I am so very angry.

THIS THREAD IS PROPERTY OF BANK OF AMERICA.

 

what's with the banks lately, huh? sorry to hear you're stuck with them again.

sounds like countrywide was in serious trouble thanks to that whole adjustable rate issue and a number of defaulted loans.

 

I have a girlfriend who works for Countrywide and she says it's been hell working there with all the loan fall out. She's not all that happy about being bought out by B of A though either.

 

I was more angry when switching my mortgage company only to find that they outsource jobs to India. I hold Bank of America as my credit card and to my experience, they don't do this. I'll support the latter any day. Also, I'm not quite sure the nature of your negative experience, but I have never had a problem w/ Bank of America and have used their card for about 7 years. Maybe your experience will differ from the last. Hopefully.

Unfortunately, I'm at a 15 year fixed and wish not to refinance as well. So I continue to pay for overseas workers while my mortgage company lays people off here.

 

Your original mortgage company has little to do with who actually owns your mortgage. Most mortgages are bundled together and sold as packages to other larger financial organizations, so you may get your mortgage from the bank down the street, and later find out that Countrywide owns the paper. There is not much you can do about it. If it really bothers you, you can finance with an individual or a local bank that does not sell it's paper.

Tom

 

Welcome to the actual "reported" economic activity that our country has experienced for the past 5 years. I think that actual consumer activity has been flat or negative for the past 4-5 years. The only activity has been one large corporation or billionare buying another corporation, etc. In effect "money swapping". Finally this christmas, the consumers have maxxed out their credit cards, felt the energy crunch, and had their ARM's almost double on them, and finally started to "lock up" their wallets and purses.

I know what you're talking about. It's almost mafia-like, the consolidation that's occurring now. It's a proven fact, just like real estate, you can only buy/sell something so many times until it becomes worth less than what you paid for it. Also allowing home borrowers to borrow against "blue-sky", or so-called inflated equity in their homes to finance "wants, not needs" contributed as well. Countrywide overextended themselves pimping ARM's (subprime) mortgages. Giving loans to borderline families that otherwise could not qualify for loans by the normal rigid standards that had guarded the industry from such a fall-out for all these years.

I still have a problem having my hard-earned tax dollars going to bail out homeowners that were too stupid to read a loan application. If you are borrowing money for your house at the lowest rates in 35 years, and you are signing for an adjustable rate mortgage, where in the hell do YOU think the intrest rate is going to end up.

I feel sorry for the people that work for Countrywide, every time one corp buys another there is certain fallout to be expected. Bank of America has a reputation of being very predatory in their practices overall, and this buyout can't be a good thing.

 

I just heard on the radio that the purchase is designed to avert one of the, if not the, largest mortgage fallouts in US history. Maybe that might provide those upset with a little tolerance?

 

I had the same thing happen to me. I had a Bank of Boston credit card - they got bought by Bk of Amer. I had a Bank of New York Card - they did too. I had a MBNA card - and they did too! Rates were 8.32, 6.99, and 10.97. Now the rates are 17.64, 18.99, and 18.99. Cancelled them all. Wouldn't do business with them if you paid me. Nothing but trouble both in personal customer relations and on a professional level. With mortgage rates going down, you might try to re-finance.

 

wow, and here i was about to complain about my 7.99% fixed credit card rate they just got bought out by wamu, but they haven't changed my rate or scrapped my 1% cash back plan or the other benefits i have.

since the fed has dropped, and probably will again this month, it might be a good time if you're considering a refi...

 

Yeah switch to Wells Fargo, then it'll only cost you $19.50 to withdraw 20 bucks out of an ATM, unless it's a Wells Fargo atm, then it'll only cost you $19.25.

 

Hey, somebody's gotta pay for those cool horses.

 

Me either.

I stopped banking with BofA years ago when I realized that they were charging me so much for having a checking acct that I could move my acct to the credit union, use BofA ATM machines to get money and pay ATM fees and it would still cost less than keeping my BofA acct.

Last year they bought MBNA and so I cancelled my credit card when they sent a multi page small print document changing all the terms on the card.

Now they are going to buy my mortgage co. I'm not going to refi because we only have 5yrs 9mos to go on a 10yr fixed. I'm reasonably sure they can't mess with the rate, but I won't be surprised if the grace period and late fees change.

 

When BoA bought out my MBNA card (wow, did we all have one?), I quickly paid it off, though I still have it. I use it rarely, and pay it off promptly.

I think they are still doing the donation on them, though.

Yup. The big corporations are just continuing to get bigger, by buying out the smaller ones.

 

Listen to Galaxee. Boy, you have to read all of your mail. And keep on top of all the details.
Bank of America was one of the banks I marched into and closed my accounts. Didn't have that much money there...but the fees were crazy. They were making money, but I wasn't. Give me that check and I went down the highway to the credit union.

 

Yes. Federal Law restricts any one financial institution from controlling more than ten percent of all deposits in the country. This acquisition bumps them up against that limit.

Even if you refinance, BoA may also end up with the new loan if it is sold on the secondary market.

One way to try to get BoA to sell your loan to someone else is to start making principal payments on the loan. Banks hate seeing their profits disappear and will often package-up 'deadbeat' loans and sell them off.

 

They're feeding them organic hay.

 

awesome. wamu, the people who bought providian, who we had our original credit cards with, might be getting bought out by jpmorgan (aka chase). i'm not a big fan of them, have a card with them and have used it once to buy a pair of work shoes in 2003...

gaaaah. how annoying.

i've been watching the fed- when the rate goes down it's a better time to be in debt than to have cash laying around. i consider this the best possible time to have no money, which makes me feel less bad now if things are still low when my subsidized student loans enter repayment and i can get a super low rate... we're so golden.

 

Not too long ago, the CEO of CountryWide was found to have been monkeying around with the company's stock.... and so it is a wonder the whole CountryWide mortgage company did not go the way of the one company who folded a couple of years ago. Was it Enron? World.com? Can't remember the name, but once you have someone monkeying with the stocks, especially the CEO, what does that convey for said company's future?

My sister worked for CountryWide in the mortgage dept and heard for a couple of months that BofA was going to buy them out. That's when they laid off quite a few employees of which she was one of them.

I told her when the CEO was monkeying around with the stock that she better start looking for another job, and she said to me that she didn't have any stock. I said, MAMA MIA! Look at the handwriting on the wall and get yourself another job.

Well, let's just hope and pray that the house of credit cards, debit cards, and ATM cards don't come tumbling down soon because if it does, we are going to be in for one heckuva ride my friends!