Menu
Login
When our mortgage was sold to Bank of America, we were almost immediately told we would be required to carry flood insurance. I tried to communicate with customer service by phone and correspondence but was very much ignored. I was sold a flood insurance policy at over $600 per year. I tried to communicate with Bank of America asking why my property had been identified as being in a flood plain. I finally got a hold of someone in the second year of the flood insurance policy and was told by them that It was up to me to prove that I wasn't in a flood plain. I asked them where the proof was that I was and was ignored. Finally at the beginning of the third year I hired a surveyor who verified I was no where near a flood plain and I sent the report to Bank of America. Without so much as an apology they notified me that new information had surfaced about my property, that it was not in a flood plain. At that point I requested reimbursement for the two years of flood insurance and the cost of the survey, a total of about $1500. I never heard a word from them, not an apology, go jump in the lake, or any kind of a response. Rest assured if the shoe were on the other foot, I would have paid through the nose.
Same problems w/ BOA since they bought my mortgage from Countrywide. They are demanding that I carry a ridculous amout of insurance and if I don't up my policy (both flood & hazard) they charge me for their insurance. I have no escrow so they have taken the insurance charge out of money that I designated to go towards my principal. The fees are hidden. I have to pay attention to my principal balance. If it goes UP, I know I've been charged. I don't know how they can do this. They are also demanding proof of insurance and a line of credit that I owe nothing on and haven't used in over 5 years. I received 24 letters in a two week period demanding I send them more information. (It was the same exact letter sent 24 times)
I am now in teh process of refinancing with a local bank for a very low flat rate.
I don't know how they can get away with stealing from their customers.
I just got out of it! Here is what I did. The company that BOA uses Is Landsafe. They make the assessment for your flood insurance. They look at the maps using a google earth Or similar public domain map that is at an oblique angle. This is what I wrote to Landsafe "In making any kind of assessment, it is extremely important to use the most accurate data available. Mark(works at Landsafe and sent me a screenshot of the map he used to make a assesement) provided me with a screen shot of a google earth or similar public domain map that is at an oblique angle. It is not accurate. The map in the attachment is a county aerial topo map, which was used as the base map for the FIRM. The flood zone that is shown is a GIS shape file straight from the FIRM mapping consultant. The information used in this determination is more accurate than the one that Landsafe uses, and the most accurate information must be used." I worked with our city enginer to optain maps and sent them to Landsafe. We were lucky because we are on the cusp of being in the flood zone. FIGHTING THIS WILL TAKE HARD WORK AND RESEARCH! However knowledge is power and if you are not in a flood zone you should not have to pay! THE BANK IS DEPENDING ON PEOPLE NOT TO DO THE RESEARCH AND FIGHT. Calling BOA is a waste of time. Call Landsafe. Good luck
Found two Class Action Lawsuits filed against Bank of America for requiring excessive flood damage insurance as a condition of mortgage loans.
Filed, July
Found two Class Action Lawsuits filed recently against Bank of America for requiring excessive flood damage insurance as a condition of mortgage loans.
1) Filed, July 1, 2011 - http://www.awkolaw.com/news/firm-news/awko-attorneys-file-class-action-against-bank-of-america/
Contact Information: http://www.awkolaw.com/contact.html
2) Filed, April 4, 2011 - http://www.nka.com/case/bank-of-america-hazard/
Contact Information: [protected] - Nicols Kaster Attorneys at Law
BOa has cost me $500.00 do to their error in my flood insurance. I sent all my pictures an elevation report to BOA Insurance Service so we could close in January, April I recieved notice from Travelers that my home was under insured by 100, 000.00 I said that can't be, after 2 months of trying to get some idiot to understand it seems that BOA never sent anything to Travelers till April, so now BOA charges me for being under insured... thanks to them we're paying $500.00 more till we can get updated pictures to the insurance company, (this is a vacation home so i"m 1500 miles away) I wont be down for months. BOA are crooks if you can get away from them, run dont look back. Changing Companies as soon as I can.
My mortagage with Countrywide was sold to Bank of America. With my mortgage payment I also pay for the insurance and land tax, which is held in escrow until payment is due. Got 2 nasty letters from BOA saying that I did not have proper insurance coverage, as they required, and therefore would be required to pay the ins. co. of their choice over 3, 000, which would be added to the mortagage balance. My ins. co. tells me that they billed BOA and received no payment as was due. What's wrong with this picture...they have my money for ins. and didn't pay it on time. Who should get the letters?
I have been dealing with the same flood insurance problems with BOA for several years. I own a lake front condo and our flood insurance is paid by the association using our condo fees. EVERY year I fax, mail, email and submit online the new policy and EVERY year they say they didn't receive it. Then they purchase a policy and stick it on my mortgage payment. I have spent more time on the phone trying to figure out what is going on in their system that they can't put my coverage information on file- it does no good! I have gotten many different "reasons" why this could be happening from fax machine problems to them saying there could be more units in the building than are on the policy (WHAT?!?). These people are crazy and I can't wait to be rid of them. Refinancing here I come.
A class action suit is underway. I have read all of the above and I feel your pain 13 years I have been under the thumb of Banc of America everything I have seen so far is absolutely true it has been a revolving door that went nowhere. As of February 1, 2012 my mortgage balance is 10, 923.00. I purchased a flood insurance policy coverage 88, 800 my cost $ 766. Effective date February 4, 2012 to February 4, 2013. I received an additional letter from Bank of America. To inform me they have placed flood gap insurance on me. Effective date February 4, 2012 to February 4, 2013 coverage amount 19, 800 my cost $ 103.95. I am a single-parent of 3 my oldest is currently serving in the Marine Corps the other 2 are with me I made less than 15, 000 last year. But here is where it gets really good. I received a letter from Bank of America Today at 1st I thought please dear Lord I have no more money. And after sifting through all the BS at the top I seen this at the bottom and it said. You are not obligated to lower the coverage amount and we will not change the coverage amount unless you mail this signed letter within the time specified in this letter. underneath this in very small letters it said. Yes please lower my required flood insurance coverage amount for the current coverage term to be equal to my unpaid loan balance amount of 10, 920 I am aware that by lowering the amount of flood insurance coverage the flood coverage amount will be less than a flood insurance coverage amount based on the amount of homeowners insurance coverage I last purchased and may not be enough to fully replace or repair the property in the event of damage or destruction due to flood. This is the 1st time I have ever received this letter . I don't know about the rest of you but I have been lied to and ripped off for years. God as my witness I will leave no stone unturned until I get my money back. Please Post this own your Facebook let everybody know.
BOA! what can I say that already hasn't been said. I have lived in my home for 15 years and NOW! I need flood insurance. $2520.00 worth. Are you kidding me! Wish I could get a $200.00 a month raise. I hope the people involved in making these decisions are very proud of themselves, you must really make your parents and grandparents proud because I am sure this is how they would have wanted to be treated, and that goes for all of our politicians in this country that lie to us on a daily basis and expect us to be held accountable for our actions, isn't it about time you do the same. IT'S ALL ABOUT ME! has taken over this country. THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY THAT ARE STILL TRUE ARE THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES THAT LAY THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE AND EVEN THEY ARE GETTING THE SHORT END OF THE STICK THESE DAY'S. DISGUSTED IN OHIO!
We bought our house in 2009 through Synovus. After a few months our mortgage was sold to Bank of America. We have a creek bordering one side of our property and two springs on it. Anyone can see we're in Flood Zone A ( high risk) and I completely agree and have never disputed this at all. I have no problem with having to have high cost flood insurance if that is what the mortgage lender requires. I don't like having to pay for it, but I know that we are in a high risk flood zone. I have noticed we have to provide proof of our flood policy every year. We have always had the required flood insurance, and every year about a month after the policy renews, we get a letter stating their records show we have no flood insurance and we have to fax them proof that we have it. After that they don't give us anymore problems.
But we had a real mess with our insurance last year. We made the 'crazy' decision to cancel our extremely expensive flood insurance policy (doing it fair and square abiding by FEMA's stupid rules, after the 1 year expiration date, and notifying both the lender and the 'old' insurance company over 90 days in advance.) We just got a better price from another flood insurance provider and wanted to save some money. Between the joint efforts of our incompetent local (not Bank of America insurance) insurance agent that does not understand flood insurance at all, the stubborn and difficult people at FEMA, and the completely clueless customer service reps at Bank of America mortgage, we ended up with TWO flood insurance policies and a homeowners policy all at one time. Boy, did our payments go up! It took us three months of going round, and round with the local insurance office, FEMA, and B of A trying to convince them that something was wrong. You are not supposed to have TWO flood insurance policies. Even the FEMA website states this because I looked. And neither one of these policies was due to lender-forced insurance or anything like that! Our insurance agent of our expensive old policy failed to cancel it like we had asked. Finally, we got results from our local insurance agent, and the begrudging cooperation of FEMA after 3 months. We couldn't get anywhere with the BofA mortgage customer service people. It was like they couldn't understand what we were trying to tell them in plain, simple English. There literally seemed to be some type of language barrier or something. Well, another wonderfully convenient part of this problem is that we live in extreme southeast Alabama. From what we could tell, there are no Bank of America bank branches in Alabama at all, certainly not within a few hours of our house. We had to make an appointment with a mortgage specialist person at a bank branch of Bank of America in North Florida. We had to drive a little over an hour to get there, and I had big folders filled with information and proof of how much our insurance had been messed up and proof that we had tried to get everything fixed through calling their B of A mortgage customer service number to no avail. I am truly grateful to the very kind bank teller that first took my call at that Bank of America bank branch in North Florida, and to the very sweet mortgage specialist lady that helped us. She was extremely kind and really took the time to listen to our problem, and make all kinds of calls and fax paperwork while we were sitting in her office and she got everything straightened out for us. By the time we left her office, everything had been handled and we have had no problems since then. We were very frustrated with our insurance agent, FEMA, and the apparently 'foreign' customer service reps that could not seem to communicate fluently in English with my husband or understand what he was saying, and they clearly knew absolutely nothing about the intricacies of flood insurance, not even their so-called B of A insurance department was any help! But we will never forget the very, very kind and helpful people at the North Florida Bank of America branch that we visited. They provided us with awesome customer service and an instant solution to our problem and brought our mortgage payments back down to the proper and affordable amount they were supposed to be. We will never forget how much those people helped us out.
Unbelievable! we are in the same position so many of you are in. we are paying for flood insurance and required to escrow our insurances per BOA. We are paying over $800 a year in flood insurance and live no where near H2O. we have called FEMA who tells us to call BOA who tells us to call our insurance company and around we go again. ultimately the burden of proof lie with us. we have to hire an engineer and his determination isn't guaranteed to remove us from our zone A...
WOW...I thought I was alone. Three months ago they added 300 dollars to our monthly payment stating that we had no flood insurance. I proved that we did. They said it was not enough and would not take the extra money off of the bill. I got the FEMA form that showed that our home is not in the flood plain but that and edge of our property is...not the structure. They dtill would not budge. I raised the flood to way more than they asked for. Guess what ..they said they can't change it as the flood has to mirror the homeowners insurance...What ? Both are 400% of our loan. So I am shopping for a new bank. I have to get away from these thieves. I and my children will never use them for anything again, ever.
whythelongfaces obviously is a bank employee
must say misery loves company as they say, i thought i was a lone for the past couple years fighting with getting no where no return calls. about 4 years ago all of a sudden i had to have FLOOD INSUR TOO.thanks for all of you, i don, t feel so a lone and i feel better to have read your misery.mine is still a complete night mare of getting no where.i also had a tree ome threw the roof, they won, t even answer or do anything to help me file the claim.
Bank of America purchased my mortgage years ago from the 1st day I have been bombarded with mounds of paperwork that makes absolutely no sense they tell me I'm required to have flood insurance to cover the balance of the loan on the same paper they tell me they require 100% replacement cost which I purchased then they force place an additional policy on me and call it gap insurance I have paid more in flood insurance in the past 15 years than my house cost example my balance is less than $7000 I'm paying $1500 a year in flood insurance that only covers the balance I have never seen a bunch of thieves and crooks and liars in my life there's a special place in hell for them
I HAVE HAD SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH THE BANK OF AMERICA FLOOD INSURANCE SINCE THEY PURCHASED MY PROPERTY FROM COUNTRYSIDE! Every year they add on additional lender place flood insurance and every year I send them opt out letter after letter saying I don't want the additional flood insurance. I have flood insurance to cover what I owe on the home and they keep requesting me to fill out these opt out letters. I send them over and over again they say they don't get them. I send them certified copies and then they say something like your insurance company (one of the three homeowners, flood or hurricane) sent up a payment so now everything has changed and we need a new opt out letter! This goes on and on every year and I spend months trying to get it fixed and send them opt out letter after letter. I hate BOA never had this trouble with Countrywide! Today they have again placed add flood insurance after I have sent them many many opt out letters. I am about to scream! If anyone knows who I can contact or wants to file a class action suit I am with you!