BB&T Branch Banking & Trust Force Placed Homeowners Insurance Scam - Class Action Lawsuit Filed Wilmington, North Carolina Nationwide

We had a home equity line of credit on our home through BB&T.   We had no balance on the line of credit.  

The line of credit required that we maintain certain insurance requirements on the home.  We opted to no longer carry the required insurance amounts.  

Many months after the policy had lapsed, BB&T notified us that we did not meet their insurance requirements.  They demanded that we buy the required insurance.  We informed our banker that we did not wish to purchase the insurance.  We informed our banker, Jeremy Beakes in Wilmington, NC, that we had no first mortgage on the home and no balance on the line of credit.  We informed him that we didn't wish to carry the insurance.  We informed him that we had made the decision to self insure the home as we had liquid assets greater than the value of the home.   We said that they could terminate the line of credit if this was no acceptable.

Many more months later, BB&T sent us notice that they had purchased insurance on our behalf.   They purchased a very expensive policy that protected them but provided no coverage to us.   Astoundingly, they paid the insurance company for retroactive coverage for about six months.   In other words, they paid for six months of insurance protection for a time period that had already passed.   In other words, they bought insurance to protect against a loss that could not possibly happen because the time period in question had already passed.  BB&T charged our account thousands of dollars for this coverage. 

We contacted our banker, Jeremy Beakes in Wilmington, NC and asked that they credit our account for the months of retroactive coverage that they had purchased.  We carefully explained that insurance purchased for a period that had already passed made no sense at all.   We said that they could charge us for the months that had passed after the insurance had been purchased but that we were not willing to be billed for insurance for a time period that had already passed.  

Jeremy Beakes refused to credit our account.   He changed his story multiple times when explaining that the insurance was required.   He said that banking regulations of some type require them to have insurance in place at all times.   I said that they did not have insurance in place for many months and that buying it retroactively was fraudulent and a scam.   He kept ignoring the fact that insurance purchased after the fact has zero value.   He would never acknowledge that basic fact.

Jeremy Beakes claimed that he ran our complaint up to  his management and they all refused to refund us for the fraudulently purchased insurance.  We complained to many other people at BB&T.   All of them stonewalled us and refused to credit our account for the thousands of dollars that they had fraudulently charged to our account.  

Eventually, we gave up.  We terminated our line of credit and the associated insurance.   We decided to move all four of our business and personal bank accounts elsewhere.  We also decided to terminate all six of our business and personal credit cards to another bank.    We have not yet made the move because doing so is a huge hassle with the  number of accounts and credit cards in question.  

Recently, we received a notice from a law firm that BB&T is being sued for force-placing insurance policies against many homeowners who had mortgages or lines of credit.   The lawsuit alleges that they were receiving kickbacks on the policies that they purchased for their customers and required their customers to pay for.   It is a class action suit.   BB&T has agreed to a settlement.   Obviously, they are not admitting to guilt.  However, if they have no guilt, why did they agree to pay a huge settlement to a large number of people?  

Don't bank at BB&T!  Don't do business with Jeremy Beakes!