Homeowner Beats Bank Of America In Small Claims Court

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: The Huffington Post

A California homeowner sued Bank of America in small claims court and won $7,595 from the bank after it burned him on a mortgage modification.

"It was a good victory for me and I think for homeowners around the country," Dave Graham told HuffPost.

Graham, who lives in Big Bear City, Calif., applied for a loan modification under the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, which is supposed to give eligible borrowers a "permanent" five-year modification if they make reduced payments during a three-month trial period.

Graham said his trial dragged on for 18 months. He said he made every payment until Bank of America told him in May that he didn't qualify for HAMP, and that he'd lose his home unless he paid about $7,000 to make up the difference between his normal monthly payments and the reduced payments he made during the trial period.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/04/homeowner-beats-bank-of-a_n_804171.html

[wtmusic]

1. I"m amazed that BofA let the trial drag out for 18 months

Their attorney fees were probably 10x the settlement. :crazy:

[subterranean]

2. That's not referring to the court trial.

It means BofA dragged out the man's three-month trial period of reduced payments for 18 months before informing him he wasn't eligible for a modification.

[wtmusic]

17. Got it, thanks. nt

[Mark Maker]

3. I could be wrong but i think the 18 months refers to how long

the trial payment period was allowed to drag out, not the small claims court procedure.

[rfranklin]

4. No, it was a "trial payment" program...

They failed to resolve the modification after a three-month trial period.

[underpants]

8. I'm not. The point is to set the bar low for more settlements and rulings

those are two different things- settlements and rulings


They fought this to keep future costs down. Plus they already made a ton more money off this kind of action (all of them) then they paid to the lawyers.

They are capitalists. Don't expect a shark to give up.

[TheMadMonk]

21. Only if itemised out. Corps like BoA don't hire law firms.

They EMPLOY them. It "costs" them very little to fight these sort of fights. The whole point of dragging these fights out, is to bleed the oponent until he has nothing left to fight with.

[mudplanet]

34. There are lots of underemployed lawyers out there that take this type

of thing as "piece work."

A local attorney is representing some out of state collection agency against my 82-year-old neighbor over a credit card bill. She's on social security so they can't do anything, but do you think the attorney would bother to come around and talk to her to find that out first (she can't talk on the phone)? It's going to be really funny when we go to court and tell the judge what her financial status is.

When the process server came I saw him next door and asked him what he wanted and he tried to serve me with the summons so I chased him off. Literally. I've never had anyone run away from me before.

I assume they get paid by service so they'll try again, which is ok. But I'm not going to do their job for them.

[Demeter]

31. I'm not

Our coop is in litigation with NCB, formerly National Cooperative Bank, a govt. special bank until Reagan "privatized" it.

We've been after them for several years, trying to hold them to their commitments to pay fees, sell or otherwise dispose of vacant units that people walked away from. They have the resources to delay, while our lifeblood drains on the ground.

[DJ13]

5. Has the $ amount you can sue for in small claims court gone up?

I thought it was limited to $5,000.

[Tunkamerica]

6. www.courtinfo.ca.gov

How much money can I ask for?
An individual cannot ask for more than $7,500 in a claim. Corporations and other entities (like, government entities) cannot ask for more than $5,000. You can file as many claims as you want for up to $2,500 each. But you can only file 2 claims in a calendar year that ask for more than $2,500.

[lonestarnot]

14. Depends upon where one lives also.

[girl gone mad]

7. HAMP was just another backdoor bank bailout.

The banks are allowed to collect large fees while pretending to work with the borrowers. In the end, most of the applications are denied and the applicants are charged additional fees on top of the initial fees. The banks enter this negotiation process in bad faith. I'm glad he won his case and I hope others will try the same tactic.

[Myrina]

16. +100

Yes indeed. It would be much more logical and practical if the $5000 fee-per-loan was just given directly to the homeowner to put toward their mortgage, or applied directly from HAMP to the mortgage, than to give it to the Lender as a 'token' of 'good faith'.

[truedelphi]

23. It's a fifty billion dollar program, and according to Neil Barofsky, home owners

Have made use of only 1.5 billion.

Barofsky is one of the good guys, and many a time I wish he was the one sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

[tsuki]

27. That's exactly correct. They can charge hugh fees, a partial on the

mortgage, and get the house. Not a bad deal for BOA.

[harvey007]

9. Congratulations, Dave Graham!

Getting the judgment was the easy part. I hope he can actually collect the money the court says BofA owes him.

[TheDebbieDee]

10. Oh, my gosh. My brother has been trying to do a loan modification

to keep his home and earlier today his lender told him they were going to refer his case to the HAMP and that they were giving him an additional 30 days to qulaify for the lender's loan modification program..........

Maybe this lender is stringing my brother along, too.

[ihaveaquestion]

24. I suggest your brother consult with a lawyer ASAP

To get advice on how to protect himself. Also, letters and inquiries from lawyers to lenders carry more weight.

[Honeycombe8]

11. Wow...what a scam by BoFa. What a downright scam. That burns me.

To think....to mail a packet out to someone, saying he could qualify for something and that he should apply...and then to agree for him to pay reduced payments....then to decide he doesn't qualify but not tell him, and cont. to take reduced payments, all the while setting him up for arrearages and delinquent fees! That burns me up! It's almost as if it's a racket intended to take his home by foreclosure.

What a racket. The govt needs to do something about this. The average homeowner doesn't stand a chance up against manipulation like this.

[Angry Dragon]

13. Obama says nothing needs to be done to fix it

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[harun]

15. The Gov't is the accomplis in this. They passed programs opening the door for

this crap. I don't know one person who has tried to use one of these programs and has qualified and had something good come of it.

[anamandujano]

35. Is this program on the list that Obama enablers post

to prove how much he has achieved for the common man?

[Capitalocracy]

22. Almost? nt

[louis-t]

38. "a packet" (singular?)

BoA sent me the packet 11 TIMES! Each time with a return Fed-Ex envelope and pre-paid postage, and even after I verified they had received the one I sent back. They came 2 at a time for a while. I keep trying to figure out how that fits into the scam.

[cherokeeprogressive]

12. I work with Dave. Very cool guy. I was glad to hear David beat Goliath...

When he told me he won against BofA I could hardly believe it. Through all the bullshit, the threats, the late night calls and the mysterious visitors, he never gave up.

Dave Graham: FoC

Friend of Chris LOLOLOL

[myrna minx]

18. Good for him. K&R n/t

[PhillySane]

19. Now if this guy could win

Why couldn't Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/01/03/is-fannie-bai... /

[emilyg]

20. Excellent. k/r

[fasttense]

25. But it seems he will still lose his home.

"It won't save his home, but it gives him some dignity."

Glad he won, every small victory is a baby step ahead, but in the end the richest among us get even richer.

The dancing supremes would never allow this decision to stand if it was appealed. The guy might get by in small claims court but if it goes to the bought off Supreme Court, it will be overturned.

The American people better get out in the streets now, because fascism is swallowing up our democracy very rapidly.

[Javaman]

26. Considering how these various mortgages were broken up into tranches...

wouldn't it have been easier for this guy just to force BofA to produce the actual mortgage?

Many people are walking away free and clear from bankruptcies and defaults because the bank that supposedly owns the mortgage can't produce it.

But then again, maybe BofA had that actual mortgage.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

28. This whole mortgage mess is unconscionable

A simple, painless and effective revolution needs to happen: millions of people closing their accounts at these too-big-to-fail banks and then rush into a small community bank or credit union with whatever money they have left.

[orbitalman]

29. Cheers to David Graham for stickin' it to 'em...

And, giving us a precedent.:toast:

[prodigals0n]

30. Our recent experience with an independent broker and Wells Fargo

I wanted to save a percent on our mortgage rate to try to compensate for the higher property taxes we're paying thanks to that corrupt, incompetent tyrant, Chris Christie. The independent broker tried to squeeze me at the last minute by adding undisclosed charges at the very last minute. I got out of that deal. Luckily an attorney friend (a GOOD one) made a phone call on my behalf, pro bono, and I had the few hundred dollars I spent on an appraisal before 10 o'clock the very next morning, sent FedEx Overnight.

So rates were still down and I've been with Wells Fargo for twenty years or so. They'd always been impeccable. But this time Wells Fargo made the independent broker look like a saint. I got out of that deal too with no losses and the phone call from the attorney wasn't even necessary this time.

The Wells Fargo debacle happened during the very same time the reports about all the banking and mortgage industry fraud were coming out and those reports sounded exactly like the way Wells Fargo was handling our refinance. They not only tried the squeeze play, they tried to rush us through closing before we'd ever seen the HUD statement, which wasn't completed yet even on the morning they wanted to close! They finally faxed me a copy three days after the term of the loan expired and there were BLANK SPACES where the three most important numbers should have been -- the term of the loan, the percentage rate, and the AMOUNT of the loan! AND OUR NAMES WERE SPELLED SO INCORRECTLY THEY WERE FOR ALL PURPOSES UNRECOGNIZABLE!

We kept our current mortgage rather than roll the dice on our home just to save one percent.

[DesertDiamond]

32. HAPPY DANCE!! More of this, please!!!

[Fire1]

33. OUT FUCKIN STANDING!!! Maybe this will set a NEW

precedent!!

[lafayettelonewolf]

37. Hell to the Mother F'N yeah!!!

Hey Bank of Amerikkka, how do you like them dawgs?!

[sarcasmo]

39. I will only borrow money from the credit union. A big middle finger to the mega banks.