Bank of America Fires Bank of America?!!

Bank of America announced earlier this year that it plans to lay off more than 40,000 employees, many of them loan officers and processors. They also intend to close to close 10% of their branches nationwide and gradually get out of the mortgage industry. The layoffs have already begun in Las Vegas, and you know it’s affecting customer service when, literally, Bank of America fires Bank of America!

A number of months ago, one of our agents listed a Las Vegas short sale and was fortunate enough to also find the buyer. The short sale bank was Bank of America and the buyer was obtaining a mortgage loan from B of A to fund the purchase.

The property was placed into escrow and the fun began. The seller’s documents for the short sale were submitted to B of A for approval of the sales price. Within 40 days, the full approval was received, not bad at all on a short sale! Everyone assumed there would be smooth sailing ahead for the rest of the transaction - usually the approval is the hard part of any Las Vegas real estate transaction.

But things quickly deteriorated from that point on. The buyer’s employment verification was lost twice. By the time the verification was obtained, the credit report had expired and had to be redone. Incorrect figures were submitted for the sales price and loan amount. And oopsy! Someone forgot to order the appraisal.

After four extensions to the escrow due to lender errors and oversights, Bank of America’s short sale department finally issued an ultimatum - they would only issue a fifth extension if the buyer used another Las Vegas mortgage lender besides B of A! (The good news is, the buyer actually scored a better interest rate and lower fees with their new lender.)

Conclusion: Bank of America really IS trying to get out of the mortgage industry, and they are doing one heck of a job!