe we received notices from Cheveron, Exxon/Mobil, Sam's Club and Capital One that our interests rates were being increased and our credit lines were being reduced (in the case of Chevron and Exxon/Mobil, the accounts were actually frozen) due to delinquent payments. Most recently, we were turned down for a student loan for my son's college education.
Last Friday (8/7/09) I called BofA once again to inquire on the status of our MHA application. Once again, I was told that it was being processed. I pressed the young man to let me talk to someone in that department.instead of giving me a contact name/number, he said he would escalate the issue by emailing the department and that I should call back on Tuesday (8/11/09). I called back and
1) Found out that even though BofA had been escrowing my payments they had also been reporting my account as delinquent;
2) I had been charged Inspection Fees and that these were due to BofA sending someone out to my home on two occasions to verify we still lived in our home;
3) We were never being considered for the Making Homes Affordable program (we had only been approved for a 4-year extension of our current loan percentage rate (8.35%);
Needless to say, I was livid. I spoke to a supervisor who did agree to have my escrow funds released and applied to my loan. He also said he'd try to get the inspection fees reversed. He said that he would send notice to the credit bureaus that the loan was and is paid as agreed but said this would take at least 90 days to show up on my report. He then took my information (for the 5th time since March) for the MHA program. When we were done, he said that I didn't qualify for the program because my debt ratio was too high. I explained that the info I had given him was best guesses and asked to speak to someone in the department so that I could provide more accurate data. His response was that he didn't see any need in this and that it was the government that made the decision not BofA.
So, here I am, 5 months later. My mortgage interest is still over 8%. My credit is shot thus I have no options for refinancing. Creditors that I've had for nearly 20 years have frozen my accounts and/or raised my interest rates. I can't get a student loan to send my son to college.
I'm screwed!
Thanks, Bank of America!
Steve
Grapevine, Texas
U.S.A.
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