A local married couple has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America for threatening to foreclose on their Martinsville-area home.

Michael and Tamara Florea are asking the courts to prohibit Bank of America from filing a foreclosure action and to order the bank to honor their modified mortgage.

On Tuesday, the Floreas were on the winning side of a phone conference when the bank forewent a court hearing and agreed to a court order barring it from filing foreclosure while the case is pending.

“That’s a victory for the little homeowner against the big banks,” Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio attorney Mark B. Lawson said Tuesday night. The Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio represents the Floreas.

According to a copy of the lawsuit, the Floreas have been paying their mortgage loan in the amount that complies with the terms of a written loan modification offered by Countrywide Home Loans. The Floreas signed the loan modification Jan. 10, 2009, and sent it back to Countrywide via FedEx, the lawsuit said.

Bank of America announced the finalization of its purchase of Countrywide Home Loans in January 2009.

When Bank of America acquired Countrywide, it became legally obligated to honor Countrywide’s loan modifications, Lawson said.

The Floreas’ modified mortgage payment was $584 per month. In late June 2009, the Bank of America sent a statement to the Floreas indicating their monthly mortgage payment is $924 — the initial mortgage payment amount, Legal Aid Society lawyers wrote.

The Bank of America correspondence to the Floreas also indicated they had a past due balance of $11,083 on their account.

According to the Floreas’ lawyers, Mrs. Florea made several calls to Bank of America and each person said the Floreas’ loan modification was still being processed. In late July, Mrs. Florea was told by phone that the Bank of America would initiate foreclosure proceedings if she and her husband did not pay the past due balance and resume monthly payments of $924.

On Aug. 24, 2009, Mrs. Florea tried to make a payment by phone but was refused and told there was a hold on her account because she is delinquent, wrote Legal Aid Society lawyers. She spoke with several people who said her loan modification was not processed because the income information was inconsistent, said the Legal Aid Society.

According to the lawsuit, Bank of America has reported negative activity on the Floreas’ account to the credit bureaus since at least March 2009.

As part of a settlement agreement in December 2008 with the Ohio attorney general, Countrywide agreed to offer loan modification agreements to Ohio homeowners struggling with unaffordable mortgage payments, the Legal Aid Society lawyers wrote.

James S. Wertheim, an attorney with McGlinchey Stafford in Cleveland, which represents Bank of America in the lawsuit, did not return a Tuesday afternoon phone message seeking comment.

The case has been moved to federal court in Cincinnati by action taken by McGlinchey Stafford under federal law.

Lawson said the allegations in the suit against Bank of America contrast with what many banks have said regarding their modification of mortgage loan terms as a way to help alleviate the foreclosure crisis.

“Now here’s a bank where after already giving a homeowner loan modification, they turn around and say we’re not honoring this after all. You owe us thousands of dollars and if you don’t pay us, we’re going to take your home from you. So, it just runs counter to everything that most of the banks are saying out there right now,” Lawson said.

The Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio also has filed a similar lawsuit against Bank of America on behalf of a Hamilton County woman who has resided in her home for 18 years.