« Canadian mortgage bubble ? | Main | Homeshopping NYC »

Stop order on foreclosure and loan modification package to arrive the next day ?


Catherine Cortez Masto, the attorney general of Nevada said her office's findings were confirmed by interviews with consumers, former employees, third parties and documents. Former employees said that Bank of America's modification staff was "chaotic, understaffed and not oriented to customers," according to a news release. One former employee said, "The main purpose of the training is to teach us how to get customers off the phone in less than 10 minutes."

Another employee said, "When checking on a borrower's status, I often found that the modification request had not been dealt with or was so old that the request had become inactive. Yet, I was instructed to inform borrowers that they were 'active and in status.' One time I complained to a supervisor that I felt I always was lying to borrowers."

The Arizona complaint cites the case of an Apache Junction couple who faced foreclosure. When the wife called the bank, a representative told her 'not to worry,' there was a stop order on the foreclosure and the couple's loan modification package would arrive the next day. The next day the homeowner learned that her house had already been sold, the suit says.

Terry Goddard, attorney general of Arizona, said the lawsuit was filed in part because the bank had violated the terms of a 2009 consent decree that Countrywide Home Loans -- which Bank of America purchased in 2008 -- had engaged in "widespread consumer fraud" in originating and marketing mortgages. As part of the judgment, Countrywide had agreed to create a loan modification program for some Arizona homeowners.

BUSINESS DAY
Two States Sue Bank of America Over Mortgages
By ANDREW MARTIN and MICHAEL POWELL
Published: December 17, 2010
The two states contend the bank misled customers about their eligibility for modifications on their home mortgages.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.stylizedfacts.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/fotohof/managed-mt/mt-tb.cgi/6046

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)