I think Bank of America steals from people

This weekend, I was due to go to Georgia to participate in the School of the Americas protest. I was due to leave on Wednesday evening, but I had come down with a really bad cold and sore throat, so I postponed going until Friday morning. Since I had Thursday free, I took my car to the mechanics down the street and asked them to check out the funny noises my car is making. They said it was the front CV joints, and that they both needed to be replaced. Then they tried to find the parts – and the only place that could get the parts was the Suzuki dealership, and the parts alone would cost over $1000.

Well, the car is hardly worth it. The Blue Book value of my car, IF it was in fair condition, would be $2,400. Oh, and the transmission has been malfunctioning for years, so I really can’t say it is in “fair” condition. It has been popping out of fifth gear. I have found that you can drive the car that way – you just hold it in place when you need fifth gear. A pain, yes, but do-able.

However, if one of the CV joints were to give out, then I would be stuck. So, I cancelled driving to Georgia this weekend. I figure if I get stuck here in town, then I can get it towed to the place down the street and fork over major bucks to get it fixed.

And, speaking of my town, above is a picture of the first snow on a mountain I have seen this fall. The fall colors here have lasted forever, although they don’t seem very vibrant this year. It is hard to see the snow in the photo, but the tallest mountain has a bit of snow on the top.

I also decided today that I need to start looking for a new car. I really wish I could get rid of a car altogether, but I realize how hard that would be. I could only go where the bus goes. It is hard enough right now thinking that I can only drive inside town – I missed the protest this weekend, and have a meeting of the Progressive Democrats of NC next month, about 300 miles down the road.

So, what does this have to do with Bank of America? Well, I have my mortgage with them, unfortunately. This past August, I paid a big chunk of money to pay down my mortgage. They did not deduct all of this from the principle of the loan, and they unilaterally decided to stop the auto-draft of my mortgage for September, October, and (I think) November. Oh, and they did not notify me or ask me if this was okay or not.

So, I went to the downtown office of Bank of America to try and figure out what was going on with all this, and why my principle balance was not as low as I expected. I ended up having a long phone conversation with some women in their mortgage office, and we decided to draft September, October and November payments by check, via the phone. Then, when we were done, she proceeded to tell me that my principle balance was now $9,000 HIGHER than when I first talked to her.

Oh, I guess this was a mistake, but I have been trying hard to pay off that mortgage and I found this rather upsetting. Outside the escrow account, I am dealing with a total mystery here. The Bank of America won't tell me what is for the principle, what is for interest, in my payments. I don't know what the hell is going on. They give no figures at all, other then the statement at the end of the year where they give a lump sum of how much went to interest. And, if I was not paying extra to pay down the principle, about 2/3^rd of the whole yearly payment would go to interest, and only 1/3^rd to principle.

I think they are stealing people’s money. I think they do this routinely, and I think they really don’t care. It seems to me that they make PLENTY of money off these mortgages between the interest and the “closing costs” that they throw at you without stealing even more. I was careful to have a "no pre-payment penalty" and very minimal adjustable rates on my mortgage.

But I do think this is a large part of the reason that people are now getting foreclosed on their mortgages and losing their homes after paying TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars. They don’t have the foresight to make sure their interest rates won’t rise considerably under ARM mortgages and they do not have a NO PRE-PAYMENT PENALTY in their contracts (and they don't pre-pay anyway). And even while I had these things, I still think the Bank of America managed to steal money from me. They are supposed to send me a report of the whole history of the loan, and I will bet right now that I cannot make any sense out of it when I get it. I think I will give it to my lawyer to see if he can make sense of it.

I was hoping to pay off my mortgage this year, mainly because I want the evil Bank of America OUT of my life. But now it looks like I will have to use that money for a down payment on a car. I will be getting the rest of the money from a loan from my CREDIT UNION, who not only strike me as fair and honest, but my interest payments will go to benefit a good organization, instead of the corporate evil banking system that includes Bank of America.

I hate the Bank of America. I think they steal, and that they are ruining America.