A timeline of my Bank of America dealings...Squatter Edition

Welcome to my blog.  I have been dealing with the squatter issue in my neighborhood for 6 weeks.  I am so frustrated by the lack of help given to us.  I have decided to start chronicling my communications with Bank of America. 

Let's start from day one.  

8/3/13: I notice people cleaning out the home next door to us.  I talk to the people cleaning.  They let me know that their friend was moving into the house.  She was moving over from the next street over.  They were cleaning the house instead of the landlord/owner.  I was friendly and let them use my hose because they did not have the water turned on. They told me that the house was filthy and that they had to let off 8 bug bombs.  

This started to peak my curiosity. First, I never saw a for sale sign on this property. The previous owners were kicked out by Bank of America in December of 2011. It had been vacant since. The only sign of movement was a notice that Bank of America put on the door in late 2012 stating the house would go up for auction in October of that year.

Furthermore, who cleans out a house they are renting?? Especially one so disgusting??

8/4/13: Numerous people are in and out of the house all day long.  Our cousins from the next street over come over to visit us.  They see that they are moving in and recognize that they are the same people occupying a foreclosed house on their street.  They tell me that the same people had moved into the house on their street 1.5 weeks previous.  Same circumstances where they cleaned out the house.  We put two and two together and decided to call the police.  An officer came out to the house, the "tenant" showed him a rental receipt and he left.

8/5/13: My husband goes out to his car at 6:30am to go to work and finds that it has been broken into and ransacked.  He decides not to call police since he felt that they had done this as retaliation.  They rummaged through all of our documents in the car, stole some headphones and my husband’s medication.  

Through further investigation we determine that all of the people occupying the house are criminals...meth & heroin dealers, meth manufacturers, identity thieves...the convictions go on and on...

8/6/13: I decide to stay home from work and take care of getting information to get rid of them.  I first contact the previous owner before the foreclosure.  He tells me that there is no way the house has been purchased and rented out, and that Bank of America is the owner.  I make a phone call to Bank of America. I speak with someone in their mortgage department. They tell me that it is their home and thank me for letting them know. 

The house on the other street is determined to be Bank of America's, too.  It originally belonged to First Franklin Financial, which was a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch -- which we all know was purchased by Bank of America with taxpayer dollars in late 2008. Again, I call Bank of America about that house.  They thank me and confirm that it is their home.

8/8/13: I call Bank of America’s mortgage line again.  I report the house on my street again.  I give the address on the other street, too. They thank me and say that they have passed the information along to the correct department.

8/14/13: Still no action from the bank, so I call Bank of America mortgage line and report the houses again.  Again someone at the bank confirms that both houses belong to them.  They let me know that they have reported the occupancy to their Property Protection division.  I ask them for that number.  They give me one.  I call and number turns out to be incorrect.  

I then decide to call Merrill Lynch and they give me a number to contact.  It belongs to the company that the bank hires to protect their properties: Safeguard Properties.  I report both houses.  They let me know that they have been out to both houses and have reported that they are occupied to Bank of America, but that they cannot do anything further until Bank of America tells them to do so.  I give this number to several of the neighbors.

8/19/13: I talk to my neighbor over the phone.  She tells me that she called Safeguard Properties and that they had sent reports on both houses to Bank of America.  They still have an active PO for the house on the other street, but that Bank of America cancelled the order on the house next to us.  They let her know that their hands are tied and they can only act when Bank of America tells them to do so.

Later in the day I posted a message on Bank of America's facebook and someone called me within 5 minutes.  His name is Kurt and he told me that he would look into the matter and get back to me about an update.  

8/20/13: Kurt called me and told me that he had reported the houses to their Property Protection agency.  They did belong to Bank of America and he thanked me.  Then I emailed him and asked what the next step would be, when it would happen and to please give me the number to Property Protection.  He called me back and said that he could not give me the number that he would be my liaison and that the bank had done its due diligence and he cannot confirm that the houses belong to them and that he cannot tell me what steps will be taken.

I find an email address to the PR director at Bank of America and send her an email.  My neighbor takes my email and also submits it to Problem Solvers at the local news station.

To be continued...