Secret BofA Office of CEO Stymied Needy Homeowners

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/16/1263148/-How-far-would-Bank-of-America-go-to-screw-distressed-nbsp-homeowners?detail=facebook#

Dec 16, 2013
Joan McCarter

A Bloomberg investigation has uncovered a secret office created by Bank of America called "the Office of the CEO and President" set up ostensibly to handle complaints homeowners trying to refinance in the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program. But when frustrated homeowners, and members of Congress and regulators, finally reached what they thought was the pinnacle of BoA where something might just be done to help them, they were really being shuffled off to a contractor site, Urban Lending, whose primary job appears to have been delaying the process until the homeowners could be forced into foreclosure.

Urban Lending was one of the vendors hired to clear a huge backlog of complaints, at least 15,000 of them, that Bank of America had amassed. It was specifically "brought in to handle grievances from lawmakers and regulators on behalf of borrowers, also operated a mail-processing center for HAMP documents."

Instead of helping homeowners as promised under agreements with the U.S. Treasury Department, Bank of America stalled them with repeated requests for paperwork and incorrect income calculations, according to nine former Urban Lending employees. Some borrowers were sent into foreclosure or pricier loan modifications padded with fees resulting from the delays, according to the people, all but two of whom asked to remain anonymous because they signed confidentiality agreements.

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