JimsOffice.ORG

Well, we are now officially 1 year into the loan modification and some things have actually happened since my last post in June:

1. We *finally* got a set of paperwork…

The interest rate was dropped 1/8th of a percent and the new payment was actually higher than what we are supposed to be paying now. My wife called in and we told them that their “loan modification” was pathetic and if we couldn’t afford a 3,000/month loan payment, how could we afford a 3,200/month loan payment??

The person we spoke to (some supervisor’ish person) told us that we after we paid our bills, we showed a positive cash balance of $1,000 (which we never provided them that info – frankly because no one asked), and since we showed that positive cash flow, that’s all they could do to help us out. After providing them a more realistic value, he ran off and said that he would open yet another loan modification to see if a better modification could be made.

So, for those of you keeping score, 6 months for a set of paperwork.

2. The information coming from Bank of America/Countrywide has slooooooowed down

No big surprise here, but it seems that even though I call in on a regular basis, the information trickles down slowly. For example, during my daily collections call, I was informed that I needed to send in the following forms (and that they should’ve been in already):

* IRS Form 4506T
* Income Tax Information
* Affidavit of hardship

When I asked about the need for these forms, I was given an answer of “When you do a Making Home Affordable request, you need to have these forms”, and then when I asked why I was just now informed, the response was “I don’t know why no one has told you in the past, but I am informing you now” Classic example of “slow to no information”

3. The loan modification process..

So, it seems that Bank of America loves to run people through the MHA (Making Home Affordable) process, which is ok, I understand that that is a good first option for most people. In my particular case, I have been told on several occasions that I don’t qualify for this plan and I have accepted that, but please quit re-running me through that again when all you’re going to do is disqualify me. It makes this process drag out and gives me a bigger headache.

During one of my many calls, I was informed that the whole process has been given an overhaul and now it takes 45 BUSINESS days for an answer, and if 45 days passes and nothing has been done, it’s re-opened for another 45 BUSINESS days.

4. Inconsistent information

It seems that Bank of America can’t give me the same answer twice, its frustrating, I can literally call them twice in a 30 minute period with the same question and get 2 different answers. Seriously, BofA, train your customer service people to read the notes on the account before opening their mouths, it can save them from me unloading on them (and when I say read the notes, read ALL THE NOTES!)

The only thing that seems to be consistent is:

“This call is from a debt collector”. and “The letter of intent to foreclose expired on March 12th”

Anything beyond that is a crap shoot.

This link about sums it up:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32281959/ns/business-real_estate/

Next time they call, I am going to ask them how the money they got for their bailout (my tax money) is working out for them. They seem to be pretty damn quick giving out bonuses to execs, but slow doing anything else.

And lastly:

Anyone from Bank of America who reads this and is actually in a position to do anything, or take a complaint, please call me, I would love to talk to you.