Bank of America review: property claims 48

I am going through the same thing. We had a pipe break 1/11/10, Insurance company was great but the check also had to be sent to BofA. Its almost been 2 1/2 months and we haven't seen a check. I finally filed a complaint with the Federal Banking Commission. The next time I called I was redirected to the Office of the President. I thought finally something is going to happen. Unfortunately I can't get my representative to call me back. I have been calling everyday for a week and still nothing. And I found out today that they lost my March payment, how convenient.
They keep telling me that my contractor is filling his W9 out wrong. Even though the W9 instructions say that it is OK for a sole p. to use and EIN, BofA says its not acceptable, funny because they wont accept it with a SS# either. There must be a way to make them pay for this. It can't be legal.

We are going through the samething we had water damage at the end of Feb 2010. Or insurance company USAA paid us but B of A has given us the run around. We haven't had a kitchen for a while now there has to be something that can be done.

WOW! my husband and I had roof damage during the tornado received an insurance check to repair the roof and we cannot get bank of america to send us our money back to fix it either. The aggravating thing is that our insurance is not set up on escrow, so its not like they pay the premiums.

Same thing here. My home burnt down on 05/06/2010. Bank of America has had my check for 92, 000.00 for a month now and keeps giving me the run around everytime I call to see if it has been mailed. To date i have been told that it was approved 4 times now and would be mailed. I wait for the check and it never shows up. I call back and they tell me the exact same thing again. The thing i think that upsets me most is they will not ever connect me with a supervisor and honestly flat out dont care when i get my money. They have no right to do this to people. They dont care what my family has been through and that we just want to be back in our home. They are holding on to my money so they can use it. ITS MY MONEY! My home is 80% done and no one has been paid. I am lucky at this point that anyone is still working on it. Luckily my contractor and my insurance company have been awesome. Too bad I cant say the same for Bank of America. This cant be legal for them to do this to us. Yet i sit here waiting for my money and feeling completely helpless. Once again this morning I was told that the check was approved and would be in my hands Wednesday. Wont hold my breath for that. Wonder if I can hold off on my loan payment and when they call tell them I am waiting for the check to be approved. Sure that wouldn't go over to well. If the check is not on my hands Wedneday i will be contacting my lawyer to at least see what rights I have. I am also going to make a complaint to the Federal Banking Commission. From what Ive read here that probably wont help either.

Same problem. Got hit by a hail storm in Oklahoma. My insurance company Liberty Mutual was stellar and did everything as they promised. Unfortunately, my mortgage is through BOA and have realized that they must employ monkeys in their property claims division. I've just gone on ahead and paid the contractors over $5, 000 out of my pocket because I can't get the monkeys to release my money. Thanks BOA!

Still waiting!

I work for a roofing company in Oklahoma City OK. it is exactly as tscott182 says. I have a customer who owes me over $25, 000. already, and the inspector approved the work as 85% complete. I have filled out the lien release contingent on payment.. What they think I am going to release the lien before they pay? We are now over 60 days out since we did the work and nothing. The sad thing is, I may have to foreclose on my customer just to get the bank to release the money.

If they are holding this money to earn interest and not refunding the interest to the customers mortgage they are violating the law that says the insured cannot profit from a claim. In other words they would be committing insurance fraud.

What a bunch of bull! I'm in the process of getting BoA to endorse our insurance check for 12, 042.00. I'm afraid to send it in to them now!
we need to get a roof asap, Trying to get hold of these people is a nightmare already! Where is the help when you really need it?
B.F.

To Barry59----It took me 7 weeks to get a new roof! Everytime it rained I had to put pans and bowls on the floor to catch it! No one at BOA cared! I called and called and got the same ole run around. I still don't have all of my insurance money back and the tornado hit us June 5th! The only thing I can say is that this has been a huge nightmare and I can't believe that this can be legal!

I began calling to find out what Government entity polices Mortgage companies. My calls eventually resulted in coming to the fact that they are all controlled differently, however since BofA styles themselves a "National bank", they fall under the Comptroller of Currency. If everyone with this problem would file a complaint on www.helpwithmybank.gov Bank of America's business practices would be audited and delt with.

http://foreclosurebuzz.org/2010/07/02/bank-of-americas-servicer-sued-for-abusing-homeowners/

This Article is about someone who actually took the bull by the horns and sued Bank of America for their unethical business practices.

Had a pipe burst in home we had under contract to sell.Sent insurance check to be endorsed they sent it back because we forgot to sign back of check in meantime for us to continue with our closing we borrowed money to fix house. We no longer own the home work had been completed. Contacted BOA. They said had to send endorsed check plus all w-9s from contractors and bills. The kicker is they have to inspect property to make sure work was 100% complete asked how can we do that since I no longer own the home their response well maam I dont know what to tell you we have to inspect it. Worst company on the planet to deal with and we tell everyone that sits in my chair for a haircut which is between 100 to 150 people a week

Contact:

HL&I_executive.relations@bankofamerica.com

[protected]

Tell them you have an unresolved issue with the Property Claims department and you need them to authorize the check without having to send it in because...
ask for Janette G. She seems to actually care and was incredibly helpful in resolving the issues we had with BofA. Unfortunately in our case it turned out that
BofA was not the problem, it was the customer that defrauded us by telling us the bank had the money when in fact they had already spent it. :(

The way property claims insurance works is this:
The insurance will send an adjuster or appraiser out to look at the property or "loss" and assess for damages, the adjuster will then write an Estimate of damages. This estimate will have an RCV column that indicates the insurance companies opinion of what it should cost to repair your roof. If your insurance company used the current price list (market value) and didn't overlook anything then no contractor should charge more than that estimated amount. If the contractor charges less than that amount then the insurance company keeps the difference. The policy language that allows them to do so is written as such.. "we will pay to repair or replace damaged property in the amount up to the estimate of damages, or what the contractor agrees to, whichever is less". Most insurance companies "hold back" a portion of the claim in the form of depreciation, that has to be invoiced for by you or your contractor in order to receive the full amount of the claim. If the contractor agrees to charge you less and send an invoice to your insurance company for the full amount they are committing insurance fraud and by proxy so are you.. It makes little difference to some contractors as if they get caught it is only a slap on the wrist, , however if they get caught so does the homeowner and in most cases it is a felony charge to the homeowner.
The mortgage holder then takes their stance:
In this case Bank of America is the mortgage holder and as such are entitled to hold the funds to insure that the work is completed by the property owner as is in the best interest of the property. Typically if you present a contractor who agrees to do all the work as outlined in the "scope of loss" or estimate provided by the insurance company for what the insurance company says it is valued at, you will be able to recoup all of your funds from the bank. If you are not in arrears on your note and are able to get all your work completed for an amount less than what the bank is holding and it passes BofA's inspection then you should be able to recoup any remaining monies if there are any. Bank of America is a "National" bank and therefore governed differently in most states than other mortgage companies. If you feel that the bank is unjustly holding funds that are yours and you do not want applied to the balance on your mortgage send an email clearly delineating your stance and outlining what the scope of damages is, if you have all the work done and any remaining funds you feel they are holding but should send to you. Include your mortgage number and good contact information. If you have work you are going to do yourself that is not done, include that and remember just because you are doing your own work does not mean you don't get paid the same a contractor would get paid for said work. Your time and labor are just as valuable as theirs.

HL&I_executive.relations@bankofamerica.com

[protected]

So much for proper punctuation

Note to site administrators the punctuation is showing up as code. See above where I put loss in quotations on line one then again every place I used either an apostrophe or quote marks.

I think that a contractor has the right to call the banking center to see if a check has been released. Also if you are a contractor and are waiting on payment it will take atleast 60 days because once all the paperwork is done, and you have called in the 50th time BofA will say that there is another form that has to be filled out. Which BofA could have sent me all the paerwork at once instead of stringing me along for 60 days.. Then when you call in to ask about the check, BofA then says you are not athorized on the account... To All Contractors... write a clause in your contract that the homeowner gives you permission to speak to the bank and insurance company once signed... I bank at Bank of America and now I will be looking else where...

OMG I HATE BoA ! and their stupi run around rules! Almost 3 months from tornado damage and the check from BoA nowhere to be found ! Had anybody submitted a claim, where to and with what success ? I am going to do this right now!

I had 3 trees fall on my house. My sunroom was a total loss and was flattened like a pancake. The insurance company (Farm Bureau) sent me a check for almost $35, 000.00. I had to send the check to BOA and was told that they would have to send it "a little at a time". I AM NOT 12 YEARS OLD AND NEED MY ALLOWANCE FROM MOM AND DAD. I questioned this "policy" and it took ONE MONTH to get the first $10, 000.00 so my contractor could start. The reason I was given for this "policy" was "we have a vested interest in your home". Give me a break...I don't have a "vested interest" in MY home? BOA is the slowest, rudest, and worst company I have ever seen. I am sure the real reason for this is so that with all the damage done recently, they are holding onto this money so it (and if they have 100 people with $35, 000.00 that equals about 3.5 million) interest can be made and put into their pockets. If you have a choice about mortgage companies...DON'T USE BANK OF AMERICA!

I am having the same problem with Boa, June 27th 2011, our home sustained fire damage to our garage- front exterior and heavy roof damage, our insurance company was Farm Bureau of Teaxas, they were was fantastic in handling the claim, they totalled out the house and issued a check in the amount of $224, 881.99 to my wife and i and BOA as the mortage holder.
We had the check fedexed to the property claims dept. A week later we received a check from BOA for $46, 680.39, curious as to why this check was issued we were told by a rep that BOA cannot hold proceeds in excess of the mortage amont which was at the time $178, 201, at that time we did not know wether to rebuild or pay off the note, this was the option that was told to us by our claims adjuster, okay so a week or so passed and we decided to rebuild with the balance of the funds (178, 201.) we submitted our letter of intent along with numerous scopes of work, subcontractor agreements, permits and estimates, we our acting as our own contractor with the proper permits BOA did send guidelines and procedures outlining the process, the problem is that although we began the rebuild with our money (46, 680.39) BOA is looking at this amount as our first disburstment and request inspection for future disburstments and inquired as to " what happened to your first disburstment that should have been used for starting the rebuild..? Now this is odd, the $46680.39 was an overage that they could not legally hold due in part that my mortage was only $178, 201. and the official starting rebuild amount is the $178, 201. this was policy was verified by several reps at BOA claims dept, they have there security and interest..they did not know we were going to rebuild..this policy changes on every call to the claims dept.

Same Problem here. Had storm damage and Liberty Mutual sent me a check for 9K, but it was made payable to myself and BofA. It's been over two weeks and they have not given me a dime so that I can pay the contractor. I had to pay 9K out of my own pocket. I would ever use this bank again for anything. I am, once this money is cleared, closing all my accounts with them. DONT USE THIS BANK FOR ANYTHING.

Same problem here. I had property damage from a storm and Liberty Mutual sent me a check for 9K. It was payable to myself and BofA. It's been over 2 weeks and I have not seen a dime of it. I had to pay the contractor 9K out of my own pocket. I would never do business again with this bank. In fact once I get the money I am closing all my accounts with them. DONT USE THIS BANK FOR ANYTHING.

CLASS ACTION LAWSUITE NEEDED. I have experienced the same problems with BoA Property Claims that I see so many other people complaining about. My house had a fire in May of 2011 and because of a lack of funding I have not been able to get the structure enclosed for the winter. Now I will have more damage and BoA does not care. If anyone here is interested in joining into a LEGAL CLASS ACTION, please email me at: MICHAELSPOWELL@AOL.COM. Please put "Class Action" in the subject line. I am meeting with my attorney today.

I had a fire in 2009, it took a year to complete. What you have to do at each stage of construction is at every 3rd of the way call for an inspection from the BOA claims department. It is a pain but they want to make sure your getting the house fixed and not pocketing the money. My only complaint with BOA is that if your a fews day late on your Mortgage they have a collection department/ company call. Soooo I went with another Mortgage Company. NOT MADE IN AMERICA OWNED BY THE CHINESE!

I was shocked to tears today when the BOA told me I had to send them my flood claims check (32k) and they would disburse it as needed and send an inspector out. Now, after reading all the complaints, I am scare to send it to them and consulted with an attorney today; I will lean more about it on Monday.

Did anyone get the full amount back? Please let me know, I have a bad feeling that they want to keep MY insurance money!

Bank of America is still holding part of our insurance money almost 2 years later so good luck to anyone who has a claim. We got a letter stating that if we wanted the money refunded to us than to get an inspection and if we wanted the money applied to our loan than to call them and they would do so. I have called numerous times and sent a letter telling them to apply it to our loan because we are not living in the house and will not be completing all the repairs. And they say they refuse to apply it to the loan either with out an inspection saying that 90 percent of the work has been done. So they have pretty much pocketed our money. (let me just add that our mortgage is current and has never had a late payment) If anyone starts a lawsuit feel free to add me too it, you can contact me at lostbutnotforgotten2001@yahoo.com

This seems to be common practice for BOA. We are in the final stages of a fire restoration and the constant calling, delays and request for something missing each time when called is getting very frustrating also expensive ! We have had to cover over 10 k in rental cost for furniture and property for the homeowner since the insurance would not pay these positions longer than for 12 month.It has taken BOA over 8 weeks after receiving a 150k plus check from the insurance to release the first draw. * weeks passed for the second and another 10 weeks for the 3 rd. One has to wonder at one point if BOA intentionally does this to "hang on " to other peoples money. It is beyond my understanding how business can be conducted in this manner and that no one has done something against this. I just today threaten with legal actions against BOA and will consult with an attorney on Monday next week. In addition i will file for a mechanics lien against the property. The work is completed by 98% per the authorized BOA inspector and yet there is still more issues even after sending in all notarized paperwork . We are a small contracting firm with honorable ethics and upgraded the property we reconstructed with many features. We are still owed over 40 K on the job and some of our trusted subs are already worried. How in the world can this be? I have read a few comments regarding a class action suit and will follow up with a separate post listing my email address welcoming every information about other willing to join the lengthy fight. The main reason for this is simply to protect other contractors or homeowners from having to endure the rude and unprofessional handling of this department !

well, had a huge Ice dam that destroyed 20 or so feet of my kitchen Insurance Company was awesome, got right on it with drying out, mold remediation etc.. then sent a check 20, 000. check that I had to send to BOA. I did, two weeks ago, heard nothing back. Everytime I call it's a different story. Right now they are hing up on telling me they need a "vendor' number that the bank creates to put the right names on the check? HUH? The names on the check should be my husband and I. I;ll call today to see if they have figured out how to spell it yet. Looking at all the posts above I have a feeling it's going to be a while before I have a Kitchen again. BOA is just the most callous, careless, stonewalling company I have ever had to deal with. To think I used to have sympathy for them when all those protests where going on. Hey BOA, my sympathies are disappearing fast. May find me standing on the BOA Presidents Lawn along with the rest of the crowd.

What the bank needs is a copy of the contract between the homeowner and the contractor to do the repairs. Make sure the contract is for the same amount of the check. If the contractor will do it for less, then you need to have an agreement with the contractor that the rest of the money will be yours. Send copy of contract, copy of any permit, and a W-9 copy of the contractor. This should release the check.

I had a house fire 8/17/2009 i submitted a insurance check not once but twice to pay off the home now they say its in foreclosure and are trying to take my land they have charged me 16, 000 in interest if two years i don't know what to do i have sent everything by certified mail so i have the proof anyone that could help please let me know i feel helpless and deviated?

We have a horrible situation with this awful bank. Bank of America is asking ransom to cash an insurance proceeds check. Yes. you read it right. The bank which is now facing criminal charges from the Justice Department now says that it will only endorse the insurance check if we give them a large amount of money. This is something unheard of in a civilized business sector. Our local government department which monitors insurance related matters could not do much about it. More over, it seems the insurance company may be colluding with Bank of America so that the house will go into foreclosure by not re-issuing a useless check.

When does the Federal government comes to know that this notorious bank is highly unethical and must be either closed down and taken over by the government for proper banking practice?

We have the similar situation with this awful bank. Bank of America is asking ransom to cash an insurance proceeds check. Yes. you read it right. The bank which is now facing criminal charges from the Justice Department now says that it will only endorse the insurance check if we give them a large amount of money. This is something unheard of in a civilized business sector. Our local government department which monitors insurance related matters could not do much about it. More over, it seems the insurance company may be colluding with Bank of America so that the house will go into foreclosure by not re-issuing a useless check.

When does the Federal government comes to know that this notorious bank is highly unethical and must be either closed down and taken over by the government for proper banking practice?

Unfortunately everything I am reading in these comments is exactly what we are going through with Bank of America. We lost our home in a fire and BOA has been horrible to deal with. Never get to speak to the same person on the phone. When we send them paperwork they are asking for, there is always something incorrect on the paperwork and we have to do it again. They have sometimes taken over a month to release funds to us that we need to pay our builder. The only thing holding up us returning to our home has been Bank of America. We will be homeless in a month if they don't send us the money we need because our insurance company will no longer pay our rent. I thought losing our home and everything we had was horrible and never thought it could get worse. I was so wrong! Bank of America has been horrible!

I am very dissatisfied with the on going situation I’ve been dealing with attempting to collect money on an insurance claim. State Farm sent the check to me and Bank of America. I forwarded the check as requested to them. My small time contractor accidently used a rural address on the homemade contract and this has started the biggest mess and confusion. This is not a large multi-million dollar business. Just a small contractor who has in good faith agreed to put a roof on my little ragged house to keep the rain out and I can’t get this man his money. Each time I’ve called I get a different story. Either no one knows what they are doing are they don’t care

After Katrina Country wide was bought by B of A and they refused to respond to any contact for 5 + years. They did this to wait people out that could not pay two mortgages. I was privilege to be able to afford both. My attorney attempted to contact them over the 5+ years but they held out. Absolutely no response at all not even a pay off amount
I brought them to court and they had to pay for my legal bills $55, 000 and they finally agreed to a payoff amount if the house was listed on the free market. Don't waist your time, sue that is the only way! I now have two insurance checks left to litigate that were paid for out of pocket expenses $75, 00. They have both our names. My same attourny is handleing this so, lets see how much my leagal bills will be this time. Note LA law is different than some states. I guess it will end up costing them arounad 70, 000 more than they expected

I am going through the same nightmare as all comments above. When is something going to be done about Bank of
America's Property Claim Policy and Procedures which is to keep your money as long as possible. They have had our insurance money since
April 2015 and it is now February 27, 2016. I agree they are committing a crime against their own customers! What recourse do we have besides removing all of our business from them? They don't seem to care one way or the other. I am shocked at their abuse. C. Tolley

OMG...I'm reading all of the information here and I'm really starting to worry. Our home in Wylie Texas was severely damaged by 2 wind and hail storms within a 30 day time period (3/23 and 4/11). My insurance company USAA has been great. They have issued the first check for the 3/23 storm however they did include BOA's name on it. When I took the check to the bank for them to endorse so I could deposit and begin repairs I was told I would have to send the check to Simi Valley CA and they would deposit the funds into my account. I spent 70 dollars to send BOA a complete packet that included the endorsed check, the quotes for the repairs, the ALLCAT report from the adjuster and the business license, ins certificate and W9 for for contractor who is to perform repairs. I sincerely hope they do not drag this out because this is the ROOF of the house. If it's not replaced in a timely manner more and more damage will occur as we continue to have rain storms in Texas. I'm so thankful to have found this site and have already spoke to my attorney to let him know of my concerns regarding the delays from BOA regarding release to funds to repair my home. I will provide updates regarding the progress.

UPDATE: The BOA Property Claims rep finally called me back (I have to wait for her to call me because I can't get through to her if I call their 866 number). She was very nice and said AFTER all documentation has been received from the contractor (W9, Business License, Certificate of Liability) BOA would release only 25% of the insurance proceeds. In my case that's about $4500.00. Mind you the repairs needed are from a sever hail storm that hit our home twice in a 30 day time period. The problem now is finding a contractor who will agree to getting paid only a fraction of his invoice upfront and then wait for a BOA inspector to come out before he gets another payment (which may not be the full balance of what's owed). I contacted my insurance company to ask if this is common practice and they said not really. This is truly a BOA policy. They also said any delays in getting repairs done will result in them denying future claims as they have disbursed funds for repairs but the repairs are not happening in a reasonable amount of time. WTH? I don't have control of the funds...BOA does. Don't misunderstand me...I do understand the bank wanting to ensure the property is being repaired as the insurance proceeds indicate but give my a fair chance to do that in a timely manner. More storms continue to come through my area. If additional damage occurs my insurance company stated they have noted my file and will not pay out any further proceeds. This is so crazy. Why am I being penalized for something that is totally out of my control. I'm so very frustrated with this whole process.