Bank of America Helps 125,000 Homeowners With “Making Home Affordable” Loan Modifications

Starting November 1st, Bank of America’s will have surpassed its goal of providing 125,000 trial loan modifications through the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).  These modifications, part of the Making Home Affordable Program, aim to resolve loan issues by offering an incentive for banks to accept modifications to a loans terms, rather than simply foreclosing on the home.

affordable

Affordable Home

Casting a Wide Net

Bank of America was one of the earliest to run trial modifications under the new program, and since then has dramatically increased the number of homeowners enrolled in these trials. Since the program was created, the Bank has contacted over 600,000 homeowners, and extended modification offers to more than 200,000. That means nearly one in five of the HAMP modifications in the US have been initiated by Bank of America.

Because of this high level of involvement, home loan modification trials offered by Bank of America are being watched closely as a test of the efficiency and effectiveness of the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program.

Signs of Success

Thus far, modification has appeared to be much more profitable for both parties than simple foreclosure. As we wrote earlier this month in an article on HAMP and loan servicers, foreclosures can be very expensive for the lending institution, costing up to $50,000 or more per foreclosure. Bank of America states that it has seen substantial gains in its trial period loan modifications, and that if this progress continues, they may convert to permanent modifications in November.

For more information on the Home Affordable Modification Program and to see if you qualify, visit the official website here.

About the banks

 

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other. It operates in 32 states, the District of Columbia and 30 foreign countries.

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  • boaisnotamerican
    Been going through the B of A BS for well over a year. Got the trial modification @3300/month (from 4500) and did 5 months on time and were finally denied since my son was living in the house (and we weren't). The house has a mortgage of 500K and current value of 340K but these a-holes don't give a shit. It's amazing that they are willing to eat a 160K loss and not permanantly reduce our payments by reducing our 8.25% loan by a few ponts to get our revised payments. They are truly messed up. I guess they just want us to have a year of free rent.
  • Sean O. - Nashville, TN
    I have been proactively calling B of A for SIX MONTHS since my income was cut in half. I have TWICE provided a rather hefty packet of documentation. Despite my FedEx proof-of-deliver, they claim they never got it. I had to do it all again. Today I got a letter saying that my documentation was "incomplete". I currently on hold waiting for the FOURTH person I've been transferred to to tell me exactly what is missing. Oooops... no, now I'm on with the FIFTH person. I am intentionally being given the runaround. I would love to SUE B of A for their intentional mishandling and for all the hours I've invested in this for nothing. MHA is pure B.S. -- All smoke and mirrors. Our country spent billons on THIS??
  • Frustrated at BOA
    I my self am going threw the same thing I called the hope team at (makinghomesaffordable.gov), but i think that they maybe be run by BOA also. Like all of you I have been told I qualify, just to be told that BOA has received no packet information from me. Yet I sent them there certified FedEx pack back. What are we to do? I have called my Legislative branch, and my State banking Commission. Can we do more? How do we make this main stream?
  • Worried
    Oh man...I'm afraid that we are in for it after reading all of these posts. We just made our 2nd trial payment, submitted ALL the requested documents, and then submitted a couple of additional things they asked for. Then they sent a fedex requesting things that were "missing" which, in fact, were in the original packet I sent them. I called to double check on it and after 8 minutes on hold was told that they DID have everything necessary to process it after all. We'll see what happens next, but I'm thinking we should be prepared for the worst after reading all of the above posts! We weren't even delinquent on the loan prior to their offer to reduce the payment by $600 with no fees, no additional principal added to the balance, etc. We are in the process of filing for bankruptcy, however, and all of our other debts are included in that. Ugh...I'm going to throw up if this is all for naught, but I will be a loud voice in the class action suit if it happens!!!!
  • beenliedto
    I am with all of you. I have been going through the B of A torment as well. Dealing with the constant lies and we are the ones paying for there lies. Countless nights with no sleep and not to mention the sickness I feel everyday. I will join any class action suit. I may file my own soon for mental stress and anguish. I have never sued anyone ever but this is beyond acceptable. Our government is turning a blind eye towards Americans in need.
  • AnitaMitchell1
    There are thousands of homeowners and ex-homeowners who have be scammed by Bank of Americas HOPE programs, and the like. I tried to do a deed in lieu and after I sent the paperwork (3 times) they sent me a letter saying they could not contact me. This is bull! They did not leave me any message and would claim I never returned their call. I restarted this program three times and got the same story each time. In the mean time the bills are piling up because they are intentionally delaying the process. It seems like they intentionally want to foreclose on the property rather help homeowners. They should change their name to the Bank of America Crooks. It is business practices like this that give Americans a bad name and got us into this predicament in the first place. When is the class action suit? Sign me up.
  • sickandtiredofbsinfl
    If you decide to start a class action suit count us in!
  • Tired and Done in SoCAL IV
    Our story was so like AHCCD. Went to the attorney 3rd wk of Jan 2009 thinking we had better leverage to get a loan mod due to hardship/loss of income. Cost 3k! Regardless, our timeline was just like AHCCD's. Jan 27, 2010, one year later we finally got the final mod offer.

    Our trial was 2450 but then they added another 100 on top. Property taxes dropped to about half as the last assessment 2 years ago so i don't know why it had to go up! Also it's fixed for 28yrs at one % less than what it use to be around to around 5.5%. Well we also have to add about 120 in hoa so basically we are well over the percentage that the bank is not suppose to exceed when processing mods for troubled homeowners.

    After paying january, we have given up since our attorney did not seem to be of any use and just lost every ounce of patience. Now looking at the mod, I can't even read the whole thing. I even told and wrote the bank the trial amount before was still too high and we have had some emergencies where we just didn't have the funds. Tired. We will soon to be another statistic in support of the failure of the Obama plan.

    I do think they have an evil SOP on how to handle the HAMP customers.
  • lynnCA
    We just got our final papers from B of A and the proposed permanent payment is only $100 less than what we were originally paying! The interest rate only went down 0.3% ! Our household income was cut in half over a year ago and lowering our payment $100 and adding close to $5,000 to our loan amount for fees etc. doesn't help. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Is anyone else in this predicament?
  • anonymous_1
    Less talk more action people. Ban of America won't listen to you. Class action suit is for sure. First step is to campaign outside their branches. Get local news companies to observe and record.
  • Boris
    People, I have a concrete question to those of you who are in this "trial" period. Is your "trial" amount higher than the suggested "modified" amount? Please respond to this! With some little variations my story is exactly the same as Ahccd's story above. So I'm sure it's BOA policy, and not the "conspiracy" of few malicious employees of BOA. And the fact that you can't get anything in writing from them only confirms it. I suspect those "trial periods" are the tricks designed to get as much as possible from you and then dump you anyway. I'm wondering btw has anyone tried to question them why the "trial" amount is higher than "proposed" , or "modified"? Mine is much higher. They said that the "final" monthly payment will be like $1100 (I purposely use round numbers close to real) while for the "trial" I must pay $1650 (and my original payment is $1800 which I'm arguing I can't pay but can pay only $1100). I can certainly borrow the missing amount from friends and pay 3 times $1650, but I'm sure at the end they'll say: Hey, if you can pay it why did you ask for modification in first place?

    So people, I suggest lets get serious, stop whining, and lets file class action against BOA demanding to void those mortgages for those of us who took this amount of harassment and abuse. Bottom line they cannot harrass people like this. They can forclose, they can demand payment, but they cannot abuse and humiliate customers like this. This is America, not Mexico. Lets do something about it.
  • bn81159
    Me an my family are in the same boat however we are in the first stages of trying to qualify for a loan mod. Our case is we have lost a substantial amount of income due to a job loss in the family but we are over the 31% but not by much. We have spoke with SO many people at BOA and get a different answer each and every time we call. We want to keep our home but NEED this help but BOA doesnt care.... What to do, I agree i am all for a class action lawsuit against BOA, IM IN...... If we can get several hundred thousand people behind this and get it to the media we will all win this battle. Barry
  • Kathy Smith
    I agree with the class action. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone who was trying to Or have gotten a modification got on board with a class action suit what would happen to these banks??? Maybe we would all be award our home mortgage free like that couple in New Jersey!!!!
  • fedupwithbofa
    My story is exactly like the ones above. We have been going through this for almost a year now. I have sent them everything within 2 days of their request and they just keep saying they dont have it. The last 2 days I have gotten a call that says if you received a fed ex package press one, you press one and it is just a vicous circle. We have been customers of B of A for 30 years. I can't believe they are doing this to people and all the while racking up a larger ballance so they can forclose. We are not updise down on our home we have just had some hardship issues and I am facing surgery. I can't deal with this anymore. When we started this process we had perfect credit and Bof A through bad advice from its phone reps has now made it impossible for us to turn anywhere else. Therfore when they turn us town the amount that we will be forced to come up with or turn our house over to them will be to large of an amount to recover from. It is a giant game and only the banks are getting richer, I don't believe one dam dime of the bail out money has helped a struggling home owner!
  • David Crispin
    How come your numbers don't match what Bank of America released to the government. They have the lowest rate of help of any major bank.
  • Ahccd
    On July 3, 2009 we received a package from Bank of America saying that we may be eligible for a loan modification as part of the Home Affordable Modification Program, we were being put on a 3 month trial period. Bank of America requested a list of documentation and sent a 3 month payment schedule, the requested documents were returned to the bank via FedEx within 48 hours. Our first payment due on August 2, 2009 was made.

    On August 5, 2009 I received a call from Bank of America saying that paperwork was missing; after going over the documents page by page (34 pages) with their representative we found the only problem was with the 4506-T form (my husband’s social security number was missing and he signed in the wrong place). The representative told me that to be on the safe side, I should correct the 4506-T form and fax all the documents to them. On August 6, 2009 I faxed everything to them again, noting the loan number on each page and an FPS # provided to me by the banks representative. I called the bank on August 10, 2009 to ensure the documents were received, I was told a 34 page fax was received but had not been scanned into their system yet.

    On September 5, 2009, I received a phone call from Bank of America, saying documents were missing, and they now claimed they never received my fax of August 6, 2009 or it never got scanned. I was asked to submit everything again with updated bank statements. On September 7, 2009 I once again faxed everything with the requested updated bank statements. On September 11, 2009 I called the bank to make sure the documents were received and once again was told a fax had been received but not scanned. Our September payment had been made.

    On October 23, 2009 I received a call from Teresa Henry (Modification Loan Officer/Loss Mitigation Analyst) with Bank of America saying documents were missing. Ms. Henry went over every document they needed, I faxed and emailed Ms. Henry the documents, again with the most recent bank statements. Once received I stayed on the phone with Ms. Henry going document by document to ensure everything was there. As of this date the October and November payments had been made.


    On November 17, 2009 I received a FedEx from Bank of America, thanking me for my payments but stating paperwork was missing, they were going to give me one last chance to submit the paperwork. I called Ms. Henry to ask what was going on. Ms. Henry told me to FedEx the bank exactly what I sent her; in addition she sent me a copy of a letter she had submitted to the HDR stating that all the paperwork had been submitted. Ms. Henry told me to submit a copy of this letter with the paperwork. All documents were fedex to Bank of America on November 18, 2009. I further sent Ms. Henry a copy of the FedEx receipt and tracking number.

    On November 27, 2009 I noted that my home phone had recorded several missed calls (between Nov. 24 and Nov. 27, 2009) from an 877 number (no one had left a message, they were just noted as missed calls) curious, I called the number; it was Bank of America “Hope Department”. The gentleman that I spoke with was extremely rude saying “What do you want”, when I explained they were apparently trying to contact me, he said “Yeah, you’re missing paperwork.” When I asked him to hold for a moment so that I could give him Ms. Henry’s name and number, he hung up on me. December’s payment had been made.

    And in the middle of all this, some man from Titanium Solutions knocks on our door and says they have been hired by Bank of America because our home is in foreclosure. When I called Bank of America, the first representative said Titanium Solutions was not affiliated with Bank of America and if they showed up again I should call the police. When I started receiving several phone calls a day and letters from Titanium Solutions I called Bank of America again. This time I was told that Titanium does represent BofA; it’s just that not everyone at BofA knows it.

    I am at a loss as to what to do; I have made all the payments, have submitted all the paperwork (5 times) and still I wake up every day expecting to lose my home. If they didn’t have my paperwork why do they read me off a list of documents in their system? The internet is filled with hundreds of stories just like mine; some people have been declined modifications because Bank of America continues to say they are not receiving the paperwork (see www.loansafe.org). In my numerous calls with Bank of America they are quick to point blame at everyone else, it’s the governments fault for needing all this paperwork, it’s my fault, and I’m not submitting the right thing, an agent told me the wrong thing (etc). I realize they are overwhelmed with the number of modification requests, but I also believe they are not dealing fairly with the homeowners.
  • lespudo
    I have gone through the same problem. My account online states I was approved for a modification and would receive a call from a negotiator and documents to sign, this never happened. Instead I received a letter stating I was over income. Upon speaking with several reps who all gave me a different story and none of them could see nor explain the notations on the account regarding the approval. Now I am behind 4 months when I was only behind 1 month when this started. I have made all my regular payments and then the modified payments (4 months) which were phoned in on the 1st of each month and they did not apply until the 16th and 17th of each month. Now they want to start foreclosure proceedings. There is also a $2,000.00 difference between what their website states my balance is and the letter sent requesting full payment. They cannot explain this either. DOES ANYONE KNOW IF WE HAVE A CASE AGAINST THEM?
  • Kathy
    Contact Brian Moyihan the new CEO. What you are going through is pure BS. If that doesn't work file Bankruptcy. You will be protected by the Bankruptcy Laws. I think if more people filed Bankruptcy maybe these flipping banks would get the message!
  • gigialex
    We are currently in the trial period for Making Home affordable with Bank of America. We complied with sending all of the needed paperwork in as soon as we got it. Of course there was one additional item that they wanted which was a current profit and loss statement for our home based business which had closed down the year before. I wrote several letters explaining that to them as they requested and faxed the letters and also sent them certified mail. Our trial period began on September 1st and I went back and forth with them on this issue since the middle of August. Over and over again they conveniently claimed that they were not getting the documents. Finally, two weeks into November they kicked us out of the program for incomplete paperwork. This is after Bank of America had actually assigned us to a negotiator. Suddenly the negotiator refused to answer our calls saying that it was out of his hands. Apparently nobody knows how to reinstate our modification now. I have been calling daily and trying to get a hold of managers who say that they are going to help but never call back as promised. The only thing that they tell me is to make sure that we keep making the trial period payments...of course they want to make sure that they keep getting their money. This whole thing has been a joke. We now believe that they had no intention of helping us in the first place. They were just going through the motions to make it look like they were trying to help us so they won't get scolded by the government. Now they can blame us for not complying with their requests and they can foreclose because they have "attempted" to help us. The way that we have been treated is disgusting and unacceptable. I have lost many, many hours of sleep over this and continue to worry about what we will do with three children under the age of 5 when they foreclose on us.
  • marylogan
    MY friend, at the end of all this. BOA will Forclosed on you and your family. They are just buying time. Its is not worth you loosing sleep and getting worry. What will happen if you get sick and still can't pay your mortage. Who will take care of your children and wife. Life is worth living for. Telling people you have a house is good. "material things". We more worrry about what people we thing of us when we loos our home. My friend at the end of the day most people don't care about you but them self. But we forget the most important thing in life (our families). Childern Love they parents even if you are living in a hole. please think about what is most important in your life. BOA is not wroth your life. You will be much happer will less and have a piece of mind.
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