BofA Threatens Family With Foreclosure Over $1 'Coding Error'

When Shantell Curtis sold her Vernal, Utah, home last year, she expected, as a reasonable person might, that she'd paid her last mortgage payment on the house.

But her lender, Bank of America, thought differently, according to KUTV 2News in Utah. Because of a $1 "coding error" on the bank's part, the title to Curtis' home was never transferred to the new owners, making it appear as if she still owned the home. As a result, BofA initiated a foreclosure process on the home and reported Curtis to the credit bureaus, effectively obliterating her credit score.

Now Curtis is left to pick up the pieces for a mistake that was not her own, on a house that no longer belongs to her.

While BofA was prompt in identifying the problem after Curtis reported the issue, it's been more than five months and she still hasn't received a letter to confirm that the title issues have been resolved. A bank spokesperson also told her that they'd clear up her credit issues, but that could take up to three months. In the meantime, Curtis' credit score remains in the dumps.

"They said that they had to keep reprocessing it and this has been a game we've been playing ever since," Curtis told KUTV. "They just say they need to reprocess papers."

AOL Real Estate contacted the new owners of the home in question, who said they were unaware of the Curtises' problem, adding that they are current on their own mortgage. They've never received any mail from Bank of America addressed to the Curtises either, they said during a phone interview.

The new owners' mortgage is with a different lender.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Bank of America told us that they will look into the matter. As of this writing, they have yet to respond.

UPDATE: Bank of America spokesperson Jumana Bauwens sent the following --
This was an issue that we handled with the tv station in August. It was a result of a coding error. We have verified that all the codes on the loan were corrected. The loan now has a zero balance and reflects as paid off in the system. We apologize to the Curtis' for this error and have made (in August) the necessary corrections to the credit agencies.

See also:
Woman Faces Foreclosure On Home She Bought for $1
Soldier Buys Back Parents' Foreclosed Home
Houston Family Foreclosed On Through No Fault of Their Own

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