Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan <a href="http://consumerist.com/2010/03/bank-of-america-seizes-wrong-house-holds-parrot-hostage.html" target="_blank">http://consumerist.com/2010/03...age.html</a> So in the story above, BofA swooped in to foreclose on this woman's home. They took her pet parrot, cut wires, put padlocks on all the doors. Problem is, they got the wrong house. After 3 days they finally admitted their mistake. She's now suing them, and I hope she wins. She had to drive 3 hours to get her bird back. Turns out this isn't an isolated incident. Google search on "bank forecloses wrong house" brings up several stories like this. Lovely. Her lawyer brings up a very good point: If an average Joe did to BofA what BofA did to this woman, average Joe would be looking at 10 years in prison.
Originally Posted By Labuda Wrong house isn't quite accurate, 2oony. When reading the original article on post-gazette.com, I saw this: Mr. Rosenzweig said that, with the exception of one payment, Ms. Iannelli's mortgage payments had been on time. Bank of America had not sent her a notice of a 60-day deficiency nor given her 30 days to fix it, as state law requires, he said. The suit says the company was knowingly deceptive and lacks a policy to check the validity of its foreclosures or stop wrongful ones from happening. A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment. Read more: <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10068/1041290-54.stm#ixzz0hzA0hvNd" target="_blank">http://www.post-gazette.com/pg...hzA0hvNd</a> (and btw, wow - coolness! I just did a copy/paste of those two paragraphs, and the computer inserted the read more and link to the article when I pasted! Yay technology!)
Originally Posted By velo I work for a Bankruptcy lawyer (just one of my jobs...). You would be amazed at how often this happens (the "padlock & seizure" part). B of A, and many others (B of A actually owns so many more mortgage companies now). They have actual goon squads that come in and grab everything and change the locks in front of you - even if a stay has been issued by the court. It takes days to sort out - no apologies issued, of course. I find it incredibly frightening. Banks really have no interest in working with anybody; B of A in particular is on the road to being one of the largest landlords around (in all sectors).
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Wrong house isn't quite accurate, 2oony.<< True. I went by the headline in my link, you're correct. Either way, though, it's ridiculous that they should get away with this stuff.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Banks really have no interest in working with anybody<< True. The only reason they are very reluctantly working with people at all is because the real estate market has been so miserable.
