My story is the same as most here - request to Chase Home Finance for help in 12, told to hold off on payment, received paperwork, submitted financials, received a new, lower payment to be paid each month for 3 months, no communication after that, told to continue sending in that payment for the next 3 months, was told this 3 more times (for a total of 18 months) and they requested financials 4 times total (all were fully completed).
They kept sending letters of forbearance an letters stating the amount of interest an penalties being accrued. Duh, we were waiting for a response to get us out of that mess. I wrote a letter to James Dimon, the CEO & Chairman of JP Morgan & Chase in March of this year just to get some action, though I knew he wouldn 't see it. I did get a response from the executive offices in Columbus, OH asking for me to SUBMIT NEW FINANCIALS and continue paying that same amount. I tried to call the representative who wrote the letter so many times in that period it was ridiculous and never a call back. I also got her supervisor's name through a confidential source and even she never returned my calls, either. Oh, by the way, we also received letters of foreclosure every month in the meantime, which scared the heck out of my wife and I, though the modification rep said not to worry and that it was standard procedure.
Another thing that occurred after each submission of financials were letters of decline stating that the financials were not full and complete. After calling the number on the letter, we were transferred to a generic mod. Rep who always said that we DID send all required materials and that they got everything they requested. So it was just another form letter that kept coming through every time we submitted the financials. One hand did not know what the hell the other hand was doing and we were caught in the middle.
We finally got an answer in June stating that we were declined for not having enough income to pay the mortgage, which was BS. We paid the normal payment on time every month prior to 12-08, though it was tight and paid the new. I had medical issues and requested help from all of my creditors and all (including GMAC, our 2nd mortage holder and did the modification within 2 months) helped us out right away - with the exception of Chase.
I am currently seeking an attorney because I feel a lawsuit should be brought against Chase for stringing us along when standard operating procedure calls for a final response within 3 months of submission. Recourse should be made to show that we weren't late on our payments while in the mod. Process.
My final point to this, and where I am currently at, is that when a modification is started and the payment amount altered while the modification is being processed, the payment is set aside in a special account and the amount between the normal payment and the new payment is now considered late. I know this because we have also been receiving a statement every month showing how much the interest and penalties are racking up ($13,000 to date) and they will build that into the modification if approved. How convenient. Since we weren't approved (after waiting for 20 months) we owe that money or will lose our home. If we would have known this we would have struggled to make our payments as we were prior to 12-08 and not had 20 months of late mortgage payments showing up on our credit. To make things worse, they sold the servicing of hundreds of thousands of foreclosure and forbearance like mine to IBM Lending effective August 1st. Now we have to do the financials yet again. The problem is that I lost my job in June and that will not go over well and we may lose our home - all because they strung us along without a decision for so long and ruined my credit. Think about it, if things would have stayed as they were on 12-08 or even 3-09 and if they would have declined us then, I would have only 1 late payment which we would have caught up on that month, we would still have great credit, and wouldn't need to justify to anyone that I lost my job because I have enough $ to keep me afloat for another 2 months (I have a new job pending).
I am writing/cc'ing a letter to my Federal and State Senators and Congressmen, the CEO & Chairman of Chase, James Dimon, and an attorney (to protect myself). I may have to file bankruptcy, which wouldn't necessary if they just made a decision in early 2009. If anyone has any questions, please email me at [email protected]. I think a class-action lawsuit is in order!!! USA Today had an article July 23rd about modifications and how other customers did well with their mortgage companies and guess what, Chase got terrible reviews. Go figure.
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