In a lawsuit filed against Bank of America, six former Bank of America employees and one outside contractor working for Bank of America, filed affidavits with the court, claiming they regularly lied to homeowner’s seeking mortgage loan modifications. The mortgage modifications were denied for made up reasons. These employees were rewarded for denying mortgage modifications and putting the homes into foreclosure. The lawsuit is pending in a United States District Court in Boston, Massachusetts. It is part of a class action brought on behalf of homeowner’s who were trying to avoid foreclosures on their homes pursuant to the governments Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP).
Bank Of America Denies The Allegations
Bank of America has given a statement through a spokesperson. The statement indicated the affidavits of the employees were “rife with factual inconsistencies.” Bank of America claims to have modified more loans than any other bank in the country.
William Wilson, Jr., who worked as an underwriter for Bank of America and as a manager between the years 2010 and 2012 stated homeowners had to submit documentation of financial information with their mortgage modification applications. Wilson stated that twice a month, the bank required all files that were more than 60 days old had to be denied. This was called “a blitz.” During this period, one team would deny between 600 and 1500 mortgage modification applications all at the same time.
The manner in which the employees justified the turning down of these mortgages was to create fictitious reasons for these mortgage denials. The most common fictitious reason for denying the mortgage was claiming the homeowner had not sent in the appropriate financial documents requested by Bank of America. The Bank of America employees claimed these financial documents were not sent in when the documents were right in front of them!
Erica Brown, a former Bank of America employee, has made statements indicating “Bank of America’s practice was to string homeowners along with no apparent intention of providing the permanent loan modification it promises.” Bank of America and its executives should be subject to criminal investigations with regard to their actions under the HAMP program.
