Former BofA Employee Speaks-Out About Robo-Signing Scandal
Tam Doan used to be an employee with Bank of America. He was a part of the bank’s Southern California’s pre-sale foreclosure department. His job, he stated, was not to actually read the paperwork that he was signing. Doan also admitted that sometimes he had no clue what documents he was signing-off on.
The chaos instigated by the robo-signing scandal, where loan servicers and their employees would sign thousands of foreclosure documents a day without any research into the validity of the documents in question, has instigated Judges and Attorneys General in many states to launch an investigation. These Judges and Attorneys General are wary that servicers don’t have their paperwork properly filed and in order.
According to Bank of America, Doan was fired after 18 months with the bank because he failed to follow the bank’s policy. Doan admitted that he was fired because his calculations for the values on homes destined for foreclosure sale were incorrect. His contention to Bank of America’s actions is that he would value the home at 100% if no certification could be found in which the bank had done all it could to help the borrower. Bank of America’s policy is to set home valuations at 85%. Doan said that his actions were done in the hope that Bank of America would have to work things out with the borrower since the higher price would make it more difficult to sell the property at auction.
Doan also acknowledged that he was cited for not informing his boss when a foreclosure would result in a loss of more than $200,000. Bank of America believes firmly that Doan’s involvement is only a minority influence in the foreclosure process. Bank of America further states that Doan’s actions are not representative of its overall operations nor should his actions be a reflection of its employees’ practices. The bank says that there are many procedures to catch errors and, if a mistake is found, it is corrected immediately.
During his time at Bank of America, he claims he was inundated with foreclosure documents. Due to the stresses that this caused, there was nowhere near enough time to review all of the documents. He said that his typical workday would be from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Even though Doan could have gone to his superiors about his concerns, he did not for fear of possibly losing his job. Bank of America contends that there are numerous avenues that employees can pursue if a problem with any part of its foreclosure process is found.
Doan’s primary job was to sign-off on the notices to delinquent borrowers that the bank was going forward with the foreclosure. Signing of the document indicated that the borrower did not qualify for a mortgage modification. He admitted that most of the time he had no clue what Bank of America had done, if anything, to try and save the borrower’s home from foreclosure.
During his last weeks on the job, he was given a large number of 20 page files by notaries in which he had no time to review these documents and, therefore, his only choice was to sign at the indicated place.
[...] sluggish housing market is taking more and more blows and the latest is the robo-signing controversy. This blow is in addition to the already weak economy, tight mortgage underwriting, [...]