I read an article today about a couple in Florida who was accidentally foreclosed on by Bank of America even though they paid cash for their home. I am horrified to think that there are people out there who have to endure the embarrasment and loss of a foreclosure when it isn't even justified. You would think that there would be enough checks and balances in place to prevent this from happening.
In 2 minutes this morning, I was able to find 3 cases where Bank of America mistakenly foreclosed on people who had no relationship with them:
- Couple in Florida who paid cash for their home - lost personal items and had damage to their pipes.
- Couple in Texas who owned their home free and clear - caused them to lose food and caused mold buildup
- Man in Kentucky - it was one of his neighbor's homes that was supposed to be repossessed
Makes you wonder how many more cases there are out there with different banks across the country.
This is just a disgrace!
If you or someone you know would like information about buying, selling, or renting a home in Prince George's, Montgomery, Charles, Anne Arundel, Howard, and/or Baltimore Counties please contact Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh of EOP Real Estate, LLC.
Donations made to charity with every successful closing!
Dr. Stacey-Ann Baugh
EOP Real Estate, LLC
www.staceybaugh.com
staceyannbaugh@gmail.com
240-481-3565 (C)
240-206-7283 (O)
FINALLY! A DOCTOR WHO MAKES HOUSE-CALLS!
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed!
Oh well Stacey, do you think these banks have any brains??? I was farming NOD lists and I happened to call someone in my area. WHen I told them that their home was going to auction in 15 days, they almost had a coronary !!!! In total disbelief and panic they told me that they were NEVER late on the house payments.They never received a copy of the NOD and would have had the shock of their lives if they found the Sheriff's notice on their door. Apparently they had been making their mortgage payments to BAC and BAC was not servicing their loan anymore. These are the wonderful things that are happening in our once great nation
Rama - That's horrible. Of course BAC didn't question why they were continuing to receive payments on a loan they no longer owned.
Hi Stacey-Ann -- I have never heard of this, I can't even imagine the stress, time, lost productivity, etc., that resulted because of this. I hope a savvy real estate attorney would investigate the possibility of a class-action lawsuit if this is widespread enough.
Hi Stacey Ann- I don't understand how this could happen! Did they not receive any notice? Was the legal description wrong? Good grief, what will be next. Leaving this comment and then off to check out your links.
Right hand and left hand not having the right conversation. I wonder what the apology sounds like if even one is given at all.
What? Recently Countrwide sold our loan to the evil empire Bank of America. I hate these bastards. Anyways, we did get a letter, fortunately. I'd LOVE to see a class action lawsuit against the idiots!!!
Flagged this for feature!
Chris - I think in some of the cases real estate agents had been involved trying to sort it all out
Mary - What did you think of the links when you read them?
Robert - I'm sorry just doesn't cut it in this type of situation
Greg - You crack me up. I would be if this is a widespread issue there will be a law suit. Thanks for flagging this one.
Stacey Ann, I just find it unbelieveable that more precautions aren't taken to be sure the bank representatives are locking up the correct house, and I'm thinking they should verify the legal description and the address before undertaking these kind of shenanigans on innocent homeowners! Just unbelieveable! at least they aren't in the demolition business, but it's close :-)
Unbelievable. I am with BofA and have not had any issues personally. However, I've heard nothing but bad news from everyone regarding them, and have had clients who had issues with them as well. Nobody should be too big to fail. We bailed out BofA and they're doing this to people. Crazy.
Hi Dr. Baugh. I am in the Tampa Bay area where one of the homes is located.
Congrats on the feature though to me it's not a mistake on the part of Bank of America. Perhaps human error on the part of some people who executed the foreclosure judgment on that home. Mistake? I disagree:
Mistake:
1. an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc. 2. a misunderstanding or misconception.
The Cardosos have written numerous letters to Bank of America to no avail so they pursued litigation. If anything it only shows how powerful banks have become courtesy of President Obama and some politicians who gave banks so much power. This is no accident. In this case it so happened that it made national news but mistake? I disagree.
Not surprising what-so-ever. Why do you think only 3% of people seeking loan mods are successful? These banks have drowned themselves in a nightmare of paperwork. The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. In most cases the banks can't figure out who owns/has authority to negotiate a loan mod. Now it seems, on the flip side of that coin, they are foreclosing on people unjustly. Sheeeeesh, will this never end?
It is just outrageious. BOA is just TOO big, too out of control.
Sarah
Nashville TN Realtor
Hello Stacey! Congrats on the feature! This is terrible! I wonder what was the ocmpensation for that type of emotional duress. It was their home that was taken from them after all. Sheesh!
BOA is getting such a bad wrap for being useless. I am not highly suggesting that my buyers go elsewhere (anywhere, lol) else for a loan. God forbid they end up needing help...BOA is the last bank I want to deal with if problems arise down the road. Wow, sad stories.
Stacey - I never heard of this happening, but I can't say I'm surprised.
My mortgage was taken over by BOA, hope they don't come knockin at my door! Never had a problem with BOA as a bank--personally. But they did take in alot of other lenders poo-poo. No excuse for going that far with no notice. New Hampshire would slap them sideways--I'd hope??
Congratulations on the feature. It's unbelievable that this is happening.
I think that this is an outrage. To think that people's homes could be taken from them unjustly is really frightening. I would think that banks would have better checks and balances to prevent this type of stupidity from occurring.
Lana - not sure how the issue becomes about President Obama. It is much more about the incompetence and arrogance of the bank management and personnel.
I had a short sale in Antioch California and an agent told me the unit I was selling was foreclosed and called me approximtley 5 to 6 times to tell me that the home was foreclosed and each time I told him it must be a mistake because I'm in touch with the lender. Sure enough on his final call to me he apologized and said they had the wrong unit. I can relate.
Pretty crazy. What a crack outfit! How in hell can you foreclose on the wrong house!
How can this happen? Did the homeowners not get any notice of the foreclosure? Where was the register of deeds? This just does not sound possible.
Yes, I represented a seller through a successful short sale process a little over a year ago and everything was fine until she started receiving letters from BOA about a year later that they were going to foreclose on her? I am thinking, "How are they going to do that when she isn't even the current owner any longer?" After some diligence from some very helpful local BOA employees, it all got straightened out. I must say on behalf of these particular BOA employees, that they really stepped up to the plate, when they were made aware of the problem.
I wonder how the banks recompense these people? I'm also curious how they can evict someone who has no mortgage and therefore can't be foreclosed?
Stacey-Ann,
It's pretty amazing what goes on in the trenches nowadays. Mortgage foreclosure is an important thing, so you'd think banks would make sure they have the right one when doing that.
It doesnt surprise me with the volume of foreclosures going on that this would happen..
Hi Dr. Stacey. I doubt the banks have a very good defense in court in the situations you mentioned and I would presume they all found themselves in that position.
This is especially shocking to me since they had no mortgage and no relationship with BOA. What is happening in the banking world?
Nothing really suprises me with the crookedness of the banking system!
If you as an agent were to make a mistake of even putting a sign in the wrong yard, can you even imagine the fines and possible loss of license that would ensue?
Once they start the balls in motion, it's very hard to make them stop. Everyone is a cog in the wheel, and no one seems to make decisions anymore . . . just follow orders. This is amazing, and very sad.
My BofA horror story. I deposited a check, written off of my business account. I went to the ATM and made the deposit. A few days later, my business account is dinged for a NSF fee, and the amount of the check was for $10,000. Hmmmm . . . the check I wrote was for $1,000. Someone added another "0" . . . they withdrew money from my SAVINGS account to cover the $10,000, but my business account is NOT linked to my personal savings. So the $10,000 was debited out of my personal savings in a bank overdraft protection of my business account which was NEVER set up to intermingle! The $10,000 was "poof" into thin air. It wasn't in my personal savings, or in my business account. The branch manager didn't know where it was. She said, "Gee it's like it's disappeared." THANKS, just want a customer wants to hear with $10,000 missing. It took them over 1 month to get my money back to me. ONE MONTH! Funny, it didn't take them that long when they made it VANISH!
Have I mentioned how I feel about the banks lately. Word that I would utter would not be allowed on AR...so I'll just let all imagine.
From the desk of David Dee,
Dr. Stacy, that is a terrible situation for those homeowners.
Hi Stacey, I've heard about one of the stories you mentioned. It's crazy and I hope they win big $$$. Thanks for sharing another great post.
Great subject. I can't imagine how I would feel. Hopefully they were compensated in some way for their duress.
After reading your post and everyone's comments, I am speechless. I am also frightened because BofA is my lender.
I've received the wrong house number from the bank or servicer once before. Incorrect spelling of the street name happens often, but it's worse when you get the number wrong. I always check the tax records prior to knocking on the door anyway, to make sure the name matches. Homeowners should be very well compensated when they actually mistakenly get foreclosed on, that's for sure. Between the difficulty in closing BofA SS and this type of unprofessional-ism, they sure aren't making many friends.
I hope they lose a ton of money. They were notified of their mistake and they still proceeded anyway. A strong message needs to be sent.
I guess what we have to do from now on is read the foreclosure lists in the newspaper to make sure that Bank of America is not coming to take our house.... any house.
Stacey,
I didn't read all the posts so if this has already been mentioned forgive me.
I think you should get this information to the national press. People everywhere should be made aware of how out of control banks are. There is no reason for this kind of treatment for unsuspecting homeowners. Banks have been given too much power and after all who saved them??? Us, the taxpayers! To big to fail my ...!!!! Sorry...just had to vent but this information should be given to the press.
Hi Stacey, and here I thought nothing surprises me anymore. NOT. That is unreal. I do not know what to say. I'm speechless and that's hard to do! Those poor people.
This is so sad. I didn't believe this could happen but then again anything can happen now a days.
This is comepletely outrageous and has to stop. I place a large portion of the blame on the attorneys. These know it alls feel like they have all of the power to do whatever they want and won't listen to the voice of reason.
Stacey...
It seems like we hear the name of the same bank over and over. I wonder when someone will rein them in?
This is the first time I have seen anyone with 2 gold stars on the front page and you earned both. Thanks for posting about this problem. It is negligence, pure and simple, spread out among corporate drones who have lost a care for their fellow human being. The banks should be held culpable and pay huge reparations.
Stacey Ann, How horrible! What in the world is the recourse for such a thing?
Bank of America is going to need to change their name after this whole fiasco. The last 3 years has been nothing but a black eye for them.
I'm not suprised at all. I personally wouldn't be surprised if the error was with the attorney doing the foreclosure in many cases. They do so many that I've personally seen them screwed up when they hit the REO market. In my case I've had several where the lawyers screwed it up (admittedly not this bad though) then because they also owned the title company being used by the Asset Management company they also tried to write the title work and hide the screw ups.
The only way to fix this is to get a large enough judgement that it actually hurts or find a way to send someone to jail.
Stacey - This is mind-boggling. BofA has no problem running thru the foreclosure procedures on the wrong people, but cannot manage to process their short sales?
WTH?
Stacey:
I have read about similar events happening, people with their belongings being taken away and they are shut out of their homes - accidentally with the claim that it is foreclosed. It does seem that the recurring name of B of A seems to be responsible for so many of these errors. I closed my account with them months ago.
Maybe they should have gone the way of foreclosure themselves. There is always reasons why large companies go from good to bad. We the tax payers saved these guys.
Jeez. You know, I haven't heard many (or any) good stories having to do with B of A lately...
David in Boston
This leaves me shaking my head in disbelief. There are checks and balances in place to make sure this doesn't happen. How can every single one of them not work? Scary stuff. Thanks for the links. I'm heading over there.
doesn't surprise me one bit.
I am SERIOUSLY considering telling my clients that a BofA approval is no good to me anymore due to the issues I have had on the buying side and selling side.
Unfortunately due to short sales, I must continue to deal with them.
B of A is my lender too so I think that's why this struck such a chord with me. What's even more frightening is that so many of you have seen these types of mistakes first hand in yuor business. Thankfully, you were able to intervene to stop this from happening to some of the people you work with.
Carla - thankfully they got your money back - such a disgrace
Philip - Thank you. I am humbled by having 2 features this weekend and by all the great comments I have recevied on both posts.
Hello Stacey, I am in Fort Myers, FL and I currently have a couple who paid cash for a short sale property in Cape Coral. They were having a Christmas party when they got served with foreclosure papers from B of A. If you or anyone else knows of similar circumstances, please let me know.
it is just unbelievable that something like this could happen!
I have been a listing agent for Bank of America for several years and for the most part they are good to work with. I have never had this problem with them...but I have with another bank that I will just refer to as "Bank A".
Bank A calls me and said they see my name on many foreclosure listings and they would like to work with me on one they have near me and want to know if I can run by the property and take photos - they bought it at an auction so they were confident it was empty. The address was 123 Blue Bonnet, 00009 (this is not the real address). I go out to this address which is in a great part of town and not only is it occupied but the man that answers the door claimed to out right own the property (funny how someone that owns a property speaks to you different than someone that knows they are behind)! I call my contact and she insists they are lying and that we need to get these people out! To make a long story short, it turns out the address was 123 Bluebonnet, 00012! It took a lot of research on my part but things were finally straightened out. I shudder to think at what could have happened.
Most agents have to report occupancy and I take photos to prove my statements. B of A is one of the clients that requires this of me as well, well, not the photos (I do it anyway to cover myself) but the occupancy...I wonder where the slip up occured because there are a lot of people involved but there usually is not any action until the agent says a house is empty. To those of you out there - a picture is becomming more than being worth a 1000 words, it is getting to be priceless! CYA!! Thank you for the post! I think you brought up a good subject!
We are dragging Toyota Corporation through the mud because they have had some recalls in the past month or so, but where is the phone call to the CEO of BofA asking them to appear before Congress to answer to all the alledged negligence and misconduct they have been part of in the last 18 months? It'll never happen. The banks lobbyists will see to that.
BofA's reputation has gotten so tarnished in AZ that if you have a short sale they are involved in, most agents will not even bother showing. They have made their process so long painful that it is not practical anymore. Unfortunately, I have heard they hold 1 in 4 mortgages here. Jason Bracht, Real Living
Bank of America is committing crimes all over our country. I think we, as Realtors should coordinate a class action suit against them and help owners that have been victimized. I will be happy to contact an attorney firm large enough to handle it.
I read somewhere in the Florida case that the realtor told the bank that they had the wrong house but they went ahead anyway.
What is maddening is that we have no say in who our mortgage servicer is because of securitization. You can specifically not go to BofA but they could end up with the servicing rights to your loan. Support your local credit unions and community banks.
I'm surprised that it can happen to a cash buyer, but I can certainly understand why it happens to NOD homes when they thought something had been worked out. The banks need more personel, and better qualified
Stacey, I saw this article as well. I'm happy to see that someone put it on Activrain. This whole story is just outrageous. I believe the article also stated that BofA did actually foreclose on the right home even while they were still refusing to admit their mistake on this home. I would urge everyone to pass this story on to their local news orginations, everyone in this country should know about this and BofA should pay out the .................
Truth is stranger than fiction in many circumstances. I had a short sale seller who was current on her mortgage with Bank of America close her short sale and months later, Bank of America sent her a notice that it was going to auction. It noticed that she had stopped making payments -- but not because she had paid off her loan -- and foreclosed on her! This happened right when the seller was rejected for a student loan and really needed the money to live on.
Well, that's certainly scary! BOA is not being as careful as they should be! I hope the Homeowners WIN THEIR LAWSUITS ( which they NEED to file!)!!!!
How horrifying! I wonder if the bank faces any repercussions for their actions?
I met a homeowner at the courthouse steps on time when I was there to make sure that a short-sale listing I had was to be postponed. She told me her horror story that was similiar to some of yours - she had made payments yet they were still trying to take the house. Quite scary indeed.
Where is the due process? Did any of these people receive letters or notices? Even if the bank had the wrong address for the proceding, surely they used that same wrong address for notices. These kinds of stories will keep all of us on our toes watching out for our own houses! Thanks for bringing this information to AR.
A similar situation occurred in Atlanta recently, I don't remember who the bank was, but the sheriff's department put all of the individual's belongings on the curb IN THE RAIN only for it to be discovered later in the day when the poor soul came home, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR!
When these companies have ZERO ACCOUNTABILITYfor their actions from day one, these types of occurences typically go un-noticed & un-punished.
When my parents moved a couple of years ago they owned their old house outright. They took out a mortgage on their new house, and went ahead and moved. When they sold their old house they paid off the mortgage on the new house in full. So, they only had that mortgage for about 3 months. When they took out the mortgage they explained that this was their plan...it was documented. They had it written where they would not be fined for paying off the home early...
6 months after they pd off the mortgage the bank tried to foreclose on them. They had messed up the file. All they knew was that they were not getting the monthly payments anymore. They missed the line where it had been paid off. When it was paid off it the account wasn't closed properly.
It was a HUGE headache, weeks of phone calls, trips to the main Houston branch Downtown, a lawyer had to get involved, and we were in communication with the constables office to prove we had the deed and it was paid off. Finally the bank backed down, AND paid the lawyer's fees. But we really had to fight hard.
Events such as these is why many people do not do business with banks or government anymore. They are surely in bed together.
Unbelievable Stacey. I hope that they will get everything they lost back plus damages for mental stress!
We're all human and we make mistakes. I'm sure a few of us have gone to a wrong house or unlisted house to show to our clients.
My home loan was recently sold to B of Am and I hate it hate it hate it!
It does not surprise me that occasional mistakes are made. It does surprise me that BofA is so arrogant that it did not resolve the issue ASAP. Well maybe it does not surprise me.
That's very unpleasant stories but we are all humans and it happens.
It happened to me recently. From the other side though but still...
I bought a house at trustee sale and that house was put on sale by mistake. The owner filed bankruptcy but the trustee didn't have the paperwork. So the sale has been cancelled afterwards and I've received all my original checks back. No one has been evicted or even disturbed. So it worked out finally but I wish it didn't happen.
I've heard of this before, but it wasn't the bank that was responsible, but the company hired to winterize and secure the property. They just show up and break in, do what they do and put a lockbox on the door when they leave. It can actually be a criminal offense.
Yikes! My mortgage is with BOA! How terrible!
What a nightmare. It is hard to imagine that someone during the chain did not have the brains or power to stop this cold. I just could not imagine the hardship that would cause my family. ~Doug
Hi Stacey, How in this world... I just can't imagine how it could get that far - suppose the owners thought the same thing !
I read the same article on Friday. I am amazed and new legislation doesn't require the federally chartered banks to follow the same rules as mtg brokers. WOW!
I'm sure it was a horrible experience for the home owner but, it appears to be about a fraction of a fraction percent wise to the number of mortgages the company holds.
I am not saying this as an advocate of Bank of America but, come on. This post is a little bit on the sensationalism side, don't you think? They didn't do the dirty lending that CountryWide did - they bought the defunct company and other financial institutes the government deemed too late to be too poor a risk.
Do you have a follow up - like how much BofA paid to correct the mistake?
...can you say PICKET!!!???
What a horrible experience! I kept thinking of visiting my townhouse in AZ and finding it locked and foreclosed - I can't imagine how heartbreaking that would be. I have a mortgage with BOA but keep in mind, at least two of these foreclosures did not have anything to do with BOA - one had been a cash purchase and the other was paid off - and not with BOA.
This reminds me of drug raids made on the wrong people. Life-changing events that I only hope the victims get well compensated for.
I hope this nightmare ends soon for everyone! All I can say is, thank heavens for my LOCAL community bank!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I had a client that had a similiar issue with Country Wide. They made a payment and didn't get credited for it.
They are too big to fail.
Too big to have a clue.
Too big to know how to fix this.
Wow! This foreclosure nightmare is even touching people whose houses are paid off or paid for in cash! What a disgrace to our bureaucratic system.
Congratulations on the feature StaceyAnn. Can just not imagine the grief these poor people went through. This should not be happening.
Congrats on the feature Dr.Stacey Ann Baugh. Two in a row-You are on fire-LOL. But seriously I can't believe that this can actually happen. I am off to read the other articles. Thanks for sharing this. Great post.
Congrat's on the feature!
Stories like this are frankly just aggrivating! Not knowing the full justified story, my heart goes out to those individuals!
Just goes to show that the banks are overworked and ill prepared to handle the volume in Mod's, S/S and Foreclosures; plus they need to retrain a lot of the LMO's.
That is crazy, not to mention scary!
Like the banks don't have enough problems, they go and create mor for themselves.
Gregory - At no point was my post intented to be sensational. I wrote a blog about something that I was not aware of and that I found horrifying. I still stand by that. I did not intend it as a bashing of Bank of America (which services my own mortgage and has all my accounts). It may only be a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the loans but that does not make it right. Also, in the stories linked above there were indications that many people had tried to draw attention to the bank personnel that they were making mistakes and they did not listen. As of the writing of the article, there was no resolution for these homeowners who had suffered these losses. If this were your house would you not be outraged?
Wow Stacey, when it rains it pours and another great post! I better start keeping an eye on your posts and taking some lessons so I can get a feature!
VB ;o)
Pillowcases sound safer unless of course they're in a falsly appointed foreclosed home!
VB - Too funny
MaryBeth - I guess you have to be careful where you keep the pillowcase.
Wow... Pretty scary. You would think these people were served papers and had a chance to defend themselves...
I've been assigned REO properties and shown up for evictions and it was the wrong property. This can happen when a property code is split after the original mortgage was recorded on the property or when someone was not careful enough to type correctly.
I have been trying to deal with Bank of America on a short sale. We sent it in in Sept, 2009, and they denied it yesterday, Feb 22, 2010. About two months after we submitted the offer, we lost the buyer. I had been calling Bank of America at least once a week until the buyer walked. Once we lost the buyer I just stopped calling. It took Bank of America until now to finally respond and only after I had put on their new "upgraded website" Equator that we had lost the buyer. I am about ready to report them to our State and Federal Congressmen and Senators. They are the worst! An absolute nightmare! It is like living in a Kafka novel. Then they have the nerve to advertise on PBS. Advertisment is not going to fix the image they are projecting. Hope all the people they walk on sue them and win.
Stacey Ann, Nothing surprises me about banks any more. They make so many mistakes it is hard to believe.
This is unbelievable for sure Stacey... Unaceptable as well. I agree someone should file suit against them
Stacey, that is just outrageous! Someone needs to reign these banks in.
It does seem as if the bank would be required to give some kind of notice before suddenly sending someone to lock up the house. But, with B of A, who knows.
It really upset me when my Countrywide loan went to them - Countrywide was bad enough. Of course, in these cases, the folks didn't even have a loan with B of A - so it appears that NO ONE is safe from their greedy little claws.
I had read of this, too. I agree with the comments re: who is policing this bank?
I have never heard of this. And that it has happened more than once is astonishing!
Please tell me that the tax payers won't be obligated to "bail out" BofA for its "liability" in its mismanagement of assests, because the lawsuits are going to be huge!
Good old B of A! I wonder if they are ashamed of themselves yet?!
I only have one word that describes my response.....AMAZING. I told think that it is important which bank and much as it is a bank that made this mistake.
I bet Bank of America is not the only one making these mistakes. I think what's scary is that some of these people had attempted to rectify the situation and the foreclosure was ordered anyway.
That is amazing in this day and age... unbelieveable! So did you ever find out what happened with the family? i would love to hear how this story ended up!
Wow, that is unreal. News to me, thanks for sharing.
Stacey-Ann, I am more surprised and disturbed by the fact that nothing has been done for those home owners. Maybe it is under ligation and that is the hold up? I don't know and yes I would be very upset if I had experienced it first hand.
Maybe you should link it to this blog: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1513482/bank-of-america-seeks-realtor-assistance-in-new-program-me-
This is a horrible situation that I had not heard of. I hope Bank of America made things right for the people whose lives they caused great pain and anquish--sounds like Attorneys are going to be making a lot of money in the near future and now.
If you could see the disbelief expression on my face right now. This is just ridiculous and needs to get some serious press. This is what needs to be on Nightline or something.
Are you SURE these are all accidents? Turns out MY house had 3 loan guaratees on it. The first one was from the VA (I bought it as a forclosure from the VA). The second was an in-house forced-placed "home owners insurance," called "Balboa," from when they didn't pay the premium on my REAL Homeowners Insurance with State Farm. The paperwork received SAID "Homeowners Insurance," but if you read the small print, it was actually only a mortgage guarantee. The third was in-house forced-placed "flood insurance" (the house was NOT in a flood zone according to my FEMA letter), also from Balboa. Again, when my Lawyer read the small print, it was actually only a mortgage guarantee. PLUS, when they foreclosed they owned a VERY nice upscale 4/2.5/2 in a manicured neighborhood worth a lot more then what the loan was for.
They'd have to be sneaky to pull this off. The VA would never pay off if they knew of another guarantee, so they would have to get payment from that one first. Then it would be no trouble to pay themselves from their own insurance company for the other two. Then they get another couple hundred thousand from the sale of the house.
I noticed you mentioned "Bank of America." These people took on more than they could chew. They may have taken over Countrywide Home Loans (the REAL culprits) but the employees and managers are all the same people, keeping their jobs. Don't forget CHL is only one very huge servicing company. They are still running things the way they always have... crookedly! One B of A Manager I spoke with, commented "We have a LOT of work to do!"
How much longer it will take to clean up the CHL mess is beyond me. Some of their shinanigans may be tempting to B of A to keep. There is a LOT of money to be had, and the servicing company STILL hasn't been charged with any wrong doing. They've gotten away with a lot, maybe they still can? Seems there are no laws that say they can't do some of the things they've been doing. PROOF is king in this atmosphere, but who's willing to snitch and loose their job?
In the meantime, people are being foreclosed on for things like... "no flood insurance," and "no home owners insurance," only because CHL didn't use the money in the escrow account to pay the premium. Then CHL raises the mortage payment by $250 to $500 a month to "cover the cost" of the forced-placed ins., which forces the client into foreclosure.
The only thing hurting them, is they didn't foresee the real estate climate we have now... "Oh gee whiz... we won't be able to make as much money off the SALE of these homes we were hoping to."
Hello Stacey and I really like this post and wanted to try and keep it alive with a feature at .........
SAD AT ACTIVERAIN
VB ;)
It truly is amazing that these mistakes can be made, but with millions of foreclosures taking place it's inevitable for a few mistakes to happen. No system is perfect. After Hurricane Ivan, the guy that lives across the street from me had his house torn down by accident. A lot of homes were being torn down because of storm damage and the house next door to him was the one that was supposed to be demolished. His house had made it through the storm relatively unharmed. That is, until half the house was leveled by a huge wrecking ball.
I have just had the same thing happen to me. They accidentially sold my house at auction. You can not belive how hard it is to correct. I have paid over $ 10,000 in lawyer fees, and now they are trying to have me evicted from my own house. It is unbelieveable. If there are any lawyers out there with any experience in this area I would love to hear from them. I am in Los Angeles County, in California. It just seems like the system is designed against me.