Approximately 2.8 million homeowners faced foreclosure last year, but it was not supposed to happen to the Cordosos.  In 2005, the Massachusetts couple paid cash for a house in Springville, FL, and rented it with plans to eventually use it as a retirement getaway.

They were shocked to learn earlier this month that Bank of America (BofA) had locked them out and removed their belongings.

“All the love I put in that house — I fix things up every time I go there,” Charlie Cordoso, a construction worker, told ABC.  “Bank of America or somebody should apologize.”

The Cordosos, middle-aged Portuguese immigrants,  have filed a lawsuit against BofA for allegedly seizing the wrong home, and they are not the only ones:  Two other homeowners, one earlier this month in Texas and another last October in Kentucky, have also filed lawsuits alleging that BofA tried to foreclose on their homes although the bank didn’t own or service mortgages for the properties.

BofA has, as of yet, failed to file a reply to the Cordosos’ claim and to the Texas claim, in which the homeowner states that the bank turned off the power to his property during the wrongful foreclosure, leaving it smelling of fish, which were stored in his refrigerator and freezer.

Bank spokesman Rick Simon said in an e-mail to ABCNews.com that the bank has reached out to the Cardosos’ attorneys and hopes “to have the opportunity to work with them to properly assess and address their allegations.”

The bank maintains that the Texas and Kentucky cases “have no merit,” Simon said, and the bank does not accept responsibility for the mistakes.

In the Kentucky case, BofA was a co-defendant along with a Kentucky corporation that also allegedly handled the foreclosure.  In that case, the bank filed a document claiming that any ”injuries or damages” alleged by the homeowner were the result of “negligence caused by entities and/or persons for which BofA is not responsible.”

Meanwhile, a local contractor hired “to secure the property for Bank of America” has accepted responsibilty for the mistake in Texas, Simon said.

cf http://abcnews.go.com/Business/bank-america-sued-foreclosing-wrong-homes/story?id=9637897