Oops, wrong house...

[pxib]

Although she was late on only a single mortgage payment...

She returned home to find her locks had been changed, her furniture and carpets had been damaged, her belongings had been scattered and [her pet] bird missing. A notice on her door told her to contact Bank of America, which "initially falsely denied responsibility or knowledge of the invasion and refused" to help her, the suit said. The bank also acknowledged they knew the parrot's whereabouts, it said.

 

[Ironwood]

The parrot is a nice touch.

[Hawkbit]

I do property preservation.   The irreparable damage to the home part is pretty much BS.  Just about anything can be fixed, even if it's uneconomical. 

Bank of America instructed Snyder Property Services to "enter, seize, padlock, 'winterize' and take possession" of Ms. Iannelli's house, the lawsuit said, cutting water lines and electrical wiring, pouring anti-freeze down her drains and "stealing" her pet parrot, Luke.

They make it sound like the field reps did something horrible to her, when in fact they were just doing their jobs.  The bank definitely hosed it up though.  Pennsylvania is a Judicial foreclosure state so the whole shebang should have gone to court first.  Also, the water/electrical lines likely weren't cut, the meter was taken off the line.  Why the hell would the bank want the property trashed up when they need to sell it in the future?  Lots of lawyer tears on this one. 

It's still a mighty fuckup, but lets blame the right people.  I wonder if they dumped the parrot off to a shelter....

[Nerf]

My girlfriend told me about this story when she read it in the WSJ.  It had a picture of the broad with her parrot on her shoulder and the caption "I wish to register a complaint."

I'll see if I can get a scan Monday when she heads back to the office.

For those who don't get the joke:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npjOSLCR2hE  

[angry.bob]

Why the hell would the bank want the property trashed up when they need to sell it in the future? 

Because BOA are legendary dickbags who seem to randomly break the law and fuck their customers on a weekly basis. And then when called on it say "Fuck you, we're Bank of America". Seriously, they wrecked her house and belongings and their response after denying it was to tell her too bad, fix it yourself, and by the way you can come pick your parrot up.

[Ingmar]

They make it sound like the field reps did something horrible to her, when in fact they were just doing their jobs.

These things are not mutually exclusive.

[CmdrSlack]

This shit isn't uncommon anymore. I'm actually drafting a "what to do if" document for our clients that addresses this exact issue.

One of the problems is that some of these banks are so huge, they have no earthly idea what each division is doing. Another problem is that since debt was traded around like a stripper at a frat party, it's often hard to tell which bank is the proper party when the foreclosure action is filed (if you have the "luxury" of being in a judicial foreclosure state).

Some of my colleagues are convinced that this is deliberate thuggery and an attempt to drive people out of their homes to make taking possession that much easier. I think it's likely a bit from column A and a bit from column B.

[Samwise]

We had something vaguely similar (but less horrible) happen to us when we bought our house in 2008.  Unbeknownst to us, a lender was in the process of foreclosing on the property at the time that we were negotiating its purchase, and after we'd bought it and paid for it (but before we started moving in) they sent some thugs around to evict the previous owners.  They drilled the locks, rifled through the cupboards (nothing of value was in there, but I could tell they'd been investigated), and, inexplicably, dumped a bunch of garbage in the back yard.

It eventually got sorted out, but the most maddening thing throughout the proceedings was everyone insisting they'd done nothing wrong.

[Teleku]

They make it sound like the field reps did something horrible to her, when in fact they were just doing their jobs.

These things are not mutually exclusive.

Yeah, I don't care if its their jobs.  If that happened to me, not only would I sue, but I would throw the biggest shit storm in the world until somebody was sent to prison.  They robbed my house, I don't care if it was a mistake.  They entered and stole stuff when they had no right to.  Therefore, the perpetrators need to serve prison time, as befits the crime.

Reminds of this story, where a guy repo'ed a mothers car while her infant was in the back:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/22232995/detail.html

Yet somehow, a law wasn't broken.  The man kidnapped a child.  He should do hard time at San Quinton.

[TheWalrus]

Although she was late on only a single mortgage payment...

The bank also acknowledged they knew the parrot's whereabouts, it said.

I like how that reads as if "Pay up or the parrot gets it".

[CmdrSlack]

We had something vaguely similar (but less horrible) happen to us when we bought our house in 2008.  Unbeknownst to us, a lender was in the process of foreclosing on the property at the time that we were negotiating its purchase, and after we'd bought it and paid for it (but before we started moving in) they sent some thugs around to evict the previous owners.  They drilled the locks, rifled through the cupboards (nothing of value was in there, but I could tell they'd been investigated), and, inexplicably, dumped a bunch of garbage in the back yard.

It eventually got sorted out, but the most maddening thing throughout the proceedings was everyone insisting they'd done nothing wrong.

Odds are that the branch of the lender that authorized the short sale (I'd assume they were on a short sale) didn't tell the "douchebag home invader" branch to lay off the REO conversion.