My question involves real estate located in the State of: Florida
We bought a Bank of America REO property April 2011 from Bank of America for $187,000 cash. Stewart Title handled the closing and we received certificate of title. The former owners had declared bankruptcy prior to the foreclosure (April 2010) and the husband later died in an industrial accident. The wife is still alive. We pay our property taxes in person the day the bill comes. Everything was fine in 2013, but when I went to pay them this year in November I was told it was an FYI statement, that the escrow company was responsible for paying it. I explained we owned the property outright, no bank involved. He showed me a loan # on my tax bill and then went and pulled back records and the same loan # was on the previous owners tax bill from 2010, before the foreclosure and before BOA sold the property to us as a REO.
I called BOA and to make a long, long story short, they have encumbered my property with a lien that belongs to the former owners. They won't discuss anything with me beyond telling me it belongs to him because I can give his full name and the address of the property, but without the last 4 digits of his SSN I am unable to get ANY info, even though I bought the property and it had clear title at the time.
I have called the foreclosure attorney and they gave me as much info as they could. The loan # they foreclosed on is different than the loan # that appears on my property tax bill. I have been dealing with the Bank of America Home Loan Resolution Team since 11/3/2014 and getting absolutely nowhere. I cannot get passed the customer service rep assigned to my case, cannot get a manager or supervisor to speak to me, cannot get ANY information on the encumbrance to my property, other than it belongs to the former owner and shouldn't be there. I have contacted our county tax collector and she has written to BOA and asked for lien release. No response. Stewart Title researched the closing records and chain of title and everything is fine as far as they are concerned.
I am at a loss here. I have been in contact with BOA's resolution team weekly since the beginning of November and my last conversation with them made me want to blow a gasket- the rep told me I could apply for a lien release. Excuse me? I own the house, the lien is a debt incurred by the former owner who is now dead and attached to the property they sold me after the closing. Title company cannot/will not help because they sold me a house with clear title.
Can someone PLEASE point me in the right direction? I need help. Bad.
Michele

