Advise needed Bank Of America issue

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Wingman

Member
Feb 18, 2010
139
St. Louis
Back over Summer I received from my yearly notice from B of A that I need to increase my flood insurance to match the amount of my homeowners insurance. It gives me the opt out option that lets me carry the insurance on just the balance of my mortgage. The later of which I normally do because I am quite a distance from the creek that could possibly flood and destroy my house(supposedly FEMA placed SFHA). I sent the letter back choosing the opt out option of course saving me hundreds of dollars.
A few weeks later I get another letter saying that B of A has not heard back from me and they will place their own Flood insurance to cover the difference. I called right away and told them that I sent the paperwork, they ask for me to send this again and that I shouldn't be charge and everything will be taken care of. Again, some time later, I get another letter saying they have placed the insurance to the tune of almost $600! Again I call and and ask for the form again...sent(faxed from work) I wait and check my account online, nothing taken care of. I call and they ask for again. So I send the form along with a note saying that this is the 3rd time I have faxed this and a print out from our work fax saying it was received. Another couple calls later and nothing resolved. Fast forward to November this year, I refi (new mortgage company doesn't require flood insurance go figure,) B of A sends me a check for $3xx telling me since I only had the ins for XXX time, I get this amount back.
Needless to say, I am flaming pissed. They took $2xx from for their mess up. I did everything on my end and they are the ones who screwed up. Stuff like this is why I wanted to get away from B of A originally and I just didn't do it early enough.
What would you, Hearth members do if you were me? I need some ideas or suggestions.
 
Wingman said:
Back over Summer I received from my yearly notice from B of A that I need to increase my flood insurance to match the amount of my homeowners insurance. It gives me the opt out option that lets me carry the insurance on just the balance of my mortgage. The later of which I normally do because I am quite a distance from the creek that could possibly flood and destroy my house(supposedly FEMA placed SFHA). I sent the letter back choosing the opt out option of course saving me hundreds of dollars.
A few weeks later I get another letter saying that B of A has not heard back from me and they will place their own Flood insurance to cover the difference. I called right away and told them that I sent the paperwork, they ask for me to send this again and that I shouldn't be charge and everything will be taken care of. Again, some time later, I get another letter saying they have placed the insurance to the tune of almost $600! Again I call and and ask for the form again...sent(faxed from work) I wait and check my account online, nothing taken care of. I call and they ask for again. So I send the form along with a note saying that this is the 3rd time I have faxed this and a print out from our work fax saying it was received. Another couple calls later and nothing resolved. Fast forward to November this year, I refi (new mortgage company doesn't require flood insurance go figure,) B of A sends me a check for $3xx telling me since I only had the ins for XXX time, I get this amount back.
Needless to say, I am flaming pissed. They took $2xx from for their mess up. I did everything on my end and they are the ones who screwed up. Stuff like this is why I wanted to get away from B of A originally and I just didn't do it early enough.
What would you, Hearth members do if you were me? I need some ideas or suggestions.
Small claims court comes to mind. You will probably lose at the first level. Next court ask for a jury trial(will cost about $75.00). If the judge isn't too cozy with BOA he will let it go to trial(even if you pay for a jury trial that is no guarantee the judge will let you have one), ask me how I know. I've seen worse than BOA. I told my pals at att&t I was happy with my internet provider & didn't need them, So they just signed me up anyway & sent me a bill. I would take BOA to court though if you can represent yourself, sounds like a slam dunk case, Randy
 
Letter from a Lawyer? Contact your Insurance Commission in your state or If you have a Bank Commission try them also! If that doesn't work we can send the Hearth,com gang to straighten them out!

Gary
 
Reload?
 
I learned the hard way to stay away from that bank for anything.
 
I only deal with local banks or credit unions. The big banks, for lack of a better term, suck.

If you are sending any forms to B of A on this issue, I would definitely send them certified mail with return receipt. Just adds to the chain of evidence should you need to go further. If you need more support, contact the Occupy people- heck, they have nothing to do.
 
Bank of america is the worst mortgage holder I have ever had to deal with. actually they are the worst banking company i have had to deal with.

Unfortunately I do not have any advice for you, or anyone else, beyond stay the hell away from them.
 
Good News Update. After taking some advise from this thread, I contacted the States Attorney, banking commish and Insurance commish who bounced me around to a couple of other higher powers. Today I received a letter from B of S, while at the same time, the guy that the letter is from is calling my parents house trying to get a hold of me. I call him back and he tells me that B of S is refunding my total amount with no questions asked or no explanation. I beat the bank!
 
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Good work. I've gotten to the point that I have zero tolerance with these companies. I ask them to right the wrong one time and then it's www.bbb.org. Had an issue with Citi. I asked them to fix the problem and give me $20 for my time. Sure enough, within 2 weeks the problem was fixed and I had a check for $20.

I think these companies realize that when it gets to that level, they're better off resolving the issue than paying someone $25 per hour to deal with a customer over and over again.
 
Good work. I've gotten to the point that I have zero tolerance with these companies. I ask them to right the wrong one time and then it's www.bbb.org. Had an issue with Citi. I asked them to fix the problem and give me $20 for my time. Sure enough, within 2 weeks the problem was fixed and I had a check for $20.

I think these companies realize that when it gets to that level, they're better off resolving the issue than paying someone $25 per hour to deal with a customer over and over again.

Its very profitable for them. Delay delay delay. If you figure they got the OP's money on an interest free loan for 1-2 years x 1,000 people, that alone is worth the hassle. Combine that with the idea that 20% of them will give up and there's blood in the water. I try to make it very clear that if they cheat me out of $10 I will consume at least that much in resources for them. Of course they're getting clever with the phone routing. Now they can tell if you're calling/writing from the same number/ip and will ignore you. Can't wait for them to go after the new consumer protection org.
 
I had a similar experience with a local bank that ironically BofA bought out. Scumbuckets would not budge till I brought in a little state oversight. Then every VP and his brother was calling me to work things out.
 
Glad to hear things worked out . . . "David" wins!
 
To move a bank like BOA you need to file complaints with every state regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over them, do this in every state they do business in.

This can put them on the radar scopes of many folks they do not want to have to deal with.

You may also be able to have charges filed against them for misappropriation of funds.

Talk to some reporters, this isn't the publicity they want.
 
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