I just received my $250 check from Bank of America for meeting the requirements for their Best Value Guarantee. The following is the detail of how this check came to my mailbox and what you can do to get your $250.

I’ll start with a little background…

First, please go here to see how the whole mortgage search process went. During that time I discovered the Bank of America No Fee Mortgage PLUS and the Best Value Guarantee.You can read more about the No Fee Mortgage plus here and here. Basically, they try and offer you the best deal on a mortgage that they can (without some fees) and will even view your other offers to try and beat them. And this is the part that got me excited…the Best Value Guarantee…if they can’t provide a better value than your other offers they will pay you $250. I knew then that I had to at least give Bank of America a shot.

Meeting the Requirements for the BOA Best Value Guarantee

OK, here’s how to get the $250:

…ultimately, according to the fine print, this is all you need to do:

1. Receive full credit approval for the first lien purchase money mortgage with Bank of America

2. Close your purchase mortgage with another lender

3. Call 800.870.3206 where you will be prompted to complete a brief survey

4. Fax a copy of your HUD-1 settlement statement from your closing

5. Close on your purchase loan within 60 calendar days after Bank of America sent you notice of the approval of your Bank of America mortgage

6. Wait

I Did it the Dumb Way

However, I chose to do it this way, which may or may not have delayed the process

8/17/2007 – Applied for the Bank of America loan

9/28/2007 – Closed on the mortgage with the builder’s lender and moved into our new home

10/17/2007 – Called my Bank of America Loan Officer and was given the number to the Best Value Guarantee department (866.540.9746) where I was transferred to Anne (the person who handles these claims…she’s literally the only person at BOA who does this…can you say “bottleneck!”)

10/17/2007 – Anne told me to fax my closing HUD to her at 800.272.0562

10/17/2007 – Faxed the final HUD Settlement Statement to Bank of America

11/7/2007 – Received a letter from Bank of America stating that the “survey was not completed” and that I was not eligible

11/8/2007 – Because the letter did not tell me how to take the survey and because I was having trouble getting back to Anne, I Googled “Bank of America Best Value Guarantee” and found this page http://nofeemortgageplus.bankofamerica.com/terms.html

11/8/2007 – Called 800.870.3206 and completed the survey

11/8/2007 – Finally got a hold of Anne at 866.540.9746 to inform her that I completed the survey

12/11/2007 – Called Anne at 866.540.9746 to ask where my check was and was told it was in the mail

12/12/2007 – Check arrived!

Was it Worth the Time and Effort?

I estimate that I ended up spending about 2 or 3 hours making phone calls, completing the survey, and faxing the HUD. This could have been minimized, as could my effort and frustration, had I simply followed the standard process. Still, Bank of America doesn’t make it easy to understand and follow this process and claim your $250. And it will tax you to get all of this done and it seem worth it. Hopefully this post will help you to get there quicker than I did. Ultimately I’d say it was worth it. I mean, it’s $250 I didn’t have yesterday.

Related posts:

1. This Month Last Year on Prime Time Money
2. The Mortgage Process: How We Found the Right Lender for Our New Home Purchase
3. Possible Fraudulent Switch to Bank of America’s Advantage Checking Account
4. How I Set Up My Bank Accounts the Right Way
5. Just How Cheap is America’s Cheapest Family?