Nobleboro resident Pam Miller sought to use a federal program to reduce her mortgage payments. Instead, she got almost two years of headaches and saw her payments increase.
Now, Miller is hosting a demonstration outside the Bank of America branch on Civic Center Drive in Augusta at 1 p.m. on Fri., Oct. 1. She hopes to call attention to what she feels are unfair banking practices.
Her original mortgage was with Countrywide, which was bought by Bank of America in 2009.
She said she applied sometime that year for a loan modification. This federally instituted program allows mortgage holders to have their financial situation reviewed by a bank and their payments reduced to match their income.
Miller and her husband, Duwayne Miller, live on her husband’s social security payment: $1795 per month.
Their original mortgage payment, which they have faithfully paid, Miller said, was $1087.60 per month. Now, their payment is set to increase to $2175 per month.
Miller and her husband moved to Nobleboro from the Northwest 12 years ago. They worked as medical and psychiatric technicians for Mobius, The Kennebec County Jail and the State Prison.
In Feb. 2008, they both lost their jobs, and in May 2008 their house burned down.
They bought a new house, but haven’t been able to work since. Duwayne Miller is disabled – he had two knee replacements and suffers from dementia – and Pam Miller said there are simply no jobs available. After Pam Miller’s unemployment expired, they were reduced to just Duwayne Miller’s social security payments.
They began the process of applying for a loan modification in 2009 and were denied twice. They applied a third time in April 2010, and have still not received an answer from Bank of America as to whether they will be approved or not, Pam Miller said.
In May 2010, her home was placed into escrow, which means the bank will pay all of her taxes and insurance premiums and add the cost to her mortgage payments. She did not request this and was told that it’s a requirement of receiving a loan modification.
However, despite the addition of the escrow account, which has increased her payments to $1200 per month, she still has not received any notice on the status of her loan modification.
She continues to make her payments in full and on time, she said. “I pay my mortgage every month and then I go to the food pantry,” she said.
Since April, Miller has been calling Bank of America requesting information on the status of her application.
“I get a different answer from every person I talk to,” she said, sometimes in the same day. She’s been told that the bank doesn’t have the documentation that they need, then the next person she’s transferred to will tell her they have the documentation, but it’s not current enough.
“I’m in the middle of a nightmare,” Miller said. “I’ve done everything they’ve asked me to do, but things just keep getting worse.”
At this point, she has had no indication of when her application for a loan modification might be approved or denied, but she is still saddled with the escrow account and mounting mortgage payments that have resulted from it.
Now, with property taxes due in the coming weeks, Miller is concerned about how she’s going to heat her home this winter. Once the bank pays her property taxes via the escrow account, her monthly payment will increase to $2175, more than her total monthly income.
In order to express her frustration with the system and to give others a chance to express similar issues, Miller decided to hold the protest.
“I call them the Bank of UnAmerica,” Miller said. “We need everybody to get involved if we want this to change.”
Representatives of Bank of America could not be reached for comment by press time.
