Your 1098- Mtg Interest Stmt- Incorrect?

[strugglinginaz]

Since I am going through this loan mod process, the last three mtg payments I made in 2009 (non-trial payments, just regular payments while I am waiting to get "processed") have not been posted to my mtg account with BoA and don't even show up anywhere, for that matter...Anyways, I just got my end of year interest statement from BoA and they are not including those last three payments when figuring the interest I paid for the year...this is like a $7k deficiency in what is on the 1098 from what I actually paid!

Anyone know how this works? What should I do? Anyone else see this on their 1098?

[strugglinginaz]

Has anybody that was NOT behind on payments, but trying to get a loan mod through part of 2009 seen a discrepancy on their 1098 stmts? BoA doesn't post your payments as normal when you are in "a workout program" and they post payments to some sort of "Suspense" account...??? And then the interest you actually paid doesn't show on your end of year statement?

[johngor]

so they are putting your regular payments in a suspense account-this is not right.
I am on a trial payment plan and I only got shafted one month a intrest credit on my 1098. I am not going to challenge it, but with your situation I would call BoA and demand them to convert that to intrest pd and re do your 1098.
Maybe they enrolled you into a trial payment plan without your knowelege.

[AzGryffindor]

They did the same to me. 6 trial period payments, all placed in a suspense account and none posted against my principal balance.

Right after the first of the year they backdated a negative entry of the total of all 6 of those payments (just under $4k) with a date of 12/31.

When I asked my negotiator why my transaction history was showing like that (ie: funds missing), she replied that they did it so I could get the interest for my 1098.

Um, no! A negative entry wiping out all of the payments that weren't even applied towards any principal nor interest would not allow me to use those payments on my 1098.

This is very simple accounting. I don't understand how they don't get it.

I've thought about contacting the IRS to let them know of their shenanigans.

I bet in the end that we get corrected 1098's for 2009. It will probably be AFTER we've filed for the year. They seem to enjoy creative accounting.

[strugglinginaz]

I just called BoA, got transferred around and finally ended up with the Statement department... the lady I spoke with said that because of the "loan workout program" that my payments can't be applied to my account...something about the coding that is put onto the account when it is in a workout program. I explained that we don't have a program yet, and are still awaiting one, and that these were regular, monthly payments. She said that she still can't make any adjustments or move the payments over to be applied against my account unless the Loan Workout dept removes their coding or until they make the adjustments themselves. She advised me to contact the Loan Workout dept to see if they could apply my payments as they should be so that I can get a corrected 1098 sent out to me...Otherwise, she said the adjustments will be made once my loan modification is completed and a corrected 1098 will then be sent!

So, seeing as I don't even have any loan mod paperwork yet and haven't started my trial payments yet, it could be the end of 2010 before I get a corrected 1098..Then I get to file an amended return...Sounds fun! Thank you BoA!

[strugglinginaz]

Just found out that BoA also reported me as LATE on my credit report for October!
This system they have going is absolutely ridiculous...on the phone with BoA right now...they are transferring me from dept to dept...Nobody knows what to do and they keep feeding me a bunch of B.S... Typical!

[mojamz]

Same thing happen to me but to my understanding the interest can only be claimed in the year it was paid. My Dec interest was not applied but I have documentation I paid in December and intend to claim it in the year I paid.Fyi--mortgage late fees can be written off as interest paid.

[timmywit]

they sent me a 1098 with intrest pd $0. My online 1098 says the samething, so a call to the village idiots two weeks ago explaining myself a 1000 times. Well they wrote a report up and a R&D will look at the problem and fix it with in 30 days. Today I checked it again still says $0. I started trial payments on 12.1, I paid full payment for the 11 months previous.

[mojamz]

Timmywit gather all of your mortgage statements. The amount of interest u paid should have been posted prior to the modification. Regardless of when B of A post the payments to the account you can claim all the interest u paid in the year.

[timmywit]

Timmywit gather all of your mortgage statements. The amount of interest u paid should have been posted prior to the modification. Regardless of when B of A post the payments to the account you can claim all the interest u paid in the year.

thanks mojamz,
I already calculated my intrest pd for the year via online transaction info. I would like them to fix this ASAP-last thing I want to deal with is the IRS, but I printed the transaction screen.
I dont understand why these ding bats cant look at the online account an fix it on the spot.

[mojamz]

Timmywit,
That is all the proof you need. No one wants to deal with the IRS but what happens when they send you a correct 1098 after you have filed your taxes. Surely you won't be able to claim the interest you paid in 2009 in 2010. Will you amend your 2009 return? More trouble amending. I certainly have calculated the interest I paid in 2009 that was not included on my 1098. I will claim all that I paid this year.You have to include a reason your amount differs from the 1098 (e.g late payment fee; interest paid in Dec 2009 not included on 1098) Surely makes a difference. If contacted by the IRS you have your documentation of what you paid. That's all that matters. B of A will also have to submit a corrected 1098 to the IRS.

[drowninginAZ]

If you made all of your payments on time for 2009 while waiting for your modification answer doesn't it show on your bank statements when they were cashed? For instance, you state that your October payment shows as being late on your credit report.. your bank statement could/should prove otherwise. If you have this ammunition to show that you paid, and ontime then this is Fraud on the banks part and could be leverage when dealing with them.

[stillwaitingnc]

mojamz
Thought I would have to refer to your wisdom, given to Timmywit below. In Jan 2010 I received my 1098 for 2009 which not only included refunded interest (?) but also showed the interest amount at about 24% of what a standard amort table calculated. Started in Dec 2009, after BAC became involved, strictly for purposes of insuring that my 1098 would be correct come filing time. Within the next 5 months I talked with at least 25 different reps, BoA & BAC, heard reasons for my dilemma that ranged from on evil b___ telling me I had made too many calls to them & involved too many folks & that was way this was taking so long. Talked to people right up to the OOP, a Ruby, who has since disappeared-she was the first with the revelation that a 2nd 1098 even existed.
After 5 months of calls & visits to my local branch (the 2 managers there were great advocates but powerless to do anything within BAC), I did finally reach an associate through the BAC Cust Serv number who says he can recalc my mortgage interest. I am currently on hold to see if his calculation is reasonable. Have come to the conclusion that BoA should seriously rethink and reconsider BAC. No one person can handle any issue that may transcend 2 departments, no matter how close/similar they might be to each other. Only 1/2 of the folks I dealt with understood that simple interest reduces gradually from year to year throughout the life of the loan. I hope to be able to offer hope and fear for all those folks who lack understanding of this and got screwed on their 2009 1098s. Thanks mojamz, I was just about to amend my 2009 return with my own calcs, using the financial disclosure (a legal document still, I hope) and an amort table in Excel.

Timmywit,
That is all the proof you need. No one wants to deal with the IRS but what happens when they send you a correct 1098 after you have filed your taxes. Surely you won't be able to claim the interest you paid in 2009 in 2010. Will you amend your 2009 return? More trouble amending. I certainly have calculated the interest I paid in 2009 that was not included on my 1098. I will claim all that I paid this year.You have to include a reason your amount differs from the 1098 (e.g late payment fee; interest paid in Dec 2009 not included on 1098) Surely makes a difference. If contacted by the IRS you have your documentation of what you paid. That's all that matters. B of A will also have to submit a corrected 1098 to the IRS.

[sandyjade]

Hey, I am in this same nasty situation for 2011. Only they did this with 8 of our payments. We have called and called.....NO HELP! I'm so frustrated, plus dealing with breast cancer. I don't need this aggravation. Plus they have ruined my husband's credit when we paid every payment. They chose to put these payments in a limbo acct!! Did this ever work out for you?????? Did you indeed get modified? Does anyone get help from them? Thanks for any and all advice!!

Since I am going through this loan mod process, the last three mtg payments I made in 2009 (non-trial payments, just regular payments while I am waiting to get "processed") have not been posted to my mtg account with BoA and don't even show up anywhere, for that matter...Anyways, I just got my end of year interest statement from BoA and they are not including those last three payments when figuring the interest I paid for the year...this is like a $7k deficiency in what is on the 1098 from what I actually paid!

Anyone know how this works? What should I do? Anyone else see this on their 1098?

[strugglinginaz]

Hey, I am in this same nasty situation for 2011. Only they did this with 8 of our payments. We have called and called.....NO HELP! I'm so frustrated, plus dealing with breast cancer. I don't need this aggravation. Plus they have ruined my husband's credit when we paid every payment. They chose to put these payments in a limbo acct!! Did this ever work out for you?????? Did you indeed get modified? Does anyone get help from them? Thanks for any and all advice!!

We did finally get modified. It took 14 months from start to finish. We had to escalate through the Office of the President several times and really had to stay on them to get it done. The 1098 situation never got corrected. When we finally got modified, they corrected all of the payments that they had put into the "suspense account" and applied them to our balance. However, those payments showed up on that later year's 1098, instead of the year we actually paid them. Like you, I had called and called to get the 1098 corrected, to no avail. I eventually gave up.

The only advice I can give is to be the squeaky wheel that gets the oil- call and follow up and stay on top of it. Keep records of all of your phone calls and escalate when needed. Good luck!!

[stillwaitingnc]

So sorry to hear of your travails sandyjade. I found wonderful help at my local branch but it still took until Oct 2010 for the 3rd version of my 1098-I re-amended with my own Excel figures, which was accepted no problem by the IRS. Also had multiple contacts with the Office of the President. She and I had copied all the activity on our account that led to this mess-I believe the bank had trouble denying their own ineptitude. In Dec 2010 they sent me a check for 'time and trouble', guess just to make me go away. Oh, and only to discover within the last month that they also listed us with 2 late payments, but only on my husband's credit report. The bank associate and I had gone through to check for any late payments multilpe times so she was as aghast as I was. Stay on your local bank staff and the OotP. The 1098 was corrected to within 2% in that 3rd try but I stuck with the figure I trusted, mine. Yes, also heard vague references to a 'suspense' account. Do keep records and you have to push to ensure that they understand the havoc they've create(d)-they do 'owe' you. Keep squeaking!

[sandyjade]

Thanks for the advice. i talked to an attorney today and he suggested I sue them for breach of contract. He said this is ridiculous and he's right. Not sure what we will do about taxes yet. This is such a nightmare. We have every paper, and letter from them and i even started a call log to prove I kept up with my end of the bargain! How did you get to the office of the president? It's like we never qualify for any break even thou we have gone thru unemployment, job loss and cancer. They just don't care about people. They have lied and manipulated us enough. I'm at my wit's end with them. Thank you all for the great advice and for letting me vent!!

[stillwaitingnc]

And you would be justified to sue I'm sure-I just felt like I could streamline things in my situation to forego that. Have you found anyone at the branch interested in becoming vested in your situation? That helped me. It's ghastly what they've put you through-I commend you for the documentation-be sure and keep a diary as well. With this latest 'mortgage help' idea, someone can begin to make this right with you. What finally brought the Office of the President into my situation was an email letter that I sent to Brian Moynihan, used their standard email protocol with a couple different spellings and they did contact me back. Another thing that I had found was a fee they had applied for foreclosure fees although, in their words, we were never in any danger of foreclosure. The saga continues. But I encourage you to write exhaustively about every facet of this and the pain and suffering it has caused. Hope this helps!

[TickedInCA]

Thanks for the advice. i talked to an attorney today and he suggested I sue them for breach of contract. He said this is ridiculous and he's right. Not sure what we will do about taxes yet. This is such a nightmare. We have every paper, and letter from them and i even started a call log to prove I kept up with my end of the bargain! How did you get to the office of the president? It's like we never qualify for any break even thou we have gone thru unemployment, job loss and cancer. They just don't care about people. They have lied and manipulated us enough. I'm at my wit's end with them. Thank you all for the great advice and for letting me vent!!

I've experienced exactly the same thing and have also considered suing B of A. In terms of getting B of A's Office of the President to respond, I recommend getting your US congressperson on board. I heard from the OOTP within approx. 4-6 weeks of getting my congresswoman's office to contact B of A on my behalf. Unfortunately, the OOTP has been no help at all.

First, they parroted what all of their customer service reps told me over the course of multiple phone calls that have ****ed many hours out of my life. Then, about a week ago, after my congresswoman's rep kept pushing the issue, they changed their story and claimed that my Form 1098 stated that I paid $0 in mortgage interest in 2011 because all of my payments had been applied fully to the loan's principal! Of course, that is a complete load of crap. A letter that the OOTP had sent me one week earlier had stated that my account showed $13K in interest as of Dec 2, 2011, but that they had "reversed" the payments when I signed a permanent modification in Nov 2011. I know, that seems like some kind of time travel sci-fi BS. My congresswoman's rep told me that he would keep working on this, but that I should also contact the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at Help for National Bank Customers @ Helpwithmybank.org. That agency is supposed to be the closest thing to a "bank police." I filed a complaint with them last Thursday, and am waiting to hear if they'll be able to help.

[stillwaitingnc]

Good luck with the complaint. I know one thing that helped me was just getting on their radar. I Googled for Boa Loan officer-type of names and addresses, to include Bryan M. I sent out the same letter to 4 different people, and because you know 1 or 2 of those won't go anywhere but it does kind of motivate them to answer you. If I had it to do over again, the letter option is much less stressful.