This is good news for credit card customers who were bullied into closing their accounts or accepting rate increases by Chases raising of minimum payments from 2% to 5%. For more information on this lawsuit (and to join) go here.
Certification Granted in Chase Lawsuit
In May 2011, after extensive briefing and oral argument, the Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. This is an important ruling because it means that the case can proceed to trial as a class action, collectively representing all who fall within the class definition below:
All persons or entities in the United States who entered into a loan agreement with Chase, whereby Chase promised a fixed APR until the loan balance was paid in full, and (i) whose minimum monthly payment was increased by Chase to 5% of the outstanding balance, or (ii) who were notified of a minimum monthly payment increase by Chase and subsequently closed their account or agreed to an alternative change in terms offered by Chase.
Hold the pickles hold the lettuce special orders don’t upset us? Yea, not so much for Chase according to this story:
I am trustee of my mom’s trust. We, my mom and I , have a joint account at Chase. It is not a trust account, per the Attorney’s advice. I was traveling (in California) and received a dividend check from a stock in the name of the Revocable Living Trust . The check is made out to me, as trustee for my mom. Chase is the only bank in the area where we have an account (all others are local, and in the trust’s name, where we live). I tried to deposit the check into the account and Chase said they couldn’t do that. I pointed out that I am the trustee, I am trying to DEPOSIT the check, not cash it, and both our names are on the account, and that their computer system has a copy of my Durable Power of Attorney for my mother. FInally, after speaking with three managers, over a period of an hour, one of them decided they could call our local branch (in Tacoma) to get their permission to accept the deposit. Huh?
Two years ago I had to get our State Attorney General’s office involved because Chase wouldn’t accept the DPOA to open a Chase CD in my mother’s name, with her funds from her Chase Bank account!
Never, ever had any trouble with any of the other financial institutions we deal with: 2 brokerages, 3 credit unions, and another bank.
The Puget Sound Business Journal has done some great coverage of the Washington Mutual seizure and the aftermath over the last couple of years, one of which has been the digging into the long delay between the announcement of JPMorgan Chase’s purchase of WaMu’s assets and the closing of the deal. The latest entry in this story questions whether Chase had the legal right to foreclose on WaMu loans in the period where the sale had not yet completed.
But that raised questions, such as: Who owned the assets of failed WaMu in the interim? Was JPMorgan able to foreclose on homeowners with Washington Mutual mortgages before the sale of the assets was complete? Those answers remain hazy. I put in calls to Gray at the FDIC and a Chase spokeswoman today, though neither were immediately available.
The answers to these questions could allow tens of thousands of WaMu customers whom Chase foreclosed upon in the interim to challenge the foreclosures.
Chase is accused, in this latest lawsuit of knowingly pushing toxic loans on unsuspecting customers. While Chase doesn’t appear to have been involved at the time these loans were issued, they are the successor to the litigation due to their acquiring of Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns, who were apparently responsible. However, Chase CEO is accused of knowing about the fruad since 2008 but working to keep the information from the public.
Chase has set aside a $9 billion reserve for the litigation. Ouch!
There has been a lot of speculation as to exactly how much documentation Chase (and other banks) have lost on the original mortgages and subsequent ownership transfers that have created a legal quagmire (and liability) they are experiencing with proving authority to foreclose.
Well, hints come from many places and today’s comes courtesy of a commentor on our blog:
I just had a Chase representative tell me that I had to send in a copy of my recorded mortgage or they wouldn’t process my HAMP request. I’m not about to hand them documents that they would just use to take my house! This company is something…
A wise choice indeed. Don’t give Chase documentation they may have lost and without which they can’t foreclose on you. Be wary of signing anything that reaffirms their ownership of your mortgage or authority over it (if they are only the servicer, not the owner) if they can’t otherwise prove it. Better yet, ask them for proof of their authority over your loan before agreeing to anything. If they can’t provide it, ask them for better terms to your loan modification.
Yes, I realize these are very simple and potentially naive suggestions, but the truth is that no-one knows what might work given the documentation uncertainty the banks have today. One thing that is sure, they know they have a problem.
We received this note from a reader:
Hagens Berman 206-623-7292 may be involved in a class action lawsuit on behalf of Chase customers who have been attempting to modify their mortgage loans.
From their website, I was able to find this case that involves several large banks (presumably including Chase) not providing loan modifications to eligible customers.
What do you do when a big company like Chase goes above and beyond all sense of civility and reasonableness when trying to deal with delinquent payments? You march out in front of your local branch and start you own blog, like this Chase customer did to protest mistreatment, and call it Why I Hate Chase Bank. Here is an exerpt from the blog:
When one of the Chase representatives would happen to get me at a semi-good enough time to take a call, and to patiently go through all the stupid ‘required’ verifications, name (see: please call me A.), complete address, phone, name of my employer, where the vehicle is parked at night, who the primary driver is, who is my insurance carrier, etc. etc. etc.
I at first answer all their invasive series of questions like well, most of the above but I just love (sic) the ‘what is the reason that caused you to fall behind on your payment’ question?
So, we get through all the questions, now to the ‘meat’ of the call, the money. The representative then asks: May I take your payment now? I can schedule it for as late as this Friday.
In my case, I would usually explain that I would bring in a cash payment to one of the branch locations on Monday, Tuesday whenever I next expected to be able to make said payment.
Insert unhappy representatives reply: “blah, blah, blah”
Thank you, and good-bye!
2-5 hours later, the phone calls begin.. guess who? Chase again, supposedly knowing nothing of the previous representatives earlier call and discussion, thereby proceeding to badger me through their &^%$ series of verifications, etc. etc. etc.
As I try to break in to ask the representative to “please look at their records, I already spoke with someone about my payment earlier today”, I am interrupted with SIR, we have to go through these questions before I can even access your account.
I’m now over the phone calls, no-more phone calls. My right to peaceful use is not going to be constantly interrupted by Chase and a systematic auto-dialed collection calls from hell!
Arrggh!
This troubling story was submitted by a reader. There are so many things that Chase seems to have done here that are illegal and disrespectful, where to start?
We had our Jeep Liberty Sport 2002 taken from Chase auto in 4-2009 Chase never contacts us before of after the auto was repoed I filed with the PA AG and Chase VP was interview and stated that the auto was damaged in the frame (Not True) High Miles (Not True) the reg/title was not transfered for over a year after the repo. All personal items were lost and the Tag is still missing to date and being used! Chase VP claimed via phone that it was sold for $4900 It was missing for 3 months from time of repo to auction. Chase filed SC court action this month and are demanding $9990 claiming the auto was sold for $2700 (book value $7400 Loan due $7300)The dates that appear in the docket are wrong! and it appears the Jeep was switched at auction and a damage one in its place. A auto check found the Jeep was total a year ago and if it had frame damage that is the reason for the accident that happened 2 months after purchased
Fees & charges, Lawsuits | admin May 19, 2011 | 
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