Q: I was in the process of short selling my rental home. The loan was originally a Countrywide loan that is now owned by Bank of America.

My loan was deemed fraudulent by Countrywide’s legal dept. They advised me that at closing of the short sale they would return to me the $30,000 of my payments that I had made on the fraudulent loan.

I went to the home one weekend to check on it and clean for an upcoming open house. My locks were changed and $1,500 of my possessions had been taken. My local sheriff and state attorney were in disbelief that this could happen.

I am not in foreclosure. The lender has refused to give me a key and return my possessions. I have been locked out of my rental property for nearly 10 months. I asked them to foreclose on me and they refused.

The OCC and state refused to get involved due to “jurisdictional issues.”

I want to know why the OCC won’t get involved and how can a bank seize a home without due process?

A: Bank of America recently agreed to a $118 million settlement for bad Countrywide loans. In addition, in early August, Countrywide agreed to pay $624 million to settle a bunch of cases over subprime loans. And that’s not all: Bank of America’s most recent annual report lists several pages’ worth of cases that are still in litigation over these loans.

I’m not sure you’ll qualify for any money from these cases, and from your letter, it sounds from your letter as though your loan has already been deemed fraudulent. But it’s worth seeing if you, or any other former Countrywide mortgage borrowers might qualify.

Onto your question: It’s unclear to me why your home would be locked (and looted) if there had been no notification and no foreclosure. But nothing really surprises me anymore when it comes to lenders and loans. Stranger things have happened.

I wish I had some answers for you, but I think you need to discuss the situation with an attorney and consider all of your options. This may include a lawsuit against the lender. If you don’t know an attorney, please contact your local bar association and ask for the head of the real estate committee and the head of the litigation committee. Contact these attorneys and describe what has happened to you and ask for their help in locating the appropriate attorney.

Sometimes you have to send up a flare to get noticed.