Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) has been sued by homeowners Anthony and April Soper who had applied through a mortgage modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program, but failed to receive a permanent modification.
According to the suit, Bank of America placed them into a HAMP trial payment plan in December which cut their mortgage payment from nearly $4,000 to $1826. The couple said that they made their reduced monthly payments early and did everything that was required of them, but Bank of America failed to do its part by giving them a permanent modification. They said that they did not receive an explanation why they did not receive a permanent modification from Bank of America and are now demanding answers in a suit against the Charlotte-based mega-bank.
The suit says that the homeowners are now more than $8,000 behind on their mortgage which had been current a year ago. The couple said that each of their credit scores had dropped by more than 100 points and that Bank of America has threatened them with Foreclosure. “We jumped through all their hoops, and they did nothing but cause us heartache,” said April Soper.
Bank of America is not alone in being sued by disgruntled homeowners. Similar lawsuits, including those seeking class action, are also being brought against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC).
Most of the cases contend that the mortgage services have not done an effective job of meeting their requirements under the Home Mortgage Affordability Program. The suits say that the trial payment plans constitute contracts and that the mortgage service providers have broker the contracts by not providing permanent modifications after on-time trial payments have been made and necessary documentation had been provided.
Bank of America Corporation is a bank holding company, and a financial holding company. The Company is a financial institution, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses, large corporations and governments with a range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. Through its banking subsidiaries (the Banks) and various nonbanking subsidiaries throughout the United States and in selected international markets, it provides a range of banking and nonbanking financial services and products through six business segments: Deposits, Global Card Services, Home Loans & Insurance, Global Banking, Global Markets, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), with the remaining operations recorded in All Other. On January 1, 2009, the Company completed the acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
Shares of Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) traded up 0.37% during mid-day trading on Friday, ending the week at $13.55.
