Thousands dropping out of loan modification programs
By May of this year, one in seven people who had applied for a loan modification in Florida in January had dropped out of the program. (SunSentinal article)
That may sound like a shocking headline for a newspaper, but with all the loan mod stories I see every week, I am surprised the number of people dropping out isn’t greater. If you are familiar with the past abusive tactics of the insurance industry, such as denying all claims the first time they are submitted (because most people won’t resubmit a claim), you can see very similar tactics being used with loan modifications; make it so difficult and frustrating for people that a large number of them simply drop out and let their homes be foreclosed upon. I’ll admit that I’ve given Chase the benefit of the doubt in the past in wondering whether Chase is inept or malicious with regard to loan modifications. It is starting to seem like Chase has a serious agenda to deny people loan modifications.
Chase claims that people are dropping out because they aren’t complying with the loan modification rules. If you read some of the loan modification stories on our site, you’ll know that simply can’t be the reason for the majority of people who drop out. Imagine that you’ve been pursuing a loan modification for nine months, because one of a two-income earner family lost their job and despite looking for 18 months, has been unable to find work. In that time, you would probably have experienced:
- Chase loosing your paperwork several times
- Chase dragging their feet so long they claim your paperwork was too old and needed to be resubmitted (about the same as starting over)
- Chase not returning your calls, faxes, and emails
- Chase changing the person you had to deal with several times
- Chase pursuing foreclosure while telling you you were almost approved for a loan modification
- Chase telling you to stop paying your mortgage so you could qualify for a loan modification in the first place
- Chase not accepting their own checking statements because the final page was not properly numbered
With all these impediments, it is simply hilarious to hear Chase trying to put the blame on customers.
Or if you are really unlucky, Chase might have approved you for a permanent modification and then claimed you asked to drop out of it.
Loan modification | admin July 5, 2010
