Chase loan modification nightmare featured on PBS News Hour

The PBS News Hour included a segment on loan modification programs tonight and their story featured a couple that has been struggling through what many people have reported is Chase’s impossible loan modification process.

SARAH PORTER-BRAUN: We’re at this now 16 months here. And our eligibility has not even been determined.

PAUL SOLMAN: Sarah and Lee Braun applied to their servicer, Chase, for a HAMP modification when Sarah was laid off, Lee’s hours cut back.

LEE BRAUN, homeowner: The first person who was assigned to our case wouldn’t return our phone calls. And, since that time, we have had nine different representatives. And you try to contact them, you don’t hear back from them. You call the general number, you find out you have been reassigned to somebody else.

PAUL SOLMAN: From the get-go, the Brauns documented their efforts, some would say compulsively.

SARAH PORTER-BRAUN: There’s been countless numbers of time, which he has well-documented, where we have been told you’re denied because you have not provided the documents requested, when in fact we have never received a request.

PAUL SOLMAN: Meanwhile, the Brauns now make the mortgage with the help of family.

Interestingly enough, out of character with how Chase (and other banks) usually react when the media gets involved in someones case, despite being aware that the News Hour was reporting on the Braun’s case specifically, Chase still denied their loan modification.

Tell the Fed about your loan-mod or foreclosure nightmare

The Federal Reserve (Chase’s federal banking regulator) announced today that it is investigating the current foreclosure mess.

Now would be a very good time to submit your Chase loan modification or foreclosure nightmare story to the Fed, here.

Chase posts mortgage payment to wrong account, 7 months later no resolution

A reader recently submitted this story:

March 2010 Chase posted my mortgage payment (paid via phone) to someone else’s loan.  When I called them about it they confirmed receipt of my payment, gave me a Case Id#, and promised to correct it immediately.  Seven months and many phone calls later not only has the payment not been posted to my loan, but they have been reporting me as 30 days late for 7 months.  I’ve spoken with numerous customer service reps each of whom has read the full file of notes to me and supposedly sent an email to a supervisor named Jamie (no last name).  Two weeks ago I was able to get through to a manager named Josh who also promised to correct the problem immediately.  NOTHING.  Today I called the executive office number and was told to wait 7-10 days for someone to call me.  This is the same thing I was told every time I called customer service.  This is their mistake.  I did nothing wrong. I pay on time every month.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM???

If you think this is an anomaly, just read more of the stories on this site.  Chase seems to do things like this all the time and seems to provide little help when people try to sort out the mess.

I once had something similar happen with a small regional bank I still bank with in California.  After upgrading their online banking software, my payment to Verizon went to someone else’s Verizon account.  Subsequent payments went to the correct account so it was a particularly tricky problem to figure out.  How is this different than Chase you might ask?  In 20 years of banking with this smaller regional bank, this was the only such problem I have EVER had, and when I called them to straighten it out, it only took one call.

Loan modification nightmare in detail

There are of course no shortage of stories of frustrating ineptitude on Chase’s part for people attempting to get a loan modification.  This one in particular is so good because it is so detailed.  The more detail about your experience you document the better.  If this were happening to me, I wouldn’t stop with posting this on sites like the Ripoff Report, but would be filing a complaint with the BBB, sending a copy of this to all my elected officials, file a complaint with Chase’s regulators, and contacting my local newspaper and TV consumer advocates.  Unfortunately banks like Chase have a pretty strong lobbying effort; it takes a lot of complaints being made public to counteract that.

1.  We were told that we are the perfect candidates to receive this so called “loan modification”  (and still are)

2.  We started the proceedings after my husband had lost his job in 2009 and we had several unexpected medical conditions pop up

3.  I started a new business in 2008 and it is just getting off of the ground

4.  We had never missed a house payment prior to applying for the modification

5   We never missed a house payment during the proceedings of the loan modification “trial period” in which they lowered our house payment by about 1k per month.

6.  In October of 2009 We went online and downloaded the application, filled it out in it’s entirety, which took 15 hours of our time to gather and fax.

7.  We had to keep calling to try and get answers on what was happening with the modification, because they would not call us.  However their debt collectors called continually.

8.  We were never able to get a hold of someone who spoke proper, understandable ENGLISH, and could never get a hold of the same person twice… it was literally like pulling teeth to get any answers.

9.  When we finally were able to speak to someone in ENGLISH, they said we were still missing some papers (which we weren’t, because there was a check list and I am meticulous when it comes to files and paperwork) and they told us we would have to start from the beginning and re-fax everything again.  This time we had to re gather current data, so it took another 10 hours of our time and some of the application papers had changed, so we had to redo everything and fax again

10   Another month goes by and we phone Chase and again they claim missing paperwork, due to the fact that the people receiving the faxes are in another state and that they may have lost the papers during transmission….so this time I told them to send me an overnight package and I will send a copy via FedEX.

11.  All along the way they were reassuring us that we were perfect candidates for the modification, giving us hope that things would be fine and the paperwork time was worth it.  I have several letters they sent us telling us how much they wanted to “help us”.

12.  In June of 2010 they sent us a letter stating that our loan modification was “Denied” BECAUSE WE HAD NEVER MISSED A HOUSE PAYMENT AND THEY SAID WE MADE TOO MUCH MONEY IN 2008. HOWEVER… THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN GOING BY OUR 2009 RETURNS!!!  and that we were now in default of a past due amount of the 1k for each month of the “trial period”

13.  At this point we decided to put some money into trying to sell our home and hired a listing agent, while still making our house payment.

Read more …

How one borrower has avoided foreclosure for 8 years

Borrower Joseph Lents has been able to forestall foreclosure (and hasn’t made a payment) for 8 years now on his Washington Mutual loan.  How did he do it?  He simply asked the bank to produce the promissory note, which they repeatedly could not, and without the actual promissory note, Judges have repeatedly ruled that the bank can’t foreclose.

I’m not necessarily condoning people ducking responsibility for their commitments, but when banks like WaMu/Chase repeatedly stack the rules against customers to maximize fee income, and refuse to be reasonable or competent in working with people to obtain loan modifications they are entitled to under federal law, it it nice to see a little bit of that going back to the banks.

The bad record keeping that seems to be the cornerstone of the current foreclosure paperwork crisis also has some uncomfortable implications on how well Chase manages the small details of the rest of its business, which according to the many stories we’ve posted here, they don’t seem to be very good at.

Washington Mutual shareholder class-action lawsuit

If you were a shareholder of Washington Mutual between 2005 and 2008 you might be interested to know that a lawsuit against former WaMu officers, directors, underwriters, and auditors has just been granted class-action status.  You can find more information here.

You must have an account to contact Chase

Is requiring an account number for phone or email communications with Chase an oversight that limits people doing the right thing?

One person with no Chase account started receiving deposit notification emails from Chase.  Probably someone entered the wrong email address, but what is a concerned citizen who wants to to the right thing do when Chase won’t accept communications without an account number.  No way to tell Chase about the problem.  Sigh.

Chase minimum payment class-action lawsuit

I’ve just been informed of a class action lawsuit against Chase related to the raising of minimum payments.

On July 26, 2009, Girard Gibbs LLP and co-counsel filed a consolidated class action lawsuit against Chase on behalf of a national class of consumers in the District Court of Northern California. The complaint alleges that beginning in November 2008, Chase began notifying consumers participating in the low APR, fixed for life offers that their minimum monthly payment would increase from 2% of the loan balance to 5% of the loan balance, and some accounts would also be charged a $10 service fee, which Chase now says it has refunded.

For most customers the increase in the minimum payment meant that they suddenly had to come up with hundreds of extra dollars each month to meet this new payment requirement.

Girard Gibbs attorney, Eric H. Gibbs, states, “Chase’s conduct is having a real impact on our clients, particularly in these tough economic times. Our clients are people who made sound decisions in how to manage their long term debt, only to have Chase change the rules because it is not reaping enough profit from our clients’ accounts. It is an important issue for the courts to address in a meaningful way.”

For more information and to join the lawsuit, please see:  http://www.girardgibbs.com/chase.asp