Mired in Bank of America bureaucracy

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Hey all. I am in the process of applying for loan assistance with Bank of America. On the application I indicated "unsure" when asked whether I would like a short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure, or some other form of loan modification. I am leaning toward asking for a short sale or deed-in-lieu, because I just want to be rid of this stupid condo.

 

I lost my job in 2014, found a new job and had to move out of state, and have tried twice to sell the condo. It just won't sell because the market is utter garbage. Currently the place is rented but the rent that I receive only covers about 60 to 70% of the total monthly cost. I am about 30% underwater on the loan.

 

My credit is good. The only ding on my credit history is an unrelated healthcare charge that Whychat is helping me clear up. I have a 2015 model car, and I just closed on a new house. So I'm good to go in that regard over the next few years.

 

I started the loan modification late last year, I think in November. It has taken quite a long time and we seem to be stuck on a couple of items. For the better part of two months, the underwriters at Bank of America have repeatedly been asking me to submit business tax forms, information on CEO salary, and all kinds of other stuff on a couple of entities in which I am a limited partner. The problem is that both of these entities are merely investments, and I'm a limited partner as opposed to a general partner. I receive a K-1 form for each every year, and that is the only information that I get other than my distributions. I own less than 1% of each fund.

 

Every week the underwriters ask me for something like CEO salary information, profit and loss statements, expense ratios and other details, et cetera. I simply can't give this information because I am not privy to it. Not only that, this stuff doesn't even apply to me as it doesn't affect me in any way. Bank of America keeps asking for such information, no matter how many times I explain to them that I am only a limited partner.

 

Not long ago I sent a desperation request to each entity's respective management firm and asked what further details they could provide. Of course both of them declined to release any overall tax details, as they are not required to do so for a limited partner.

 

I have even gone so far as to send Bank of America my financial advisor's contact information with instructions to contact him so that he may explain this matter further. Nothing doing. They keep coming back with the same type of questions every week, and I keep responding with increasing frustration that the only information that I can supply is on my K1.

 

Help?

[ICANHASMUNY?]

file a complaint with the CFPB?

[DeadMoneyDrew]

If the latest explanation that I sent them does not suffice then I will indeed be filing a complaint. They just asked me to fill out a profit and loss statement for one entity showing nothing other than the dividends that I've gotten from the last 3 months, and for the other one showing all zeros. None of that makes an ounce of sense to me. I'll give him a few days to process it and then file a complaint if they are still asking for more business tax information.

[clc222]

Sounds like a standard BOA stall tactic to me.

 

Back before we filed BK, we tried for nearly 2 years to get BOA to work with us on a mod. There was always something missing. The last time we tried (just before filing), they insisted that they were missing docs that we'd faxed a week before. We had the whole packet that we'd faxed in hand (it was still sitting on the fax), and we went through each document in the stack. Every one of the docs they said they didn't get were in the pack. We finally ended up filing BK, and (when the CSR called us the next week) I chewed him a new one, and told him he could take his missing docs and cram them where the sun don't shine.

 

We're now trying to short sale the home, just to get it out of our names (the home was IIB). I've gone through two more reviews/mortgage mod requests with them in order to qualify for a short sale. This time. The experience is a little better now, and they're only asking for stuff that I haven't already sent...but last year, we got a letter basically saying "Congratulations! You're approved for a short sale", only to have the deal fall through over $5k. Days after the deal went south, we got a letter saying "Sorry, you don't qualify for a short sale due to missing documentation" (2014 taxes).

 

I can't say there's any undeniable proof to back me up, but there seems to be a direct correlation between how well the market is doing, and how willing BOA is to work out a mod (for us, at least). Back before we'd filed BK, we were ~50% underwater on the home. Now we are only about 10% (based on the principal balance of the IIB'd mortgage and the offer we just accepted Friday).

 

Is the mortgage on the condo FHA? If it is, they'll hide behind FHA "requirements" for a lot of what they ask from you.

 

Sorry, this probably isn't overly useful, but it's a short recap of my experience trying to work out a mod and SS with BOA.

 

Good luck, and please keep us posted on how it ends up.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

clc, thanks. Any response detailing dealings with Bank of America is helpful, as it lets me know what to expect as I get further into this.

 

It's a Fannie Mae held mortgage.

 

I've had the same experience as you in that I've had to submit the same documentation 3 or 4 times, and each time I clear one hurdle they seem to throw up another one.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Aaaand yeah. Again they have contacted me and told me that they can't move forward with the modification application until I give them my business tax returns. Sigh.

 

I'll be filing a complaint with the CFPB tomorrow and also will reach out to their escalation department and any other Ombudsman type person that I can find.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

 

 

Sounds like a standard BOA stall tactic to me.

 

...

 

 

Is the mortgage on the condo FHA? If it is, they'll hide behind FHA "requirements" for a lot of what they ask from you.

 

clc, this is spot-on. Today their case manager told me that the reason they are asking for the business taxes it's because it is a requirement, and that there is nothing more that she can do. Every time I tried to explain that such documentation doesn't exist because I am not a general partner in the business, all she would say was "I understand but you have to give that documentation to us otherwise we can't continue." It's pretty darn hard to get somebody a copy of non-existent documentation.

 

I'll be filing the CFPB complaint tomorrow and also dropping an email to their CEO. This is ridiculous.

[IndyPoolPlayer]

That's the same carp BOA pulled on me when I applied for my mortgage. They wanted my former employer and current employer "full audited financials" - why? because neither had financial disclosures published with D&B. Of course not - they're privately owned companies. Former employer apparently wrote back to BOA and said "F.U." in longhand -- no really they wrote that with a sharpie on the written request for full financials. Current employer was a little nicer in stating they do not disclose financial information to outside entities.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Uff. That doesn't instill much confidence in me in their banking abilities.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

What a mess. At a friend's suggestion I pasted their Facebook and Twitter accounts with complaints. Their social media people responded immediately and had multiple people contact me. Each time the rep did nothing more than parrot what the underwriter has said. One of the reps even advised me to fax a letter explaining it all. Ugh. I've done that at least a half dozen times, probably more.

I have now filed a CFPB complaint and also emailed Brian Moynihan's office. I'll be looking into possible attorney assistance tomorrow.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Welp, my complaints to the CFPB and to various social media networks seems to have gotten their attention.

 

Beforehand if they were calling once to twice per week and asking for my non-existent business tax returns, with a different person calling each time.

 

Now they have assigned the resolution of my complaint to a specific individual, and that individual or her surrogates are calling me daily to ask for my non-existent business tax returns.

 

So it's just more of the same, and more frequently. I'm debating whether or not I should change my voicemail greeting from a friendly greeting to an in-depth explanation of how a limited partnership works. That way I won't have to bother even answering the phone when they call.

[IndyPoolPlayer]

Can you sell your shares of the LP just to get past this sticky wicket? Surely another partner of the LP would be willing to boost their holding by 1%?

[ICANHASMUNY?]

Welp, my complaints to the CFPB and to various social media networks seems to have gotten their attention.

 

Beforehand if they were calling once to twice per week and asking for my non-existent business tax returns, with a different person calling each time.

 

Now they have assigned the resolution of my complaint to a specific individual, and that individual or her surrogates are calling me daily to ask for my non-existent business tax returns.

 

So it's just more of the same, and more frequently. I'm debating whether or not I should change my voicemail greeting from a friendly greeting to an in-depth explanation of how a limited partnership works. That way I won't have to bother even answering the phone when they call.

 

update your complaint. again. upload the K1 form, and your dividend tax form 1099-DIV, state that this is your only income from the limited partnership

 

state that the UW should know very well how limited partnerships work, and BOA requesting this information for LLC is just a stall tactic,

 

I'm a limited partner as opposed to a general partner. I receive a K-1 form for each every year, and that is the only information that I get other than my distributions. I own less than 1% of each fund.

Every week the underwriters ask me for something like CEO salary information, profit and loss statements, expense ratios and other details, et cetera. I simply can't give this information because I am not privy to it.

Not only that, this stuff doesn't even apply to me as it doesn't affect me in any way.

Bank of America keeps asking for such information, no matter how many times I explain to them that I am only a limited partner.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

I'll certainly try that. Worth a shot, at least. I'm on the road at the moment so that is going to have to wait until late next week. This has taken forever already, so I might as well add a few more day used to it.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Can you sell your shares of the LP just to get past this sticky wicket? Surely another partner of the LP would be willing to boost their holding by 1%?

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I'll certainly look into it when I have the time, though it is probably a long shot. Of the two investments, one I could sell fairly easily but the other one would probably be more difficult. I'd also have to do the math on capital gains taxes and all that.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Hmmm. They called today and asked for updated versions of some already submitted documents, which I provided. They made no mention of non-existent business tax returns. Maybe this is finally moving along.

[ICANHASMUNY?]

Hmmm. They called today and asked for updated versions of some already submitted documents, which I provided. They made no mention of non-existent business tax returns. Maybe this is finally moving along.

 

did you file that response I suggested?

[DeadMoneyDrew]

No, I wasn't able to. I found on PCS PCS website information that indicates that once my complaint has been filed I cannot amend it. Did I somehow I misunderstand something?

[DeadMoneyDrew]

 

 

 

Welp, my complaints to the CFPB and to various social media networks seems to have gotten their attention.

 

Beforehand if they were calling once to twice per week and asking for my non-existent business tax returns, with a different person calling each time.

 

Now they have assigned the resolution of my complaint to a specific individual, and that individual or her surrogates are calling me daily to ask for my non-existent business tax returns.

 

So it's just more of the same, and more frequently. I'm debating whether or not I should change my voicemail greeting from a friendly greeting to an in-depth explanation of how a limited partnership works. That way I won't have to bother even answering the phone when they call.

update your complaint. again. upload the K1 form, and your dividend tax form 1099-DIV, state that this is your only income from the limited partnership

 

state that the UW should know very well how limited partnerships work, and BOA requesting this information for LLC is just a stall tactic,

 

I'm a limited partner as opposed to a general partner. I receive a K-1 form for each every year, and that is the only information that I get other than my distributions. I own less than 1% of each fund.

 

Every week the underwriters ask me for something like CEO salary information, profit and loss statements, expense ratios and other details, et cetera. I simply can't give this information because I am not privy to it.

 

Not only that, this stuff doesn't even apply to me as it doesn't affect me in any way.

 

Bank of America keeps asking for such information, no matter how many times I explain to them that I am only a limited partner.

I was able to do this today. Bank of America responded to the CFPB complaint, and basically said in a whole ton of words: "We have asked you repeatedly for information, and you have repeatedly not provided it." I appealed the response and provided the above suggested response plus a copy of literally every single document that I have ever sent to Bank of America.

 

Also I asked in my response that somebody from Bank of America pretty please read and understand what I wrote before responding again, as continuing to ask for things that don't exist is a waste of everybody's time.

[ICANHASMUNY?]

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Heh heh. I finally got some news on this today. The news is that I will be getting news very soon. Literally, that is the news. That I will be getting news at some point.

 

The case manager called me today and told me that the underwriters have finally accepted the paperwork, and that the information has been sent to senior managment for a decision. So sometime soon I will get a final decision WRT a loan modification.

 

Yay. It only took 5 months to get to the point of a final decision.

 

The one positive thing out of all this has been the lady who was assigned as a case manager once I kicked up a storm. She has been very pleasant and has made a legitimate attempt to help.

[DeadMoneyDrew]

And the decision on my loan mod is...

 

 

 

Drumroll....

 

 

 

 

 

Denied denied denied. Apparently I have too many assets. Apparently it doesn't matter that my monthly income isn't enough to cover the cost of maintaining the condo even with a renter, that I am cash flow negative each month, and I haven't saved for retirement in over 2 years. Also the fact that I lost my job and had to move out of state is irrelevant.

 

Short sale time.

Edited July 22, 2016 by DeadMoneyDrew

[ICANHASMUNY?]

[DeadMoneyDrew]

It wouldn't have been so bad if their sorry marigolds hadn't dragged this out for 5 months. At least now I know the outcome and can move on to the next step.

 

Oh well. Who needs a good credit score anyway?

[DeadMoneyDrew]

Heh. I got a good SS specialist working for me, she pushed the paperwork through, and B of A approved me for the short sale. The Fannie Mae appraiser valued of the property at just under 49k, barely half what I owe on the note. Ugh. My SS specialist drives a hard bargain, and she says there's a good chance that she will be able to get the debt forgiven. I already have a buyer lined up who has put in an offer of exactly the appraised value.

 

I don't understand Bank of America at all. They weren't willing to work with me on modifying the mortgage at all, but apparently they're willing to lose ~50 grand. Totally illogical.