Most of us have heard more about home foreclosures in the past five years than ever before. If you haven’t been involved in one, you probably know someone who has. Texas has had their share of people being dislocated during the recession. However, like everything else, there will be companies trying to take advantage of every situation, including foreclosures.
Numerous ads have also been on the market with mortgage companies promising to help lower rates with refinances or companies promising to help prevent foreclosures. In addition, some banks have even been accused of using unfair practices to drive people into foreclosure.
Bank of America is one such bank. Recently, they lost a case against a man who claimed that “unfair and deceptive” practices resulted in him losing his home. Bank of America has allegedly been accused before of tactics such as stalling homeowners in loan modifications, dishonestly denying modifications and rewarding staff for deliberately contributing to homes being foreclosed on.
The 32-year-old crane worker in this case lost his home to foreclosure by Bank of America in 2009. He claims that he was told not to make his house payments in order to qualify for a loan modification; however, once he was delinquent on his payments, he didn’t qualify for the loan modification. By this time, he was too far behind to bring his mortgage current.
He also claims that BANA consistently contacted him, offering to help him refinance, which he wanted to do, but they would not help him do it or tell him what he should do. He did not want to lose his home. He told them he would do whatever he needed to.
Bank of America allegedly could still appeal the case. The man’s attorney stated that he had never seen a Superior Court overturn a home foreclosure sale that occurred four years ago. He also noted that the trustee on the home, ReconTrust, was a subsidiary of Bank of America. That would make them biased in the foreclosure action.
People who are facing foreclosure may be able to contest a foreclosure action on their home in a court of law if they believe their mortgage company is using unfair practices. Attorneys can investigate to ensure that all actions taken by the mortgage company are above board and legal. In this market, too many companies are looking for loopholes to take advantage of unfortunate situations.
Source:;thestranger.com, “Judge Overturns Bank of America Foreclosure” Ansel Herz, Feb. 05, 2014
