Bank of America taking away equity lines of credit

Has this happened to anyone?

We had the exact same problem yesterday. We went to pull from our credit line and they said it had been closed because, based on their appraisal, our home value had dropped $12,000. Our credit line was opened about four years ago and was based on the appraisal we had then. Since that time our home has appreciated in value at least $25,000 based on the most recent sales I analyzed(I'm an appraiser!!!). I think that when they gave us our credit line (which was not maxed out by the way, they were looking at a 100% LTV ratio between our 1st mortgage and the credit line and now they are being more conservative. Instead of our home value going down, in reality their LTV ratio requirements have gone up which I can't argue with but I think their methods of accomplishing their ratio goals are wrong.

Has anyone figured out a solution for theirs crooked behavior

pd off at bank of america wrote:

We have had an equity line of credit from Bank of America for years. Went to use it the other day and they locked it. Said that our house dropped in value. They also said they just appraised our house and the value dropped. We asked for a copy of their recent appraisal and they said we could not have it! First off they did not do an appraisal and secondly the houses in our area are only going up in value!! This bank is in trouble financialy and doing this to alot of people. What can we do? We had to pay around 5000 dollars in closing costs for this equity line. Shouldn't they have to reimburse us?

yes they should they just did the same to me and it is an up hill fight to get it reinstated.

I hate them right now, I have had this line of credit for forever, and have paid it in full twice. Now they blocked this stating my husbands fico score is too low. It has been the same score for years. they have some nerve. they have reopened this twice for us, and both times have been paid in full. They state they help customers in financial hardship, and they dont. I am about to lose everything because they wont reopen this.

Same thing has happened to us. Working for the Postal Service, my hours have been cut to 50%. So my wife and I decided to start a home business. We needed capital of about $10,000. We thought we would tap into our HELOC since it has a credit limit of over $28,000. I knew the house's value was done, but didn't think $10,000 would be a problem to borrow. I was wrong.

We called BOA today and they said "Oh, too bad your draw period for HELOC just yesterday, May 31 at 12:00 pm. They said they sent a letter in Feb. or Mar. When we said we never received it, the rep checked and said that she sees no record of a letter being sent to us. However, the terms on the HELOC stated that the draw period expires after 5 years, which this was.

I pulled out my contract and it states, that after 5 years the draw period expires, but reinstates automatically for an additional 5 years, if we receive no written notice.

We immediately called back and explained the situation, this rep checked again and said she saw no where that a notice was sent to us. She then referred us to her manager after a good ten minute wait. When the manager gets on the phone she says she can see where we were sent a letter in Feb. about the HELOC freeze and that they sent another letter earlier about how much the value of our house decreased. We have received nothing!!
She said she can see record of the letters sent, but cannot seem to find copies to send us.

Presently, we are pursuing this with an attorney and will continue to pursue this any way we can. Because bottom line, if we cannot get our little venture off the ground, we are going to lose everything and be living under a bridge.

pd off at bank of america wrote:

We have had an equity line of credit from Bank of America for years. Went to use it the other day and they locked it. Said that our house dropped in value. They also said they just appraised our house and the value dropped. We asked for a copy of their recent appraisal and they said we could not have it! First off they did not do an appraisal and secondly the houses in our area are only going up in value!! This bank is in trouble financialy and doing this to alot of people. What can we do? We had to pay around 5000 dollars in closing costs for this equity line. Shouldn't they have to reimburse us?

I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

pd off at BOA wrote:

Has this happened to anyone?

I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

OK Customer wrote:

We had the exact same problem yesterday. We went to pull from our credit line and they said it had been closed because, based on their appraisal, our home value had dropped $12,000. Our credit line was opened about four years ago and was based on the appraisal we had then. Since that time our home has appreciated in value at least $25,000 based on the most recent sales I analyzed(I'm an appraiser!!!). I think that when they gave us our credit line (which was not maxed out by the way, they were looking at a 100% LTV ratio between our 1st mortgage and the credit line and now they are being more conservative. Instead of our home value going down, in reality their LTV ratio requirements have gone up which I can't argue with but I think their methods of accomplishing their ratio goals are wrong.

I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

wow wrote:

Has anyone figured out a solution for theirs crooked behavior

I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

heather wrote:

I hate them right now, I have had this line of credit for forever, and have paid it in full twice. Now they blocked this stating my husbands fico score is too low. It has been the same score for years. they have some nerve. they have reopened this twice for us, and both times have been paid in full. They state they help customers in financial hardship, and they dont. I am about to lose everything because they wont reopen this.

I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

Jeff wrote:

Same thing has happened to us. Working for the Postal Service, my hours have been cut to 50%. So my wife and I decided to start a home business. We needed capital of about $10,000. We thought we would tap into our HELOC since it has a credit limit of over $28,000. I knew the house's value was done, but didn't think $10,000 would be a problem to borrow. I was wrong.
We called BOA today and they said "Oh, too bad your draw period for HELOC just yesterday, May 31 at 12:00 pm. They said they sent a letter in Feb. or Mar. When we said we never received it, the rep checked and said that she sees no record of a letter being sent to us. However, the terms on the HELOC stated that the draw period expires after 5 years, which this was.
I pulled out my contract and it states, that after 5 years the draw period expires, but reinstates automatically for an additional 5 years, if we receive no written notice.
We immediately called back and explained the situation, this rep checked again and said she saw no where that a notice was sent to us. She then referred us to her manager after a good ten minute wait. When the manager gets on the phone she says she can see where we were sent a letter in Feb. about the HELOC freeze and that they sent another letter earlier about how much the value of our house decreased. We have received nothing!!
She said she can see record of the letters sent, but cannot seem to find copies to send us.
Presently, we are pursuing this with an attorney and will continue to pursue this any way we can. Because bottom line, if we cannot get our little venture off the ground, we are going to lose everything and be living under a bridge.

I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

I would like to knoe. Are you w why prosper Daniel wants us to talk to him in private. Are you a lawyer who can help?

Prosper Daniel wrote:

<quoted text>I will like you write me in my private email so that we can communicate through there then we can share knowledge in respect of this hence we are in the same shore. my email address: mr.prosperd@live.com

Who are yo and are you with the bank trying to find out who is on these posts so the bank can make our lives more difficult? You do not seem to want to answer any of my questions

I had the same thing happen where they locked the home equity line without telling me. They have done that to millions of people along with lowering the credit card balance. When I called in to ask about the credit card balance being dropped--the answer was they noticed that I hadn't been using that much--my comment was how did they know that I wasn't in the process of doing a remodel where I had planned on using it.
The other item regarding the home equity line that I have been trying to get them to change is that when they locked the limit--they didn't change the credit limit showing on the account or in the credit bureau. I explained that they need to change this as it is not correct and I don't have use of the line of credit. Also, they need to change these in our county records as they are showing incorrectly there. I will keep after them as this is part of their responsibility if the make changes to the original terms & conditions.

pd off at bank of america wrote:

We have had an equity line of credit from Bank of America for years. Went to use it the other day and they locked it. Said that our house dropped in value. They also said they just appraised our house and the value dropped. We asked for a copy of their recent appraisal and they said we could not have it! First off they did not do an appraisal and secondly the houses in our area are only going up in value!! This bank is in trouble financialy and doing this to alot of people. What can we do? We had to pay around 5000 dollars in closing costs for this equity line. Shouldn't they have to reimburse us?

just to add to the pile....We have have owned our home about 10 years we bought it before the boom and have a modest mortgage..about 30% of it's value...we put on a nice addition which cost about $110,000.... I opened a $70,000 Equity line of which I used about 67M and pai the rest out of savings..So my home in 2006 was appraied by BOA at $340 ish....BEFORE THE ADDITION.... I recieved a letter from them stating that due to the DRASTIC decreases in Home values in my zip code they were locking my line...I actually didn't care but i was furious at the Ludicrous reasoning. I live in a rural area where home prices are quite stable....I couldn't stand it so I called them at first they told me I owed them nothing on the line but after I isisted I did they finally figured it out...The young man explained that they were doing this as a precaution.....for what i asked "we are just doing it everywhere" I suggested then they should tell people that and not give some BOGUS, STUPID, LYING reson for the actions....I then told the young man(who in all fairness was very polite and understanding...That I would be closing my Brokerage accounts and my checking and savings account with BOA simply as a precaution... He said he could see about getting it reinstated.. I told him I did not need it.

jim wrote:

just to add to the pile....We have have owned our home about 10 years we bought it before the boom and have a modest mortgage..about 30% of it's value...we put on a nice addition which cost about $110,000.... I opened a $70,000 Equity line of which I used about 67M and pai the rest out of savings..So my home in 2006 was appraied by BOA at $340 ish....BEFORE THE ADDITION.... I recieved a letter from them stating that due to the DRASTIC decreases in Home values in my zip code they were locking my line...I actually didn't care but i was furious at the Ludicrous reasoning. I live in a rural area where home prices are quite stable....I couldn't stand it so I called them at first they told me I owed them nothing on the line but after I isisted I did they finally figured it out...The young man explained that they were doing this as a precaution.....for what i asked "we are just doing it everywhere" I suggested then they should tell people that and not give some BOGUS, STUPID, LYING reson for the actions....I then told the young man(who in all fairness was very polite and understanding...That I would be closing my Brokerage accounts and my checking and savings account with BOA simply as a precaution... He said he could see about getting it reinstated.. I told him I did not need it.

I started another post awhile back about this. Check out my situation. The same as yours. I too do not care I don't want to use our equity line but they told us our home prices fell. I live on acreage that is only going up in value here. With a nice home a 50x80 shop that is premium. Also a 40x32 building for storage that is brand new. They told me if I wanted to fight it to pay for my own appraisal!! They did not do one themselves!!! Question is "If our house prices are falling why isn't our city appraisals we pay taxes on going down?"

I was reading all the posts and have a similiar story.
I have a personal line of credit with Bank of America that I was using for my son's college education. I am a teacher and everything was fine until last year when the economy took a dive. 2009. I have paid it off and re-used it several times,as well as paid more than the minimum.
My credit score is almost 800 and I own a home.
They cut off the line, lowered it and refused to let me use it. No answers given.
I had to open a credit card to finish paying for my son's college and they had the nerve to send me a letter, telling me they noticed use of unsecured credit on my part had gone up! I am currently paying it off and have sent a letter to my congressman!

Leigh Downing wrote:

I was reading all the posts and have a similiar story.
I have a personal line of credit with Bank of America that I was using for my son's college education. I am a teacher and everything was fine until last year when the economy took a dive. 2009. I have paid it off and re-used it several times,as well as paid more than the minimum.
My credit score is almost 800 and I own a home.
They cut off the line, lowered it and refused to let me use it. No answers given.
I had to open a credit card to finish paying for my son's college and they had the nerve to send me a letter, telling me they noticed use of unsecured credit on my part had gone up! I am currently paying it off and have sent a letter to my congressman!

Unbelievable!! Pretty much what they did to us. Said our house appraised for less than originally thought although they never did an appraisal!!! I hate that bank!!!