Seattle, WA: A consumer banking deceptive practices class action lawsuit has been filed alleging that Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) created and headed an illegal enterprise designed to defraud homeowners seeking loan modifications as part of the government' Home Affordable Modification Program, or "HAMP."
The complaint, filed in US District Court in Colorado on July 10, alleges that Bank of America masterminded a scheme which allowed it to deny help it had promised to give thousands of its customers in exchange for $45 billion it took in bailout funds.
"We believe that Bank of America gamed the system, perpetrating a fraud on both its customers and American taxpayers,"said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit. "BofA promised that it would work with homeowners to modify their mortgages under the HAMP program. Instead it took $45 billion in taxpayer money and fought as hard as it could to avoid granting modifications, squeezing every last dollar from its customers and wrongfully foreclosing thousands of people' homes in the process."
The lawsuit alleges that Bank of America employed contractors, including co-defendant Urban Lending Solutions ("Urban"), who repeatedly lied to Bank of America' customers. For instance, the suit claims that Urban employees answered the phone, "Bank of America ??" Office of the President,"when they did not work directly for Bank of America.
Former employees, according to the complaint, have confirmed that Bank of America instructed its employees to delay modifications, claim that it had not received paperwork and payments when it had received them, and declined modifications en masse in periods known internally as "blitzes."
The complaint also alleges that Bank of America went to great lengths to keep its employees silent about these issues. According to the suit, employees who questioned the ethics of declining modifications for fraudulent reasons, or of lying to customers, were subject to discipline including termination.
The lawsuit claims that Bank of America is guilty of violating the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. It asks for damages to be awarded to a proposed class defined as:
"All individuals whose home mortgage loans have been serviced by BOA and who, since April 13, 2009, (1) applied to BOA for a HAMP loan modification, (2) fulfilled an FHA Trial Period Plan Agreement or any other trial-payment agreement that was not issued pursuant to SD-09 (form 3156), (3) sent documents to, or received documents or other communications from, Urban employees in connection with their attempts to modify their home mortgage, and (4) did not receive, within 30 days after making all required trial payments, a permanent loan modification that complied with HAMP rules."
Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is representing the plaintiffs in this class-action litigation.
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I have sued bank of america successfully for the modification fraud and emotional damages See Sundquist v Bank of America. At one point they were resolving cases with me after being beaten and charged 46 million in punitive damages. I have a mass tort in Los Angeles and individual cases across california. we need to share our experiences so we can be more competent against these banks.
Posted by V
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I saw an ad for this class action lawsuit this year. I this still available?
Posted by Rolando Recinos
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Same thing I get the house by country wide 2006 and 2008 bankofamerica take over the loans teen year later they raise may payments. I was try to refince 3 times but I don't have option
Posted by mario jean
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I'm a victim of bank of America also they done the loan modification for 3 months grace period and i sent the first payment they return it saying I'm not qualify. I just wonder if I can join ten lawsuit against them since it has been more than 5 years?
Posted by JW Ohler
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I had a war for 18 months, First my loan was country wide sold to BofA, I called and called, 3 days a week, I had a 10,000 sq lot in historic area of town, I remodeled my home it was 2300 sq feet, NEW, I had a big garage & guest house attached, The Entire amount of pay off was $435,000. I sold for $685,000 Thats right after telling me I had a bad loan I sold for profit..$132,000. I wanted to keep my home I was put in a loan mod twice, I was kicked out once for past taxes, You know I owed past taxes when you put me in the mod.. Lies dishonesty Stupidity , 45 Days before they were talking new loan Mod , in 45 day My home was to be foreclosed on.. This was fall of 2012 , These people should be sued Everyone has the same story Calif by the way ,Bad people!!
Posted by jw ohler
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These People jerked me around for at least two years forced me to sell, calif . I had two trial kicked me off twice .. due to taxes .. B Of A crooks
My profit on a loan that was no good was $132,000 GRAND thats right .. thats how they operate ..
I had a brand new remodeled house .. they had me ready for foreclosure in 45 days .. were still trying to get me into loan mod all the time screwing me I was on the phone 3 days a week bastards!
They screwed me big time!!
Posted by Kiel Pattison
on
BOA is a joke along with countrywide and the whole mortgage scam these guys did. I was a first time home buyer in 2005 and purchased a condo in July of 2005 threw countrywide. BOA acquired this in 2008 and in 2009 I tried finding out who my payments where actually going to and couldn't. Stopped making payments in 2010 and tried re-modification from 2010-2012 and the funny part is in July of 2011 BOA requested the loan be transferred to Bank of New York Melon by MERS. So to that seems that BOA never really acquired the mortgage in the first place just the servicing and really had no why to perform a modification ever. So now it has been to court in 2012, 2013 and 2016 and nothing ever has happen. In 2015 the condo association quite claimed it threw public auction for $1 due to late maintenance fees. This is a joke and never thought I would still have some mortgage in my name after 10+ years of non payment and now don't even have the asset that backed the mortgage and yet the servicer Bayview Loans swears they can get it back and refi my loan. This is one of the best scams ever in our history and now still 8 years later it isn't sorted out and wait till these mortgages are paid in full and homeowners can't get the tilte to their property they paid on for so long. Look into it these mortgage servicers, asset back certifications, and the lenders are all in bed with one another and just keep passing it around till the foreclose and get the property back. They have no intent on ever making the home affordable or payments reduce as on many of these loans they simply can't cause they don't own them and the PSA agreement between the investors and servicers wont allow for it.
Posted by Andrade
on
I brought my home in 2006 and it was transferred three times until the loan landed with B of A. Due to a change in income, I went through HARP/HAMP to modify to a lower monthly payment which they lowered it minimally. I was told by B of A to go through it 2 more times until it was lowered to a more affordable payment therefore a total of 9 payments missed which helped do other things to the home and pay bills. As soon as Trump got into office I received monthly statement with all required missed payments due now. When I asked about the fact that they were to be placed at the end of the loan; I was told that they determine when it is the end of the loan so I need to pay or they will foreclose. I was able to do a short sale and walk away with very little money.
Posted by Michelle Croft
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I AM NOT SURE IF THIS WEBSITE IS JUST FOR ADVERTIAING PURPOSES OR IF THERE IS LEGAL HELP LISTENING TO ALL THE STORIES ON HERE. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time but I was foreclosed on after B of A was bailed out with billions. They denied loan modifications and refinance requests I made, as I needed to be over 6 months late, then I offered a substantial amount and they denied it said has to be all back owed in full - then sold the note, what a joke, single mom of 3 now trying to rebuild my life with a huge debt on affecting my credit
Posted by DLA
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Yet another casualty here, California, 2010. Same story Countrywide loan, then BofA - modification all good sent payments but suddenly paperwork lost along with payments. Payments made to Countrywide and BofA cashed but not credited to my account. I had been layed off while on workers comp and 3 surgeries later! All the while dealing with all the Bull with the bank and their excuses. Loss of paper work, left on hold waiting to speak to a knowledgeable human being, round and round. I started taking from my 401K to just survive and try to save my home. In the end, lost 14year job, lost house, depleted my 401k to try and save my home of 18 years. And settlement from injury attorney took close to 70 percent. Pretty much ruined my life. I now have so much empathy for the homeless and reside in a very sad state of mind.
Posted by William P Nichols
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How does this work??? Between starting our mortgage with BOA in 2010 and now Carrington Mortgage....its been a magnificent clusterflop.
Posted by Jill Goode
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They is so much obvious fraud going on with my paperwork it's a joke! Was in a 30 year loan and now I'm in a 47 year loan. The also increased my principle from $256,000 to $285,000. I was only 4 months behind. The fraud they are getting away with needs to be stopped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by pissed in WA
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I had my house in foreclosure with them because of the country wide/BofA thing and in order to do the modification they took my past due amount and added it to the original purchase price of my mortgage from years earlier; now I owe double the amount instead of just the past due amount. They never told me they were adding the past due/foreclosed funds to an amount that was already paid down. Is there anyone/anything out there that can help
Posted by Ashley Jones
on
Had a countrywide loan that was taken over by B of A. My mortgage payment increased and was trying to get a loan mod for a year. My documents were always lost or incomplete. A representative even came to my job to gather all info and she said it was complete but yet once again B of A didn’t get that paperwork either. I never wanted to have my home foreclosed upon so we tried to do short sale but of course B of A said we are working on your loan mod and pushed it until it was too late and it went to auction where B of A took over the deed.
Posted by bill
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Ive had much the same problems with boa as everyone else reading others complaints I could easily just copy and paste 3/4 of the comments as my own tried for over a year to get first refinance then modification endless faxes of the same paperwork I want to say 5 times went threw the trial period never herd anything when it was done kept sending foreclosure notices every time I called no problem just ignore that .went on for months finally approved me.Not even a week later I got a notice saying my mortgage was sold to sls..And sls that's a hole different story took me months to even get anyone on the phone employed by them..
Posted by CMF
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my loan was sold from BOA to Carrington June 2017, been going round and round with Carrington trying to get them to finish the modification BOA started. Now they have filed foreclosure on me saying i was missing paperwork. Which is a LIE! i emailed my paperwork over and over...... How do i join this lawsuit?
Posted by Michael drena
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I have BOA on Federal Court in Connecticut. I could not afford a lawyer and got some help with the suit but now I’ve got the brick wall.
They put me in a program with out me knowing, in Jan 2010 I said “ NO “ but in March 2010 they started taking out more money due to the escrow. I don’t have and escrow because my business is seasonal. Be cause of their actions it over drew my account. I didn’t want to be in it because I don’t don’t have the money to cover the escrow. Now I’m $1200 in the whole because of bounced checks and fees plus the escrow. I went ahead and signed up in March 2010, my thoughts were “ I’m in the program now. Why not “ fill out applications after applications for 9 month, then they sent me a letter saying I wasn’t in the program. I didn’t get a Modification for 4 years ( 2014 ) had to hire a lawyer. Lost one of my rental properties and the income over 20 years ( $ 860K ) . Over four year they declined me over and over because “ the co borrower didn’t sign the application “ I reason I signed up was because I got divorced in 2009. Sent them the divorce agreement, quit clam to the house but still took me 4 years.
I in need of a Pro Bono lawyer in CT, if anyone knows one please send them over.
Posted by James
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I'm Joining The Lawsuit..... Loan Modification was a joke. I ended up with two mortgages. One for the original loan and the second was for the payments that were missed. Funny how they told me to stop payments until the loan modification was approved and then have the missed payments thrown back at me........ Purchased home in 2006 and Foreclosed in 2013
Posted by Chandra George
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I would like to join this lawsuit. I was affected how do I join?
Posted by Janice Caiazzo
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Bank of American would not let me straighten out my mortgage payment. They would not my payment and they also linked up with my HOA and they would not agree on an amount I could pay. Nobody would help me and I was pushed out for foreclosure on my home. Bank of American and my HOA would not return my calls and messages. I lost my home because of them. I won't to be added to that list. I tried everything to settle, but no comment.
Posted by Joseph a Ianowski
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I also would like to join im at almost 9 percent interest
Posted by Kassahun Tefera
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I would like to join the class action lawsuit
Posted by CC
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I was also part of the Country Wide issues. Then was with BOA had problems with HAMP but soon approved for some type of modification and now be sold to Carrington mortgage. Carrington Mortgage does even have an account number for mr yet so I can pay my February mortgage. This is too much. Just want to know what to do.
Posted by Cathy Alston Judge
on
This financial institution has caused/causing health issues as well as deaths to some, who would have thought that buying a home and then perhaps falling on hard times; sickness, loss of employment, or just some other mortgage company buying your loan could change your life drastically, and not for the good. I too have some serious issues with BofA.
Posted by KAREN OFARRELL
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Bought my home from countrywide in 2005. B of A now owns the loan. I qualified with KYHC 3 times and all of those time B of A wouldn't answer them and agree to a modification. I'm in foreclosure now.
Posted by Totherow
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I went through a loan modification with Bank of America, 2012-2013. I had much the same experience. I had three or four Reps during that time and also told they lost or never got paper work and that we would have to reapply. Every time I called to inquire what the status was I was told I had another rep that was handling my file and my information would be directed to them. Once I reached them I was told I needed to reapply because my paperwork was expired at that time. Once "they" said all was finalized, I had my payments lowered but also signed a secondary note, which I just became aware of as I am in the process of trying to refinance my home through another lender that purchased my loan from BofA. an now find out that back payments and fees for about $43,000 to be paid on sale or refinance of house, if we sell or refinance before first loan is paid off. Now I am worse off than I was aware of.
Posted by Joshua Burns
on
I lost my job and become late on mortgage. Contacted BOA many times and applied for modification 3 times maybe 4. Each time they either lost it or failed to proceed with my request. I had to call them time after time to get update and was told it was being worked on. Finally I so behind could not catch up. Home was originally serviced by Countrywide and transferred to BOA in 2008. That's when my problems started. In fear of foreclosure I moved out. It was included in bankruptcy and was foreclosed shortly afterwards. I kept getting bills and about 1 year later I got a letter saying it was being transferred to Liberty. Liberty then sent bills and after I called them, was told BOA messed up and foreclosure was not completed. They said I had to sign a warranty deed because title was never transferred to them. I refused to do that because it was in my bankruptcy. Later a couple years received letter saying I could pay 350 mthly to takeover mortgage again. Again I refused because it was discharged in BK. IN 2016 I received a 1099 for the mortgage they supposedly wrote off but the property has remained vacant since I moved out going on 5 years now. It has not sold and I received letter from Liberty in 2016 saying they had foreclosed on it. Somethings wrong!
Posted by wayne e perri
on
I bought my home in August 2006. . before the economy collapsed in 2008 my loan went to BOA .. in 2008 i lost my job and had to take a 10.00 cut in pay ... BOA told and promised they could and would help each time i applied for help they said i wasn't quilifed. finally ended up losing the house back to BOA "foreclosure" is now appearing on my credit, costing me more money then ill ever have when nothing has been done now i call and they hang up .... This is only a small portion of damage, the time, mental anguish, and stress this has caused is unbelievable!
Posted by Dallas Texas
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I purchased my home from Countrywide in 2006 which was aquired by BOA. In my attempt at a home loan modification in 2013, I was given the run around forever and ultimately denied.
Posted by Tywana Phillips
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We bought our home in 2006 with Countrywide that was later made Bank of America. We requested a home loan modification due to changes in our income in 2009. We were given the run around for a very long time. We were finally given a trial mortgage to pay for a year that they could never tell me what happened to it or where that money went. I was told they needed to show I was past due in order to qualify for the hamp. I didn't question it any further once we finally received the modification after being told the payoff that I see isnt correct because they took $50,000 aside. If i sale my home I would owe that money as well as the amount I see. Lots of confusion with this process
Posted by John Fillion
on
My Wife and I have been denied 5 times first BofA then SLS now Nation Star we have been dealing with a modification since January of 2012 we have a ARM loan as of 05/2017 not sure where else to turn
Posted by Cliff Dawson
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I went through the same thing with BOA from 2011-4/2012. Sent same info numerous of times to different reps. Lost job and income and needed to consolidate. Finally 4/2012 I went into foreclosure and my neighbor paid almost $7000 of past due and penalties to keep the house. I'm house poor (67) no meds not much food and need a new roof. Then I did consolidate with North Star and said 30 days , but they turned it over to Green Tree also and it took 4 months. now I need dentures(no coverage) and roof. Thanks for nothing BOA, Countrywide.....and still owe my neighbor.....Never ending story...
Posted by Gerry roy
on
My brother bought home in 2000 from countrywide and the interest rate was almost 10% and he ask them to lower it they would not help him and then it was Sold to b of a.and my husband an ij live here also,my brother wanted to b the home in our name countrywide wouldn't they said it was easier to leave in his name and then when b of a took over he ask them to put in our name they said it was to much work to do that,he was getting fruztred no one would help,and he wanted to app!my for a loan medication again they would not help,the person at b of a said stop making payments that mite help tnhem give you a modification, so he did and 2009 they sent him a Court letter taking him to court for foreclosure he got just tired dealing with this he was done we was paying for it after,thank you
Posted by Sally Romero and Anthony Reyes
on
Bank of America gave us the run-around for many months. We sent them all kinds of information back and forth. Every time we needed information on the modification we always were directed to a different representative and could never get a straight answer. we finally received notice to make the trail payments which we did. Again after making all trail payments, they could still not give us a response to what was going on with the modification, instead we kept going back and forth and nobody could ever give us notification that the loan was being modified. Much later we received a notice that we did not qualified, shortly after that our loan was transferred to Green Tree and a while after it was transferred again to Ditech. All this time we felt they just lied to us and their intent was never to help us. I am very unhappy with them for putting us thru so much.
Posted by Larry McCall
on
We went through a loan modification with Bank of America, 2012-2014. We had much the same experience. It took two years and a third party to finally get it done. We had three or four Reps during that time and also told they lost or never got paper work and that we would have to reapply. Once we got a third party, another finance company, which cost us $4800.00 to have them help. We had our payments lowered but also had to sign a secondary note or the back payments and fees for about $30,000 to be paid on sale of house, if we sell before first loan is paid off.
Posted by KC Tuckness
on
I am a victim of this as well. April fools day 2009 they made me feel like I had just won the lottery. You qualify to lower your interest rates and your next payment is due in 2 months!! I was quite impressed seeing my credit was immaculate and I did not need the help but why not? They intentionally put you into a hardship because I kept calling to inquire about the status of my new loan amount. I skipped May 2009 and June 2009. My first foreclosure sell date was for July 13th. As of today I have overcome 13 foreclosures on my own, all by simply knowing the mortgage side and learned the law side. I've owned my home 10 years and fought for 7 1/2 & now I'm fighting for my life due to Heavy metals toxicity poisoning. How did I get that you ask? Well when you won't back down and you speak out on behalf of the people that were wrongfully made homeless. All for greed and corruption. There's a special place in hell for all involved. I'm sure they can't spend their billions in hell do you????
Posted by Sean Braunstein
on
Bank of America did all this and more. It took me 2 years to do my modification, and faxing hundreds of pages and mailing tons of items to them. They always claimed they didn't get the info, replace my rep several times. It just went on and on.
Posted by Minnesota
on
Tried to use HAMP program and was refinanced with different terms, and was told beggars can't be choosers so had to accept higher interst rates and terms.
Posted by Pennsylvania
on
I applied for a home loan modification because I had a decrease in income and was denied. Now they want to do a short sale but I am NOT behind on any payments...
Posted by Illinois
on
We were given wrong information from BofA. Delayed our modification, told not to make payments, lost paper work, started foreclosure on our home when we were told we were approved for a modification. The worst experience I have ever had they kept re-assigning us reps and would have to start all over. Never returned calls. Didn't apply payments correctly. Caused much stress and almost costed us our marriage.
Posted by North Carolina
on
BofA claimed they did not receive documents we sent. We have signed proof they did. They also delayed action several times. Also said they set us up for trial payments which they did not.
Posted by Maryland
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We were locked into a loan modification that took 21/2 yrs. to complete. We had received a loan mod from them six months into the process, which significantly lowered our payment. Upon completion of the trial payment, we were told that we would be in foreclosure if we did not pay our full payment. I called to ask why and was immediately told we would have to refile for the mod because they had lost the paperwork. Submitting and Refiling went on for two more years. Then we were told we did not qualify for the HAMP program but that Freddie Mac had offered to buy the loan out. Frustrated and somewhat bewildered, we took the offer after a long period of time.
Posted by Florida
on
I bought my home in August 2006 through Countrywide. Tried to sell it to no avail, Countrywide would not accept any offers. After their collapse, my loan went to BOA and I was told and promised they could and would resolve the mortgage mess. Now the loan has been sold to another bank claiming the same thing. It is July of 2013, for 7 years the word "foreclosure" has appeared on my credit, costing me thousands when nothing has been done with the property still to this day. This is only a small portion of damage, the time, mental anguish, and stress this has caused is unbelievable!
Posted by Arkansas
on
The Bank of America used delaying techniques to keep us from modifying our conventional loan and our Heloc. This went on for eight months and then we were told that we were not eligible
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