Welcome to The Home Equity Theft Reporter, a blog dedicated to informing the consumer public and the legal profession about Home Equity Theft issues. This blog will consist of information describing the various forms of Home Equity Theft and links to news reports & other informational sources from throughout the country about the victims of Home Equity Theft and what government authorities and others are doing about it.
Saturday, October 06, 2012
BofA Continues Relentless Attack On Homeowners w/ Baseless F'closure Threats Triggered By Sloppy Recordkeeping; Another Victim Ends Up With Empty Apologies After Media Intervention
In Portland, Oregon, KGW-TV Channel 8 reports:
Four months after Bank of America admitted making mistakes in threatening to foreclose on a Portland woman’s home, the bank is back at it again. “It’s a slap in the face,” that homeowner, Polly Brown, told Unit 8. “It looks like to me they're just a bureaucratic mess and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, it’s just a mess.”
In April, Unit 8 helped Brown get an apology and correction to her credit scores from Bank of America. She thought her mortgage mess had ended, until she got a recent letter from the bank.
That’s when she contacted Unit 8 for help again.
***
After she [initially] called Unit 8 in April, we contacted the Oregon Attorney General. Bank of America eventually apologized for making mistakes, and promised to correct inaccurate information they had sent to credit bureaus.
Those actions satisfied Brown. She told Unit 8, “I got results when you [Unit 8] and the Attorney General got involved. I got results. Bank of America cleaned up my credit and corrected their accounting mistakes.”
She thought her troubles were over. Then, in September, she got a certified letter from Bank of America warning her that her payments were past due. The letter stated, “It is important that we receive full payment as soon as possible so you can avoid foreclosure on your home.”
Bank of America’s letter continued, “According to our records, your home loan payments of $.00, which includes any late charges or applicable fees, for the month(s) of July 2012 through September 2012, are past due.”
“So I owe zero dollars,” said Brown. “It’s almost laughable but then I checked my credit report,” Brown said the credit bureau Equifax shows that in July, Bank of America reported she had a past due payment of $1,694.00. “I’m angry,” said Brown. “I paid those [mortgage payments]. How can B of A say that?”
Brown again contacted Unit 8, and we took the new information to the Oregon Attorney General. “Unfortunately, we still see a lot of mistakes still happening, ”Assistant Attorney General Simon Whang told us.
***
“From what I can see, it looks like they're in violation of this term of the [$25 billion settlement] agreement, yes,” Whang said to Unit 8. “Here you have an erroneous situation where she actually did make the payment, but a false statement went to the credit reporting bureaus.”
In a written statement to KGW, Bank of America spokesperson Jumana Bauwens wrote, “We apologize to Ms. Brown for the error in applying her payments to her mortgage. The situation is already being addressed to ensure all payments and credit reporting are reflected properly. Ms. Brown now has a permanent modification on her mortgage.”
Brown said for all her trouble she got her mortgage modified by less than a hundred dollars a month.
CBC News: Betrayal of Trust (A CBC investigation reveals how lawyers across Canada have misappropriated and mishandled clients money, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, or sometimes even charging vulnerable people top dollar for shoddy services)
Land Contract/Contract For Deed/Rent-To-Own Rackets
The New York Times: The Housing Trap (In the wake of the housing crisis, low-income families have turned to seller financing to buy homes but these deals can be a money trap)
Beware The Fine Print: Consumers Forced To Sign Away Their Rights To Use Court System
The NY Times: Arbitration Everywhere, Stacking the Deck of Justice(Part 1 in series examining how clauses buried in tens of millions of contracts have deprived Americans of one of their most fundamental constitutional rights: their day in court)
Foreclosure Mills' Abysmal Record In Complying With New NYS Foreclosure Requirements
Justice Deceived: How Large Foreclosure Firms Subvert State Regulations Protecting Homeowners
MFY Legal Services Report On Questionable Practices By Process Servers In Debt Collection Cases
Justice Disserved: A Preliminary Analysis of the Exceptionally
Low Appearance Rate by Defendants in Lawsuits Filed in the Civil Court of the City of New York
Mortgage Mess Redux: Robo-Signers Return (A Reuters investigation finds that many banks are still employing the controversial foreclosure practices that sparked a major outcry last year)
CNN Video: As Foreclosures Mount, Florida Court Turns To 'Rocket Docket'
The Wall Street Journal: A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases (2 Questions, 15 Seconds, 45 Days to Get Out; 'What's to Talk About?' Says a Judge)
"Produce The Note" Strategy When Dealing With Missing Promissory Notes In Foreclosure Actions
ABC Video: Fighting Against Foreclosure (Some homeowners have found a new tactic to keep the banks at bay)
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