Hi All, I am really frustrated with my lender, Bank of America and wanted to find out if others have experienced similar problems and any advice. And I need to vent a little! Back in June I signed a contract to buy a condo as an investment property. My loan officer assured me and me real estate lawyer that based on my income and the equity in my primary residence, I should have no problem getting... [more]
Hi All,
I am really frustrated with my lender, Bank of America and wanted to find out if others have experienced similar problems and any advice. And I need to vent a little!
Back in June I signed a contract to buy a condo as an investment property. My loan officer assured me and me real estate lawyer that based on my income and the equity in my primary residence, I should have no problem getting the loan (I am making a 25% down payment). B of A gave me my loan for my primary residence which I purchased in April 2011 so they were already very familiar with all my financials. I also have all my acciunts with B of A. I have been a good, long time customer with them. They asked for additional documentation, and I have provided everything they asked for within 24 hours. The appraisal went fine, no issues. I initially became frustrated when they kept dealying the issuance of the mortgage commitment letter. The sellers agreed to the continuing extension of the deadline. They finally did issue the mortgage commitment letter 3 weeks past the deadline. A couple of weeks ago, I closed on the refinance of my primary residence, which also took alot longer than expected. But still, they have not set a closing date for the purchase of my investment property. I have always sent them everything they have asked for, and I was always assured me that my finances were good, I have a good job and good income, plenty of savings/investments, great credit and no debt other than my primary residence, but still no approval for closing. The loan officer has now been "reassigned" and despite my phone calls, it is impossible to reach anyone at the bank to talk to. Alao, they have repeatedly asked for the same information, over and over again, so I am getting suspicious that they are stalling for some reason. Now my real estate lawyer is dealing with this but he has also found that the nobody from the bank will return his emails or phone calls.
I don't understand why with my good financials, good appraisal, and them issuing the mortgage commitment, why they still can't give approval to close. This is now been going on for almost 5 months. Is this really commonplace nowadays or with Bank of America specifically? Should I be really concerned or just be patient? The seller has been very patient as well as they do understand I am not the problem, it is the bank that is really slow but I am becoming very frustrated, I thought I would close in late August.
Bank of America should really be ashamed of themselves if this is the way they do business. Absolutely everybody, myself, my broker, lawyers, the sellers and their broker, lawyer are really frustrated
Thanks in advance for any advice/feedback.
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Response by REMom
about 14 years ago
Posts: 307
Member since: Apr 2009
I feel your pain. When we refi'd w/ BoA, it took over 4 mos. We had to get the property reappraised, resubmit all our pay stubs and account statements bc more than 3 mos had passed from the start to finish of the process, plus we were assigned a new loan officer a few mos in bc our original one had too many cases. I was told that they were overwhelmed due to the low rates and heavy volume. Luckily, rates stayed low and we did eventually close. We thought of switching banks, but could not face the idea of starting over. We too had stellar credit, very low LTV, and provided everything requested w/in 24 hrs. Good luck!
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Response by ab_11218
about 14 years ago
Posts: 2017
Member since: May 2009
this is the reason why mortgage brokers are in business. the banks are completely disfuctional. with the mortgage broker, you give them something once and they keep resending the same thing dozens of times during reassignments and losses due to incompetent internal staff.
buying an investment property is very difficult unless paying cash in the current envornment.
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Response by shong
about 14 years ago
Posts: 616
Member since: Apr 2008
I have always said this. It isnt always the lending institution (sometimes it is), whether it be BofA, Wells fargo, Chase, Citi, mortgage broker, etc. Many times it is the actual loan officer you are working with that produces these results. You can apply for the same loan with 2 different loan officers at the same bank and get 2 completely different results. With that being said, lenders are backed up and things are a little slower. But that is why it is vital for the loan officer to facilitate the loan every step of the way so it goes smoothly. sunny.hong@bankofamerica.com
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Response by KeithB
about 14 years ago
Posts: 976
Member since: Aug 2009
Sunny I think you are a straight shooter, the few times I have called you, you were quick to respond. I can't think of one good thing to say about BoA. I have at least half a dozen nightmare stories, don't know what it is?
BOA sucks, Ive heard horror stories about them from everybody I speak to. Dont want to knock Sunny as he's right, a good LO can make all the difference but at the same time, an LO can only do so much. If the back office sucks, good customer service can only go so far.
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Response by grunty
about 14 years ago
Posts: 311
Member since: Mar 2007
Sunny is amazing. We used him for our refi and he really did stay on top of things and smooth the way with the back office.
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Response by hofo
about 14 years ago
Posts: 453
Member since: Sep 2008
Why don't you re-apply with Valley National, Sovereign Bank or other smaller type banks? Wells, BOA, Citi, Chase, they all suck. Don't tell that to Jamie Dimon, he might have us killed.
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Response by midtowner
about 14 years ago
Posts: 100
Member since: Jul 2009
Loan Officers can be good or bad. When a lawyer's emails and phone calls are not returned something else is in play.An insolvent bank will often gice customers the runaround rather than aknowledging insolvency.
BoA is also one of the centers of mortgage fraud in the country.
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Response by MortgageMan787
about 14 years ago
Posts: 96
Member since: May 2008
I heard the big banks can not get anything done in under 90 days.
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Response by lef2009
about 14 years ago
Posts: 96
Member since: May 2009
I had a similarly awful experience with BoA. I was just trying to refinance a condo I own out of town. They dragged it on for 5 months for no reason other than sheer incompetence. Demonstrating that I can be a slow learner, I thought about using BoA to buy a coop in NYC -- by the time the fourth person supposedly handling my mortgage quit and went elsewhere, I gave up (although the fact that they also wanted to charge me .50 above other major banks was the final straw).
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Response by Eric_14
about 14 years ago
Posts: 93
Member since: Sep 2011
My BofA mortgage is a refinance of a previous one. The only reason I went with them for the refi is that I forgot what they were like. The key to understanding BofA is that it is essentially a "do it yourself" process. They will screw up every step. My apartment is a coop. Both times, in spite of repeated communications, they delivered condo documents to the closing. I could go on.
BofA is very lucky that they have Countrywide to blame for the mortgage problems in their portfolio. That's called misdirection.
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Response by KeithB
about 14 years ago
Posts: 976
Member since: Aug 2009
We just had another round with BoA, my wife has a credit card with them and has not had a balance for over 4 months. At some point she was paying $300 dollars a month via "auto-pay" to pay down a purchase she made. We assumed (I know....) that when the balance was paid they would stop the auto-pay well they didn't ok our bad. She contacted the bank and after a painful discussion with "customer service" they said we would see a credit in our checking account in 1-3 weeks. We did. She also disabled the auto-pay and the account remained at a zero balance. Well the above scenario took place two more times and of course she closed the account, figuring that would be the only way to stop it. We now wait for our $300 dollars to appear back in our checking account.
If a bank or any business can't get the small stuff right how will they ever get the big stuff right? I have just heard too many accounts of shoddy service, bungled underwriting and then that debit card fee fiasco. My clients experience with the loan process had her in tears, no loan (after 2 months!) and it cost her a purchase. Another bank subsequently made the loan.
if you imagine what it would be like to work at BoA, it makes sense that people are having these types of experiences. while there are still people in the company pulling down big dollars, the vast majority probably haven't seen a raise in years and don't know which is worse---continuing to work there or inevitably finding themselves on the lay off list. anyone who could leave has no doubt left.
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Response by huntersburg
about 14 years ago
Posts: 11329
Member since: Nov 2010
what's your point columbiacounty? everyone still at Bank of America should be expected to be incompetent or disinterested?
Your specialty, right?
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Response by jimmcp
about 14 years ago
Posts: 58
Member since: Jul 2009
Give Investors Bank a try, we are a small bank with less than 100 branches in New York and New Jersey. Our size gives us the ability to take care of our customers like they should be. We offer basically the same rates with out the back office back log. Give me a call if you need any help.
Jim McPartland
347.852.3756
jmcpartland@myinvestorsbank.com
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Response by streetsmart
about 14 years ago
Posts: 883
Member since: Apr 2009
I became a mortgage broker over twenty years ago because I was so sick of the loan process that I experienced as a retail customer. As a mortgage broker I was able to obtain loans for myself with ease.
I deal with many banks. My main bank is Wells Fargo and my loans close in record time. As a business person I have to deliver.
thanks, but I was able to (finally) close last week. I am pretty excited, its always been a dream of mine to own a piece of the Big Apple, albeit a very, very small piece! I could definately see myself living in this condo in two years and selling/renting my primary residence in NJ depending on the market. Still the experience with Bank of America was very stressfull and needlessly prolonged with delay after delay so I have learned my lesson, next time I will definately go to a mortgage broker
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Response by vditty1979
almost 14 years ago
Posts: 4
Member since: Dec 2011
They are the worst! I am closing a refinance for a client this week. I have had the loan for two weeks. I used their appraisal and am closing it with Citibank. They dont know what the right hand is doing and they dont call clients back.
Vanessa Thatcher
Senior Loan Officer
NMLS# 41404
Atlantic Home Capital
4175 Veterans Memorial Hwy
Ste 310
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779
Office: 631-687-3510 x106
Direct Fax: 631-918-5222
Cell: 631-672-4113
'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
I feel your pain. When we refi'd w/ BoA, it took over 4 mos. We had to get the property reappraised, resubmit all our pay stubs and account statements bc more than 3 mos had passed from the start to finish of the process, plus we were assigned a new loan officer a few mos in bc our original one had too many cases. I was told that they were overwhelmed due to the low rates and heavy volume. Luckily, rates stayed low and we did eventually close. We thought of switching banks, but could not face the idea of starting over. We too had stellar credit, very low LTV, and provided everything requested w/in 24 hrs. Good luck!
this is the reason why mortgage brokers are in business. the banks are completely disfuctional. with the mortgage broker, you give them something once and they keep resending the same thing dozens of times during reassignments and losses due to incompetent internal staff.
buying an investment property is very difficult unless paying cash in the current envornment.
I have always said this. It isnt always the lending institution (sometimes it is), whether it be BofA, Wells fargo, Chase, Citi, mortgage broker, etc. Many times it is the actual loan officer you are working with that produces these results. You can apply for the same loan with 2 different loan officers at the same bank and get 2 completely different results. With that being said, lenders are backed up and things are a little slower. But that is why it is vital for the loan officer to facilitate the loan every step of the way so it goes smoothly. sunny.hong@bankofamerica.com
Sunny I think you are a straight shooter, the few times I have called you, you were quick to respond. I can't think of one good thing to say about BoA. I have at least half a dozen nightmare stories, don't know what it is?
Keith Burkhardt
The Burkhardt Group
http://ubivoletaudentunicornium.blogspot.com/ (don't click unless you want to read my blog)
BOA sucks, Ive heard horror stories about them from everybody I speak to. Dont want to knock Sunny as he's right, a good LO can make all the difference but at the same time, an LO can only do so much. If the back office sucks, good customer service can only go so far.
Sunny is amazing. We used him for our refi and he really did stay on top of things and smooth the way with the back office.
Why don't you re-apply with Valley National, Sovereign Bank or other smaller type banks? Wells, BOA, Citi, Chase, they all suck. Don't tell that to Jamie Dimon, he might have us killed.
Loan Officers can be good or bad. When a lawyer's emails and phone calls are not returned something else is in play.An insolvent bank will often gice customers the runaround rather than aknowledging insolvency.
BoA is also one of the centers of mortgage fraud in the country.
I heard the big banks can not get anything done in under 90 days.
I had a similarly awful experience with BoA. I was just trying to refinance a condo I own out of town. They dragged it on for 5 months for no reason other than sheer incompetence. Demonstrating that I can be a slow learner, I thought about using BoA to buy a coop in NYC -- by the time the fourth person supposedly handling my mortgage quit and went elsewhere, I gave up (although the fact that they also wanted to charge me .50 above other major banks was the final straw).
My BofA mortgage is a refinance of a previous one. The only reason I went with them for the refi is that I forgot what they were like. The key to understanding BofA is that it is essentially a "do it yourself" process. They will screw up every step. My apartment is a coop. Both times, in spite of repeated communications, they delivered condo documents to the closing. I could go on.
BofA is very lucky that they have Countrywide to blame for the mortgage problems in their portfolio. That's called misdirection.
We just had another round with BoA, my wife has a credit card with them and has not had a balance for over 4 months. At some point she was paying $300 dollars a month via "auto-pay" to pay down a purchase she made. We assumed (I know....) that when the balance was paid they would stop the auto-pay well they didn't ok our bad. She contacted the bank and after a painful discussion with "customer service" they said we would see a credit in our checking account in 1-3 weeks. We did. She also disabled the auto-pay and the account remained at a zero balance. Well the above scenario took place two more times and of course she closed the account, figuring that would be the only way to stop it. We now wait for our $300 dollars to appear back in our checking account.
If a bank or any business can't get the small stuff right how will they ever get the big stuff right? I have just heard too many accounts of shoddy service, bungled underwriting and then that debit card fee fiasco. My clients experience with the loan process had her in tears, no loan (after 2 months!) and it cost her a purchase. Another bank subsequently made the loan.
Any way I really just wanted to post this piece on a small attorney who "foreclosed" on a BoA branch.
http://outofthestormnews.com/2011/06/06/florida-lawyer-turns-tables-forecloses-on-bank-of-america-%E2%80%93-and-wins/
if you imagine what it would be like to work at BoA, it makes sense that people are having these types of experiences. while there are still people in the company pulling down big dollars, the vast majority probably haven't seen a raise in years and don't know which is worse---continuing to work there or inevitably finding themselves on the lay off list. anyone who could leave has no doubt left.
what's your point columbiacounty? everyone still at Bank of America should be expected to be incompetent or disinterested?
Your specialty, right?
Give Investors Bank a try, we are a small bank with less than 100 branches in New York and New Jersey. Our size gives us the ability to take care of our customers like they should be. We offer basically the same rates with out the back office back log. Give me a call if you need any help.
Jim McPartland
347.852.3756
jmcpartland@myinvestorsbank.com
I became a mortgage broker over twenty years ago because I was so sick of the loan process that I experienced as a retail customer. As a mortgage broker I was able to obtain loans for myself with ease.
I deal with many banks. My main bank is Wells Fargo and my loans close in record time. As a business person I have to deliver.
Ellen Silverman
E.S. Funding Co.
Tel: 212-786-9682
www.esfunding.instantlender.com
thanks, but I was able to (finally) close last week. I am pretty excited, its always been a dream of mine to own a piece of the Big Apple, albeit a very, very small piece! I could definately see myself living in this condo in two years and selling/renting my primary residence in NJ depending on the market. Still the experience with Bank of America was very stressfull and needlessly prolonged with delay after delay so I have learned my lesson, next time I will definately go to a mortgage broker
They are the worst! I am closing a refinance for a client this week. I have had the loan for two weeks. I used their appraisal and am closing it with Citibank. They dont know what the right hand is doing and they dont call clients back.
Vanessa Thatcher
Senior Loan Officer
NMLS# 41404
Atlantic Home Capital
4175 Veterans Memorial Hwy
Ste 310
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779
Office: 631-687-3510 x106
Direct Fax: 631-918-5222
Cell: 631-672-4113
Website: www.atlantichomecapital.com
You can catch me in the directory at www.Brownstoner.com & www.montauk-online.com