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Foreclosure Defense Florida

Bank of America Short Sales Go To Equator System

Several of my posts over the last several months have been highly critical of Bank of America in general and very critical of their short sale processing inparticular. I reserve the right to continue being very critical of Bank of America, but I wanted to report some initial promising developments with short sales that have been submitted through the Equator Short Sale System.

Equator-   The Equator website can be found here.

The system promises to bring potential buyers and sellers of properties owned by Bank of America together in an online forum where offers for short sales can be accepted or rejected by Bank of America in a short period of time. It remains to be seen whether this system will actually work efficiently, but anything would work better than the unresponsive disaster of a system (or total lack of a system) currently employed by Bank of America. I say that I am cautiously optimistic that this system will be a more effective way to deal with the short sales that are currently pending because the phone calls and interactions I’ve had with Equator have been effective and the representatives seemed to have accurate information.

They system is a bit tricky to navigate and getting through the process to approval is still going to be problematic. Visit my website for more info and updates.

6 Comments

  • I have been working with equator.com for awhile now and am not liking it one bit. A computer system dictates the correct offer amount and you have to keep trying to guess the magic number? In Florida especially, there is a huge problem with these properties sitting and deteriorating with mold and the banks think the prices are going up and want more money? None of this makes sense and these properties will continue to sit and people’s credit will continue to suffer. I am highly disappointed in the investors and their efforts to get to the core of the problem. I feel it is going to continue to get much worse before it gets better.

  • Philip says:

    I am a realtor in Michigan, my clients have put in an an offer to buy a house mortgaged by Bank of America, Subsequently the listing broker (the sellers side) has asked for my clients (the buyers side), sensitive informantion ie. Dob and first 5 digits of ss # , but has requested it over a non secure non ssl secure socket layer open email account!
    Michigan state law states when collecting sensitive data we have to provide ” reasonable” secure place for the data to protect it such as a lockable file cabnet. What I do is collect the data on one and only one sheet of paper, then write “on file” for all other subsequent documents.

    When entering data into the bank america “equator system” that does not appear to be secure as it is via common email with out ssl – secure socket layer security. Well then… are we exposing my clients personal information to the internet for hackers and other email providers, further more who on the other side of the Short Sale process needs such info.
    At a closing in general this type of information is provided to the title company, usually in the form of a request to copy photo id ie. drivers licence and provide ss# to the title company, as proof of USA citizen ship.
    Why does the holder of the mortage need this info to approve the sale? I feel the Bank Of America’s request to know the ss# and dob of the applicant that is going to purchase is beyond necessary. Way beyond the norm to do business.
    If we refuse to give over the info mostly because it is not transmitted in a secure way… in a common email! it is like writing your ss # and DoB on a Post card, which can be read by any casual handler of the mail, and mailiing it out to get a Passport. Sure the passport folks need the information but to leave it about on a clerks desk unlocked is the issue, or out on a post card for any one to read.

    I don’t have a problem with the request on general terms, I mean eventually we have to provide the info, but why does Bank of American need it before the approval?
    Who has access to it along the way , and what permission have we given surendured by providing this information, but the way it is transmitted and given to the other side who is only supposed to approve the short sale of a property, it is very close to having the fox in with the chickens. It is like showing your cards ( to a non betting dealer ) in a poker game it does not effect the game theoreticaly but still… who is the dealer working for. I think it may provide an unfair advantage to the other (Selling) side and giving access to background information leading to unfair advantage. But now that the information is given Voluntarily who else has access to it and is it secure, from whom and accessed by whomever.
    And that is a much bigger unfair poker game.

    • admin says:

      I cannot imagine why they are requesting purchaser contact info, unless they are collecting this info to keep tabs on who is purchasing to make sure no inside deals, etc. I really have my doubts about how this will function in the long term.

  • Tony says:

    I was informed that the SS# and DOB was for the bank to make certain that we are not of relation to the seller and we are of age to enter into a contract.

  • Gladys Moore says:

    The Equator system has just simplified the submission of documents to Bank of America. No more having to fax repeatedly documents that B of A claims that they did not receive. It has not sped up B of A’s cumbersome short sale process. While most of the larger lenders are now closing short sales in 6 to 8 weeks Bank of America is still taking 4 to 5 months. Their processing is slow, negtiators are changed in the middle of the offer negotiations, they do not communicate with the real estate agents or sellers and do not respond to emails or phone messages, you have to call for updates or you know nothing. The only thing that has really changed is that with the Equator system they cannot claim that they did not received your documents as they are there uploaded into the Equator system. Until Bank of America changes its entire system of processing these short sales, they are going to continue to foreclose and maybe that is what they really want to do, foreclose not short sale.

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