Bank of America Reviews

This is my third mortgage, and my first with BofA. I originally got the loan through BofA's predecessor. Everything was going smoothly and normal until BofA took over. They failed to apply a regular monthly payment about 3 months ago, and I have been receiving harassing phone calls from their India debt collection center, misinformation from the customer service department, argumentative and rude CS reps, and dings on my credit score, all for something completely avoidable. Just trying to get through their voice jail to talk to a live person sometimes takes 5-10 minutes. When I finally get through, the conversation gets nowhere, and they tell me a different story a month later. This has been a constant source of stress and frustration for me for the past 3 months. I will never do business with this company again.

BofA inherited our mortgage from our original lender. We had our payment automatically drafted bi-weekly. The problems started when we went out of the country and neglected to ensure that the entire payment was deposited into our checking account. Although this was clearly our fault, we mailed the payment immediately. We have had nothing but harrassment and lousy customer service since. We are extremly frustrated and are actively seeking refinacing.

The application process was fine. I prequalified online and then a couple weeks later submitted my application via telephone and got a conditional approval that same day. The problems started once my file was turned over to the loan processing department. Communicating with my assigned loan specialist was extremely frustrating: phone calls were not returned in a timely manner or were returned to a number other than the one I asked to be called at, e-mails and faxes were not responded to, requirements were not made clear. The biggest issue was BofA's rules for approving a condo project. I asked my loan specialist about this and she told me two standards that had to be met, which I knew the project did, and assured me we were on track to meet my closing date (which had been set for 45 days after I applied). Two weeks before my closing date, I was assigned a new loan specialist. She, too, assured me we were on track for closing on time. One week before the closing date, I was told that the condo project did not meet BofA's guidelines for lending and so the loan would not be approved. If my original loan specialist had provided me with a complete list of the condo approval standards when I first asked for them, I would have been able to apply with another lender in time to make my original closing date. Instead, BofA wasted hours and hours of my time, cost me hundreds of dollars in fees I had to pay to change the airline tickets my husband and I had bought to go to the closing out of state, and made me scramble to get an extension from the seller so I didn't lose the property entirely.

We were told they were giving us a higher interest rate because of our credit score (780). After making one year of payments in full and on time they would then lower the rates for us. I got the loan officer's name and information to keep on file and marked the one year date on the calendar. Surprise....when I called back there was no documentation this was offered and the loan officer was long gone. They will do ANYTHING to get you into a loan. Once they've sucked you in there's no going back. I've made phone call after phone call trying to rectify this and guess what, seven months later I'm still paying the higher rate. Run, run fast and far away from Bank of America.

Getting our loan was fine, but the back-end customer service has been terrible. They lost a mortgage paymnet, and we had to pay an additional $2000 just to save our credit score. This was 2 years ago, and it's still not resolved. I even had the cancelled check sent to them (they pulled a payment from our checking account, and also cashed a check we sent in!!). They have no idea what they're doing, and the auto payment people, don't talk to the payment people, who can't get information to the branch, etc., etc. Normal big company nightmare.

We had an issue with a home equity loan and found that BoA's branches don't support mortgage products. They offer you no help. We have an issue with BoA starting months ago, and while our credit score goes in the trash, they take 2-3 weeks to get back to us - and they REFUSE to use email for customer support. I've spent 3 hours per my one day a week off over the past 4 months trying to resolve a simple payment issue. Finally, I made a "deal, paid them an EXTRA payment, and NOW they say the issue is still under review! Thanks Ed Flemming, Brenda and an whole mess of the worst customer service people I ever met. They have had ME submit proof of payment 5 times now, and STILL no resolution. Mostly, it's the supervisors tying the hands of customer service, but my issue REMAINS unsolved while they drive my credit score (which started in the mid 700s) down to 620. I could barely refinance a car after what they've done to me. RUN AWAY FROM BoA (repeat).

We originally had a pretty good experience getting a loan through our branch. But, that's where the fun ends. Consider this:
1) Even though a branch can write a loan, they do NOT service it!! (neither mortgage nor home equity)
2) Customer service for morgtage

I inquired about the No Fee mortgage from BofA and was told that in California, I needed to put 20% down. Has anyone else heard about this? The BofA website did not mention anything about the 20% down.

I have a mortgage with BofA. They have good service, but they have paid my property taxes LATE several times now.

In short, Bank of America advertises products they have no intentions of giving you in this economic climate. For example, home equity loans are just marketing. I am going to save you some time. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME IN APPLYING FOR ONE OF THESE LOANS. THEY WILL COME UP WITH EVERY REASON TO TURN YOU DOWN!!

I recently had two friends who have good credit (675 and above), own the properties FREE and CLEAR, and low debt to income ratios (between 36 and 43 percent). The first person was turned down because after giving the bank all the required documentation, the middle initial on the application that the bank rep. took was different than the persons driver's license and therefore the bank said they were trying to commit fraud. BofA told them they could try to complete the application again but that now it would look suspicious and would probably not get approved.

The second case involved a women who was told that she had to add her husband to the application to get the loan. She did and they told her a new application was needed because he was never on the application. She said ok. BofA was very discouraging and told her it may not get approved because she should have shown his income, which they stated it looked as if she was hiding family income from the initial loan because he wasn't on the loan and it most likely will not be approved...incredible!!