by E. B. Smith

Created on: May 29, 2010   Last Updated: May 30, 2010

As a citizen of a major city in the United States it is a familiar scene in the inner city to see neighborhoods overtaken by gangs. These gangs consume neighborhoods filled within hard working people. They migrate to the neighborhoods accompanied by the consumers of their products who often come from privileged and middle class areas. All the forces work together to destroy the fabric of the communities causing fear and mayhem. They help to destroy the family structure, the infrastructure and the community’s hope.

Bank Of America, or shall I say “The BAC” has taken over numerous home servicing companies over the past few years. Many of the companies held mortgages of hard working people who had great expectations of sustaining a 30 year mortgage that would help maintain their families and their security. When the economy took a drastic turn, many of the mortgage holders found themselves struggling to keep their dream alive. For this, the government lent a hand to Bank Of America to assist Americans that had found themselves in trouble with their home loans.

But has Bank of America hurt or harmed the very people it was set out to help? Bank Of America’s reputation was typical of large corporation, but before recently I had no experience with them. Until, my home loan servicer was shut down by the government, and guess who was nice enough to take over the servicing of many of their poor old customers? You guessed it “The BAC”.

The previous servicer negotiating my arrearages and late fees along with a new interest rate and an agreement was signed and underway. Until the take over of “The BAC”.  From the beginning, it appeared Bank Of America did not have a clue. Ironically, their take over was two weeks before my remodification was set to close. Just like a true organized group of smart business people, they claimed they had no record of it. Still, I sent a payment in. The payment was much higher than what was agreed through the remodification because when I spoke to them prior to sending it, they seem to agree to honor the current mortgage. No problem right? Wrong!  In less than seven days they sent it back, stating that it wasn’t enough.

For three months they continued to send an account statement that was nearly $500.00 more than I had ever paid.  To compile the aggravation, nearly every call to reconcile the issues yielded a phone transfer and an eventual disconnected call. Imagine being hung up on by a multimillion dollar operation “by accident”, eight or more times in three months.

A mutual friend introduced me to a concerned real estate agent from Howard Hanna. The agent gave me information about various government programs that could keep me out of foreclosure.  I called “The BAC” to inquire about the programs, wouldn’t you know it, the call was ended by yet another “accidental disconnection”.

The Remedy

I called a second time and made them aware that I would no longer make any calls to them looking for a remedy. I had decided to send letters and calls to the attorney generals office to inform them of my madness. Ironically, this time there was no “accidental disconnections”.  I enjoyed a pleasant conversation with a customer service worker and all my concerns were addressed. Finally it appeared that a possible solution would be sought. The entire call lasted less than five minutes.

Is it fair to insinuate that BAC operates like an illegal gang?

I suggest you choose them as your mortgage servicer and then e mail me your answer.

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