New Bank of America Short Sale Escalation Guidelines

Bank of America Short Sale Escalation Guidelines

Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender © 2011 Bank of America Corporation. Some products may not be available in all states. Credit and collateral are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Bank of America and brokers are separate entities; each is independently responsible for its products, services and incentives. AR23G621

Short Sale Escalation Guidelines

To Consider BEFORE Escalating

Several factors contribute to the timeframe of a short sale. Bank of America uses the Equator short sale processing system. Equator is a task driven system and each task has a specific deadline. Agents must educate themselves on the process and review the tasks and messaging in the system to assess the progress of the transaction.

Before submitting an escalation, agents need to ensure they have exhausted the following resources:

    – Contact the assigned Short Sale Specialist through a message in the Short Sale Processing System (Equator) and allow at least two business days for a reply

     – Contact the team lead through the Short Sale Processing System (Equator) and allow at least two business days for a reply

     – Contact Bank of America’s Short Sale Customer Care line at: 1.866.880.1232 (Monday to Friday 8:00 am - 10:00 pm Eastern and Saturday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm Eastern)

Bank of America Short Sale Escalation Guidelines:

To Consider BEFORE Escalating

Agents should review and understand the following guidelines before accessing the escalation web tool and submitting an escalation.  Transaction specific information will only be discussed with homeowners or their authorized third parties. Due to privacy reasons Bank of America can only provide loan specific information to homeowners or authorized third parties (where proper third party authorization documentation has been reviewed and approved by Bank  of America). If you are a buyer’s agent we will acknowledge your escalation but will reach out directly to the listing agent.  All escalations must be submitted through the designated escalation web tool. Once an escalation is submitted, please avoid contacting Bank of America Mortgage Loan Officers and other associates about the case to prevent duplicate efforts that may slow down the response and  the overall process.  To access the escalation web tool a username and password will be  required. An email with a link to the web tool and registration instructions will be sent to all agents who have been authorized to use the new tool.

Identifying the Need for an Escalation

Only a very small portion of short sale files should require an escalation at any given point in the process. Agents must carefully assess the situation and determine if an escalation is needed.

A Short Sale Escalation IS ideal as:

• An avenue to resolve one or more of the following issues related to the short sale process for a specific property:

• No response to attempts to contact the Short Sale Specialist and Specialist’s team lead (allow for two business days to receive a response after attempt contact)

• A decision on an offer (approval / rejection) has not been communicated in 45 days

• The buyer is going to walk and a decision on an offer (approval / rejection)  has not been made within the 45 day time frame

• If settlement statement has not been approved at closing

• An avenue to get answers to questions that have not been answered by the assigned Short Sale Specialist or Team Lead

A Short Sale Escalation IS NOT ideal as:

• A way to get a status update
• A way to expedite a short sale
• A guaranteed method to get a short sale approved
• A way to get general questions about the deal or the short sale process answered
• A way to bypass working with your assigned Short Sale Specialist
• A forum to obtain general assistance in using Equator Short Sale Escalation Guidelines

What to expect AFTER Escalating

• Within two business days of submitting your escalation, you will be contacted by a Bank of America representative to acknowledge that the escalation was received and outline next steps.
• The actual resolution of an escalation can take up to 30 days, depending on the issue, as it may require additional research and response from other partners (investor, MI company, etc).
• If you have submitted escalations in the past and have interacted with a Bank of America escalation representative, please do not contact the same representative directly if a new escalation arises. Agents are expected to submit new escalations using the online form only.

 

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