I have had a Countrywide mortgage for years. Last year I refinanced to get a better interest rate and pay off credit cards. Countrywide was always easy to work with even when one time I got 2 months behind in the mortgage. Then last year Countrywide goes under and Bank of America takes over.
I won't go in to all the small problems that Bank of America has caused just the big one. Escrow.
One of the nicest things about having a mortgage over owning your home outright is the escrow acount where they pay the taxs and insurance by collecting extra each month as part of the payment. Well a week ago I got the statement where they were refiguring my payment and the payment was going up over $150 a month. I finally looked at the statement and found they had included flood insurance (twice) that I don't even have or need. I called them up to ask about it and the story kept changing as I moved up the chain of comand. Finaly they said they were droping it and would refigure the escrow.
If any of you have had similar problems with them please PM me. I want to find out it they were only going after me or is it systematic. My neigbours went up $54 a month and they don't know why.
Two companies I have had 100 percent success with. Chase held my mortgage and GEICO holds my insurance policy (both vehicle and homeowner). Never had a problem with either one. Country held my second house mortgage and, at best, "kinda OK" which is to say no major problems but no major satisfaction. BoA has a horrible rep in California. Perhaps you want to just walk into a Chase bank and see what they will re-fi you for. GEICO is a free rate quote on line. Their customer service is phenomenal.
I have had a Countrywide mortgage for years. Last year I refinanced to get a better interest rate and pay off credit cards. Countrywide was always easy to work with even when one time I got 2 months behind in the mortgage. Then last year Countrywide goes under and Bank of America takes over.
I won't go in to all the small problems that Bank of America has caused just the big one. Escrow.
One of the nicest things about having a mortgage over owning your home outright is the escrow acount where they pay the taxs and insurance by collecting extra each month as part of the payment. Well a week ago I got the statement where they were refiguring my payment and the payment was going up over $150 a month. I finally looked at the statement and found they had included flood insurance (twice) that I don't even have or need. I called them up to ask about it and the story kept changing as I moved up the chain of comand. Finaly they said they were droping it and would refigure the escrow.
If any of you have had similar problems with them please PM me. I want to find out it they were only going after me or is it systematic. My neigbours went up $54 a month and they don't know why.
Last week I read news reports about BofA losing $200 million in the last quarter of 2009. I'm not sure why or how they did that but I do know that BofA has systematically been fraudulently charging outrageous late fees and overdraft fees based on highly improper timing schemes related to depositing checks into accounts and then not making the amounts of those deposits available to write checks against. I know one local contractor here in the Phoenix area that was hit with nearly $1000 in such fees based on only one such incident (one deposit he made, several checks that he wrote against those funds).
I also read in 2009 that BofA had been successfully sued in southern Arizona for improperly charging those fees for quite a few customers.
So, my hunch is that your problem IS systemic in that bank.
Last week I read news reports about BofA losing $200 million in the last quarter of 2009. I'm not sure why or how they did that but I do know that BofA has systematically been fraudulently charging outrageous late fees and overdraft fees based on highly improper timing schemes related to depositing checks into accounts and then not making the amounts of those deposits available to write checks against. I know one local contractor here in the Phoenix area that was hit with nearly $1000 in such fees based on only one such incident (one deposit he made, several checks that he wrote against those funds).
I also read in 2009 that BofA had been successfully sued in southern Arizona for improperly charging those fees for quite a few customers.
So, my hunch is that your problem IS systemic in that bank.
Way back in the 80's when B of A was NCNB, (North Carolina National Bank). Even then they were uppity. Our acronym was:
I had a CW mortgage on one of my houses, which has of course been switched to BofA. I do have them collecting the Escrow stuff for prop taxes and insurance on that house but have not had that problem as yet. However....
When they finally rolled the CW online access into their BofA online access I found it a bit disconcerting. CW had a great site, with easy to read statements and much more info as to the loan specifics. BofA does not, and their site is cumbersome, slow and poorly laid out.
With that rollout of their online access, some things are getting slowed down in processing. I had one payment that cleared my bank 2 weeks before it was posted to the BofA account. They TRIED to add a late charge, but I went up the ladder, AND got a letter from them certifying that the payment was on time. (to protect my credit score if they tried to report it as being late). The back of the check shows they received it 3 days before it was paid by my bank and 10 days before the Late date. I have 2 BA credit cards and I think they were trying to find a reason to raise the interest rates on them.
I don't know if this garbage will continue, but so far I am unimpressed with BofA's ability to handle the extra load of accounting they took on with the CW accounts. I did not have one problem with CW for the 3 years they had the mortgage, and fortunately this is the house we hope to sell this spring. I will not be using BA for any more financing but this one was out of my hands.
Bank of America and a number of other big names have all settled class action suits against them for improperly applying payments so that they can tack on late fees, and various other activities. It is a bit harder to find the information on these cases, because they settled. I have a list at work, if someone needs more specific information PM me and I will get back with you on Monday.
Also, I highly recommend checking the interest rate that shows up on your statement against your cardholder agreement. If you don't have it, ask for it. Once you get it, keep it.
Credit unions are typically a much safer bet than many of the national companies.
We have been defending a debt collection case at work and I am outraged and sickened by what takes place with credit card companies. Once the case is over, I will be contacting my legislature on both a state and federal level. Our laws are outdated and no longer protect the consumer.
Bank of America and a number of other big names have all settled class action suits against them for improperly applying payments so that they can tack on late fees, and various other activities. It is a bit harder to find the information on these cases, because they settled. I have a list at work, if someone needs more specific information PM me and I will get back with you on Monday.
Also, I highly recommend checking the interest rate that shows up on your statement against your cardholder agreement. If you don't have it, ask for it. Once you get it, keep it.
Credit unions are typically a much safer bet than many of the national companies.
We have been defending a debt collection case at work and I am outraged and sickened by what takes place with credit card companies. Once the case is over, I will be contacting my legislature on both a state and federal level. Our laws are outdated and no longer protect the consumer.
By design (not mine). It will take more than simply "contacting" them. Persistence is a necessary virtue (skill, perhaps?).
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RumRunner
Two companies I have had 100 percent success with. Chase held my mortgage and GEICO holds my insurance policy (both vehicle and homeowner). Never had a problem with either one. Country held my second house mortgage and, at best, "kinda OK" which is to say no major problems but no major satisfaction. BoA has a horrible rep in California. Perhaps you want to just walk into a Chase bank and see what they will re-fi you for. GEICO is a free rate quote on line. Their customer service is phenomenal.
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Rocky
Last week I read news reports about BofA losing $200 million in the last quarter of 2009. I'm not sure why or how they did that but I do know that BofA has systematically been fraudulently charging outrageous late fees and overdraft fees based on highly improper timing schemes related to depositing checks into accounts and then not making the amounts of those deposits available to write checks against. I know one local contractor here in the Phoenix area that was hit with nearly $1000 in such fees based on only one such incident (one deposit he made, several checks that he wrote against those funds).
I also read in 2009 that BofA had been successfully sued in southern Arizona for improperly charging those fees for quite a few customers.
So, my hunch is that your problem IS systemic in that bank.
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AHAT4JC
Way back in the 80's when B of A was NCNB, (North Carolina National Bank). Even then they were uppity. Our acronym was:
No
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No
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HAPe4me
I had a CW mortgage on one of my houses, which has of course been switched to BofA. I do have them collecting the Escrow stuff for prop taxes and insurance on that house but have not had that problem as yet. However....
When they finally rolled the CW online access into their BofA online access I found it a bit disconcerting. CW had a great site, with easy to read statements and much more info as to the loan specifics. BofA does not, and their site is cumbersome, slow and poorly laid out.
With that rollout of their online access, some things are getting slowed down in processing. I had one payment that cleared my bank 2 weeks before it was posted to the BofA account. They TRIED to add a late charge, but I went up the ladder, AND got a letter from them certifying that the payment was on time. (to protect my credit score if they tried to report it as being late). The back of the check shows they received it 3 days before it was paid by my bank and 10 days before the Late date. I have 2 BA credit cards and I think they were trying to find a reason to raise the interest rates on them.
I don't know if this garbage will continue, but so far I am unimpressed with BofA's ability to handle the extra load of accounting they took on with the CW accounts. I did not have one problem with CW for the 3 years they had the mortgage, and fortunately this is the house we hope to sell this spring. I will not be using BA for any more financing but this one was out of my hands.
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Abigail
Bank of America and a number of other big names have all settled class action suits against them for improperly applying payments so that they can tack on late fees, and various other activities. It is a bit harder to find the information on these cases, because they settled. I have a list at work, if someone needs more specific information PM me and I will get back with you on Monday.
Also, I highly recommend checking the interest rate that shows up on your statement against your cardholder agreement. If you don't have it, ask for it. Once you get it, keep it.
Credit unions are typically a much safer bet than many of the national companies.
We have been defending a debt collection case at work and I am outraged and sickened by what takes place with credit card companies. Once the case is over, I will be contacting my legislature on both a state and federal level. Our laws are outdated and no longer protect the consumer.
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Rocky
By design (not mine). It will take more than simply "contacting" them. Persistence is a necessary virtue (skill, perhaps?).
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