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At some point, you'd think the folks who seize foreclosed homes for Bank of America might want to employ a GPS device or, at the very least, consult a street map. Taking those simple precautions might save the bank from the seemingly incomprehensible brain damage inflicted by boneheads who seize control of the wrong house. Last month, we reported on a whole load of frozen fish that went funky when Bank of America took control of the wrong house in Galveston, Texas, and turned off the power. It turns out that Texas wasn't the only state where BofA was employing Stevie Wonder Wannabe's to foreclose on delinquent homeowners. Via Jr. Deputy Accountant comes another sad tale, this one from Florida.
Charlie and Maria Cardoso are among the millions of Americans who have experienced the misery and embarrassment that come with home foreclosure.
Just one problem: The Massachusetts couple paid for their future retirement home in Spring Hill with cash in 2005, five years before agents for Bank of America seized the house, removed belongings and changed the locks on the doors, according to a lawsuit the couple have filed in federal court.
[...]
The bank had an incorrect address on foreclosure documents — the house it meant to seize is across the street and about 10 doors down — but the Cardosos and a Realtor employed by Bank of America were unable to convince the company that it had the wrong house, the suit states.
"Their own real estate agent told them, and nevertheless Bank of America steamrolled right ahead," said Joseph deMello, an attorney in Taunton, Mass., who is representing the couple. "This is a nightmare for anyone, and it affected my hard-working clients a lot."
Naturally, the Cardosos have sued Bank of America. Just as naturally, the bank lawyered up and clammed up.
The bank declined to comment to the Times beyond an e-mailed statement.
"We have reached out to the Cardosos' representatives and hope to have the opportunity to work with them to properly assess and address their allegations," the statement said. "We are reviewing the allegations in the lawsuit, the actual events that led to them and the causes of those events, and will consider any hardship that resulted."
I hate to break the news to the bank, but the proper time to "reach out to the Cardosos" was when its own real estate agent told the bank that it HAD...THE...WRONG...HOUSE! By the time wronged homeowners get to the point where they've hired an attorney and have filed a lawsuit, the "reach out" better be by a fist holding a fat wad of cash.
Perhaps we shouldn't single out Bank of America for these brain hiccups, since it apparently isn't a lone ranger riding this particular prairie.
At least one bank has acknowledged the record number of foreclosures from the mortgage meltdown has increased the likelihood of such mistakes.
Citi-Residential started the foreclosure process on a home in Kissimmee in 2008 — changing the locks and emptying the pool — even though the owner, who lives in London, didn't have a mortgage with the company, according to a report by Orlando TV station WFTV. Company officials said the high number of foreclosures they were dealing with in Central Florida contributed to the error.
In fairness to the bank, when one of your main lines of business is foreclosing pell-mell on homeowners in the midst of the Great Recession, things can get a bit hectic, and as we all know, "stuff happens." Nevertheless, before you drain a swimming pool, make sure you're not simultaneously walking off a short diving board positioned over the middle of its deep end.
As a cautionary note to homeowners everywhere, I'd suggest that they seriously consider getting their next home loan from a smaller community bank which, when it gets to the point where it might have to foreclose on your home, at least won't be so overburdened with brazillions of simultaneous foreclosures that it will get you in dutch with the neighbors by trashing their homes first before it finally gets around to seizing yours.
