Does Chase have ANY idea what it is doing with loan modifications?
This latest article from the Wall Street Journal has a prime example of Chase’s schizophrenic behavior when handling loan modifications:
After J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. agreed in January to her trial loan modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program, Stephanie Lulko made six $767-a-month mortgage payments, even though the bank said it had no record of her loan and then warned in a letter that she would be foreclosed on unless she paid $4,091.94.
The 44-year-old Ms. Lulko, of Oklahoma City, says bank employees told her to ignore the letter. Their tune changed in June, when J.P. Morgan said she earned too much to qualify for a permanent modification. The problem this time: The bank’s numbers were wrong. “I wish I had never applied for this modification,” she says.
In September, the bank rejected her request for a permanent loan modification for a second time. She faces foreclosure unless she pays nearly $5,000—the difference between her original and modified loan payments, plus late fees. Ms. Lulko has been unemployed since her temporary job at the U.S. Census Bureau ended in August.
J.P. Morgan denies any wrongdoing related to Ms. Lulko’s loan. “We worked with the borrower over a number of months and communicated the status of the loan modification during that time,” spokesman Tom Kelly says.
Did you get all that?
- Chase simultaneously claims to have no record of her loan but demand a large repayment at the same time.
- They tell her to ignore a letter they sent her. Seriously? What kind of respectable financial institution sends you a letter and then other people in the organization tell you to just ignore it?
- They claim she earns too much but have the numbers wrong.
Foreclosure, Ineptitude, Loan modification | admin November 6, 2010
