(12 News)
A Texas woman’s “nightmare” of three court cases in six years is finally over, after a judge ordered Bank of America to pay her the $300,000 it’s owed her since 2008. Trudie’s troubles all started after a hurricane damaged her home in 2006, and her then-mortgage company told her not to worry about paying her loan for three months so she could get back on her feet.
Countrywide said there’d be no late fees, no penalties and no reports to credit bureaus during those months, reports 12 News. Then the trouble started. After that three months, Countrywide sent her a letter saying she had a bunch of late fees and owed that three months of mortgage payments up front, and all those missed payments were going to damage her credit. Say what now?
Trudie saddled up and got an attorney to represent her against Countrywide, and won a settlement. She continued to pay the company her mortgage, and on time, but eventually Countrywide said she no longer had a loan with them. Instead, Bank of America owned it, and began harassing her for payment. Round two of fun.
She filed a lawsuit after she received a foreclosure notice near the 2008 holidays and was successful, but Bank of America never paid up on the settlement it owed her. That is, until now, when the third round in front of a judge proved to have a happy ending. A judge said the bank had taken advantage of the justice system, and as such, ordered it to pay her the $300,000 it’s owed her for years. It also has 90 days to fix her credit.
“You go through the happy because it’s finally finished…but it’s at the point you say I want to see something now,” she said.
Fannett woman wins $300k from Bank of America [12 News]
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I “Go through the happy” at home!
That’s my happy. Don’t you dare go through it.
…and that’s what she actually said. I was assuming this was a Consumerist typo but…nope: “you go through the happy” – right there at the 1:27 mark
I make my own happy at home.
Close your drapes… nobody wants to see that.
And put a quarter in the slot to open the drapes? We are talking about a cat house….
Sexy time with MeowMaximus, playing now on channel 13 with limited commercial interruption and perfect gramm(e)r.
Good for her, although I hope she got them to cover her legal fees as well. When they don’t pay up she can show up with the local PD for a fire sale!
90 days to fix her credit is generous. It can be done in 3 days.
I thought it was generous too. Under normal situations, doesn’t a disputed item have to be investigated and addressed within 30 days?
/could look it up myself
//lazy
Don’t start the celebration yet. BofA has already been ordered to pay the lady before and blew it off. Start the celebration when she gets the money. Better yet, start the celebration when she *doesn’t* get the money, has the sheriff seize one of the branches, and sells the building and contents.
I agree, they have already demonstrated that they are just going to drag this out as far as possible. I wish the judge had included some form of penalty if they didn’t pay by the deadline (if they were able to of course). Having the threat of the settlement jumping from 300k to 900k if they didn’t pay on time would get their attention for sure.
They did, it says in the video if they don’t pay by the 30 day deadline for payment, they will be ordered to pay an additional $300,000.
Sweet. My video was stuck in that wonderful buffering/choppy mode so I gave up trying to watch it.
Amusingly if they do end up having to pay the additional 300k penalty that would be very nearly the interest that would have been charged if the whole amount was financed at mid-range credit card levels of 20%.
How much is a bank BUILDING worth? I suspect it’s less than $600,000…
However, the land underneath is probably prime commercial – and quite valuable.
They need to begin jailing executives from the top down, say one for each judgement that remains unpaid after 90 days. Mem,ebrs of their Board of Directors shoudl be faif game as well if they are running short on executives ….
that might get their attention.
Golden Poo…here we come. They’re probably still pissed the got nosed out by EA last time.
They got off easy. If I was the judge I would have required BoA to pay the $300,000, legal fees and repay any morgage payments she made to them during the time they refused to pay what they were required to pay [so three+ years of mortgage payments].
I wonder if jail time is an option in this case. Hold the company in contempt and start throwing officers in jail. See if that would loosen things up a bit.
I wouldn’t expect any less if I ignored a judge like that myself.
Verizon publicly stated that this change was to increase revenues.
Strange. I posted this to the Verizon article and it showed up here.
Oh, for an edit button so you could change “Verizon” to “BoA” and make it fit…
Same meaning, anyway. These are both two among way too many companies that think they are above the courts.
No wonder they don’t pay. What’s the downside to BOA? Get sued again and be ordered to pay what they already owed? Ooh, that’s almost as bad as someone shaking their finger at you!
If I’m reading this correctly there has been zero punishment for BOA to ignore a court order from 4 years ago, and forcing someone to go through the entire legal process again.
I think that anyone who refuses to pay a court ordered payment should have it doubled every X months (I don’t know, 6 months?). Something with teeth rather than 5% interest or something.
I’ve had friends win in small claims court and then have an even longer fight to get them to pay up.
Actually Countrywide/BOA probably made out in the positive with all the people it screwed over in a similar manner who did not retain lawyers to fight the issue.
Those folks probably had to pay late fees, etc or even lost their homes because of the same issue.
Kind of reverts back to the issue that some Countrywide VP thought it would be good PR not to require the victims of Hurricane Ike to pay for three months but said VP never communicated that exception to the billing and accounting departments or left his/her position before forcing it though.
I’m waiting for the article where she obtained a levy against them and showed up with cops to clean out several branches.
Although in the true spirit of BoA, technically she should haul off the contents of the business next door.
I do believe, as demonstrated in the Direct Buy story, that if Bank of America does not pay in a timely manner, she can show up with the local constabulary in tow and start taking her relief from the local branch in the form of whatever property they have. Usually at that point they will sit up and take notice, as also demonstrated in the Wells Fargo branch foreclosure story.
I do not miss Bank of America at all.
I’m glad the courts sided with her, but she already won twice and never saw the money. Why should this time be any different?
Patience people, patience!
For you lawyer types: “Pede poena claudo”
That means “punishment comes limping”. I figure if she has to go to court again for the next 7 to 10 times over the next 7 to 10 years she can own BoA, fire every top executive (or force them to resign), and have it broken up and sold off.
Albert Einstein is reported to have called compound interest the most powerful force in the universe. This force will now be used against BoA until it pays her.
“After court case number one against Countrywide, there was a settlement. Crutchfield continued to pay Countrywide her mortgage on time but Countrywide said she no longer had a loan with them. Then Bank of America bought Countrywide and started harassing Crutchfield for payment.”
Original article wording for: “Instead, Bank of America owned it, and began harassing her for payment.”
Bank of America has no control over her credit. They furnish the information, but it is on the bureaus to report it.
I believe that this consumer should have been allowed to select the Bank of America location of their choice anywhere in Texas and to take posession of the building and all contents other then depositors assets. BoA should not be given one of these last minute opportunities to pay either.