Bank of America finds itself the target of a new lawsuit filed by a woman in Pittsburgh who alleges that the bank not only improperly seized her home and damaged her other property, but also kept her parrot hostage even after they admitted making a mistake.

According to the lawsuit, after mistakenly believing that the property was in default, BoA instructed Snyder Property Services to “enter, seize, padlock, ‘winterize’ and take possession” of the plaintiff’s home. This included turning off the water, cutting power lines, filling her drains with antifreeze… and confiscating her parrot.

As the plaintiff had been paying her mortgage on time, she was shocked to arrive home one day to a house with new locks, damaged furniture and carpets, scattered belongings and a missing parrot.

At first, says the lawsuit, Bank of America acknowledged the seizure and told the plaintiff that they knew of the parrot’s whereabouts. But when she continued to call, she says BoA reps told her to stop calling, hung up on her and said they were “tired of hearing from her.”

After about a week of banging her head against the wall (metaphorically), BoA relented and confessed that they had “made a mistake.” They told her where the bird was being held and she made the 3-hour round trip drive to get the bird back.

The suit alleges that BoA was “knowingly deceptive and lacks a policy to check the validity of its foreclosures or stop wrongful ones from happening.” A Bank of America spokeswoman declined to comment.

BoA did make an offer to repair some of the damage caused during the seizure, but only after she retained a lawyer.

Woman says Bank of America wrongly repossessed home [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

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