Bank of America - Loan Modification HELL - PART 200
So, you thought I was all fine and out of the woods with that mortgage loan modification? That everything was successfully resolved, as I thought, this January?
Think again!
Today I learned that my mortgage loan modification was REJECTED after all.
In today's mail (Monday, 6-7-2010), I received two large envelope Fed-Ex packages. Inside were identical loan modification offer applications from the Home Affordable Modification Program on behalf of Bank of America, and Fed-Ex return envelopes.
At first I thought this was a joke and a complete misunderstanding.
But then I decided to call them, just in case.
The woman rep who picked up the phone told me, after hearing me say that I thought I was already loan-modified, and had been since February, that she had no information except what BofA forwarded to them, and that I needed to call them directly to verify my loan-mod status.
I told her, by the way, why did I receive two identical application packets?
She said "No, you were only sent one."
I said, "Hmm, I am holding two in my hands now."
She did not say anything.
She then asked me if I wanted to decline this loan modification offer. Good thing I said, "No, wait." So she said she will note down that I am going to get back to them after checking.
So I hung up.
And then I called Bank of America.
The rep who picked up the phone told me that my loan modification status was... DECLINED as of March 12, 2010, and they had sent me a notification letter of refusal accordingly. (I only remembered receiving this letter after I hung up, remembered getting something like it several weeks ago, a generic vague looking single sheet from BofA that my mom and I thought was some kind of random mailing or in reference to my HELOC (which at one point I'd tried getting modified too and incorporated into a single payment with my main mortgage) since it said something to the extent of "your application was declined" -- neither of us even imagined it was in reference to our main mortgage, since we were absolutely certain we were all set, all done, all modified and had been paying at the new interest-only manageable rates for several months now, etc. Now I need to look for this letter, and am hoping I did not shred it as some kind of garbage.)
Besides, WHY would they want to refuse a solid customer such as myself who's been paying for this house for 10 years now (since 2000), and paying regularly even now in the middle of severe hardship, throughout cancer and death in the family? A customer who sent them a goodwill payment of $20K this time last year, depriving herself and her family of EVERYTHING, just to keep this house??? WHY???
After I gathered myself together, picked my jaw off the floor and took a deep breath, I said, WHAT? But... I've received loan modification acceptance papers from Bank of America Home Retention Division the day before Christmas 2009, and had them notarized and submitted by mid January 2010, before their Jan 20th deadline, and have been paying the modified interest-only new monthly amount since February 2010!
What in the world was going on?
She told me that in the FINE PRINT of those loan modification papers it says that their acceptance of my modification is not guaranteed, and is contingent upon their acceptance of my income verification. I told her, I have submitted all the income verification papers many times over.
She said that they did not accept them because the numbers I had given them over the phone did not match and were off by a thousand dollars from the numbers in the paperwork. I told them that my numbers always vary month to month, due to different numbers of units sold, etc, and it's never going to match exactly.
It only occurred to me later that the numbers I quoted (back in 2008) were probably indeed higher considerably, since that was before the huge decline in book unit sales over the last two years after the economy crash. If she meant some other numbers more recently quoted, I have no idea! I stopped giving them info over the phone a long time ago, simply faxed or Fed-Exed things. All the data I had provided them was all on paper, copies of statements, etc, all verifiable, so this whole thing -- their reason for rejecting my application -- sounded extremely fishy to me.
I was so stunned that I cried. The rep waited for me.
Finally I asked her, what can I do?
She said I had two options: to cough up the $40K I owed them (that's how much behind I am at this point, based on their original monthly payments ($3,700+ a month) that I obviously cannot afford and which I am trying to get modified), or I could apply for the Home Affordable Modification program.
I told her, I thought I had already applied for this Obama program and was rejected? How many !@#$%^&* loan modification programs were there?
She said, "No, this is not the same program." She said I had been rejected from the Attorney General's (AG) loan modification program. I said, Huh, WHAT?
No one had told me this was the program's name, and all along I had ASKED FOR, and was told BY ALL OF THEM, and thought I was applying for the one and only Obama program!
She said no, this is the Home Affordable Program. It was my best option now.
So I said thank you and hung up.
And then I called the Home Affordable people in Texas, and I told the man who picked up my the story again, and I said that I guess I am going to be applying for this program after all, since I am not loan modified as I thought.
So he went through with me, step-by-step, over all the things I needed to get back to them in that application packet, including the signed application form, (yet another) letter of hardship, a copy of my complete tax return and a copy of IRS Form 4506-T or "Request for Transcript of Tax Return" (which is ridiculously redundant, since if they can just request the tax return directly from the IRS, why in God's name make me do a photocopy also?), bank statements, a utility bill copy, and a profit/loss statement for the year-to-date or quarterly.
I told him I had no idea what a profit/loss statement was, I was just a tiny sole proprietorship small business working out of my bedroom office, etc. He told me it was just three numbers they needed, the income, the expenses, and (I forget what the third thing was now, damn!), for the months of March, April, and May.
I told him I had multiple sources of income, including freelance writing.
He told me to do a profit/loss for that one too.
!&O#&!!&#+)!(
He then asked me when will I have this paperwork done.
I told him, okay, in the next couple of days.
And then I hung up.
Now I am just stunned, stupefied, and very, very CALM.
It begins again.
This whole thing is a criminal outrage.
I am in my THIRD YEAR of this home loan modification mortgage hell.
Third year of being jerked around... while my life and working hours are consumed by this absolute evil crap.
I WANT MY LIFE BACK, BANK OF AMERICA!!!
Think again!
Today I learned that my mortgage loan modification was REJECTED after all.
In today's mail (Monday, 6-7-2010), I received two large envelope Fed-Ex packages. Inside were identical loan modification offer applications from the Home Affordable Modification Program on behalf of Bank of America, and Fed-Ex return envelopes.
At first I thought this was a joke and a complete misunderstanding.
But then I decided to call them, just in case.
The woman rep who picked up the phone told me, after hearing me say that I thought I was already loan-modified, and had been since February, that she had no information except what BofA forwarded to them, and that I needed to call them directly to verify my loan-mod status.
I told her, by the way, why did I receive two identical application packets?
She said "No, you were only sent one."
I said, "Hmm, I am holding two in my hands now."
She did not say anything.
She then asked me if I wanted to decline this loan modification offer. Good thing I said, "No, wait." So she said she will note down that I am going to get back to them after checking.
So I hung up.
And then I called Bank of America.
The rep who picked up the phone told me that my loan modification status was... DECLINED as of March 12, 2010, and they had sent me a notification letter of refusal accordingly. (I only remembered receiving this letter after I hung up, remembered getting something like it several weeks ago, a generic vague looking single sheet from BofA that my mom and I thought was some kind of random mailing or in reference to my HELOC (which at one point I'd tried getting modified too and incorporated into a single payment with my main mortgage) since it said something to the extent of "your application was declined" -- neither of us even imagined it was in reference to our main mortgage, since we were absolutely certain we were all set, all done, all modified and had been paying at the new interest-only manageable rates for several months now, etc. Now I need to look for this letter, and am hoping I did not shred it as some kind of garbage.)
Besides, WHY would they want to refuse a solid customer such as myself who's been paying for this house for 10 years now (since 2000), and paying regularly even now in the middle of severe hardship, throughout cancer and death in the family? A customer who sent them a goodwill payment of $20K this time last year, depriving herself and her family of EVERYTHING, just to keep this house??? WHY???
After I gathered myself together, picked my jaw off the floor and took a deep breath, I said, WHAT? But... I've received loan modification acceptance papers from Bank of America Home Retention Division the day before Christmas 2009, and had them notarized and submitted by mid January 2010, before their Jan 20th deadline, and have been paying the modified interest-only new monthly amount since February 2010!
What in the world was going on?
She told me that in the FINE PRINT of those loan modification papers it says that their acceptance of my modification is not guaranteed, and is contingent upon their acceptance of my income verification. I told her, I have submitted all the income verification papers many times over.
She said that they did not accept them because the numbers I had given them over the phone did not match and were off by a thousand dollars from the numbers in the paperwork. I told them that my numbers always vary month to month, due to different numbers of units sold, etc, and it's never going to match exactly.
It only occurred to me later that the numbers I quoted (back in 2008) were probably indeed higher considerably, since that was before the huge decline in book unit sales over the last two years after the economy crash. If she meant some other numbers more recently quoted, I have no idea! I stopped giving them info over the phone a long time ago, simply faxed or Fed-Exed things. All the data I had provided them was all on paper, copies of statements, etc, all verifiable, so this whole thing -- their reason for rejecting my application -- sounded extremely fishy to me.
I was so stunned that I cried. The rep waited for me.
Finally I asked her, what can I do?
She said I had two options: to cough up the $40K I owed them (that's how much behind I am at this point, based on their original monthly payments ($3,700+ a month) that I obviously cannot afford and which I am trying to get modified), or I could apply for the Home Affordable Modification program.
I told her, I thought I had already applied for this Obama program and was rejected? How many !@#$%^&* loan modification programs were there?
She said, "No, this is not the same program." She said I had been rejected from the Attorney General's (AG) loan modification program. I said, Huh, WHAT?
No one had told me this was the program's name, and all along I had ASKED FOR, and was told BY ALL OF THEM, and thought I was applying for the one and only Obama program!
She said no, this is the Home Affordable Program. It was my best option now.
So I said thank you and hung up.
And then I called the Home Affordable people in Texas, and I told the man who picked up my the story again, and I said that I guess I am going to be applying for this program after all, since I am not loan modified as I thought.
So he went through with me, step-by-step, over all the things I needed to get back to them in that application packet, including the signed application form, (yet another) letter of hardship, a copy of my complete tax return and a copy of IRS Form 4506-T or "Request for Transcript of Tax Return" (which is ridiculously redundant, since if they can just request the tax return directly from the IRS, why in God's name make me do a photocopy also?), bank statements, a utility bill copy, and a profit/loss statement for the year-to-date or quarterly.
I told him I had no idea what a profit/loss statement was, I was just a tiny sole proprietorship small business working out of my bedroom office, etc. He told me it was just three numbers they needed, the income, the expenses, and (I forget what the third thing was now, damn!), for the months of March, April, and May.
I told him I had multiple sources of income, including freelance writing.
He told me to do a profit/loss for that one too.
!&O#&!!&#+)!(
He then asked me when will I have this paperwork done.
I told him, okay, in the next couple of days.
And then I hung up.
Now I am just stunned, stupefied, and very, very CALM.
It begins again.
This whole thing is a criminal outrage.
I am in my THIRD YEAR of this home loan modification mortgage hell.
Third year of being jerked around... while my life and working hours are consumed by this absolute evil crap.
I WANT MY LIFE BACK, BANK OF AMERICA!!!