‘Nightmare’ – Bank of America Sues Customers After Prematurely Discharging Loan: Report

The Bank of America reportedly made a mistake with a customer’s loan and ended up suing her because of it.

Diane Jaques, a 75-year-old homeowner in Concord, Massachusetts, was sued by the Bank of America after the financial institution accidentally discharged her loan prematurely, reports local Boston public news outlet WBUR.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s their mistake…

I’ve never missed a payment. I get the bill every month and I pay it.”

According to the lawsuit, she and her husband originally took out a $200,000 home equity line of credit from FleetBoston Financial, which later merged with Bank of America. Her husband has since died.

After the merger, Bank of America says it took steps to clean up FleetBoston’s paperwork on some 16,000 mortgages. However, in the process, Bank of America erroneously discharged Jaques’ mortgage, among others.

To correct the error, the bank asked Jaques to sign certain documents. Jaques says the process became such a hassle, including having to get papers notarized by a notary public, that she gave up on it, only to later learn Bank of America was now suing her over the matter.

Jacques, a semi-retired insurance agent, says,

“How can this even be allowed? It’s very shocking. It’s the last thing I need.”

In the end, Bank of America dropped the lawsuit this month after Jaques signed the necessary documents.

Says Jaques,

“I am done with Bank of America. This has been a nightmare.”

Bill Halldin, a Bank of America spokesperson, says that the bank contacted customers for permission to refile the mortgage paperwork to fix the loans mistakenly discharged. If homeowners didn’t respond or did not complete the process, the bank sued. Jaques is one of more than 100 homeowners in Massachusetts who were sued over the loan issue.

Says Halldin,

“Filing the lawsuits was the only way to ask the court to correct the record if homeowners didn’t voluntarily agree to the correction.”

According to Halldin, the bank will cover the cost of correcting the records with local registries as well as public notary services. However, the bank does not plan to reimburse attorney’s fees incurred by homeowners who hire a lawyer to handle the lawsuit.

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