One example of parallel foreclosure reversal

Kudos to the attorney that got a homeowners foreclosure reversed in Florida.  From this story we learn two things:

1. Chase often says it will do one thing but then does something else.
2. The courts finding in this case shows that by doing this, Chase is practicing fraud, misconduct, and misrepresentation.

In other words, Chase is in the wrong here and it is worthwhile to go after them legally for this.

Since February 2010, JP Morgan Chase promised to provide a mortgage modification to my client. They promised to stop the foreclosure proceedings and allow him to stay in the home. My client acted in good faith the entire time, trying to save his home from Foreclosure using the trial modification system as we set up in every modification case. Then, without ever telling my client they were moving forward, Chase went ahead and behind his back got a Summary Judgment. This gave Chase the right to sell my client’s home at Judicial Auction.

When my client was sent a copy of the Summary Judgment, he called the Bank to ask why they were not giving him the promised trial mortgage modification. The Bank assured my client they were giving him a modification and would suspend the sale so that the Trial Modification could go through. That is not what happened. What Chase actually did was sell the house at a judicial sale behind my client’s back. When my client informed us of the way Chase had treated him we felt this was an atrocity. We immediately filed a Motion to Vacate the Summary Judgment based on Fraud, Misconduct and Misrepresentation. Today we had the hearing on my motion. The Judge Ordered the Summary Judgment be vacated (overturned). My client gets to keep his house!

Read the rest of this story …

2-weeks late gets a harsh letter from Chase

Is this Chase’s new tactic to get people to stop defaulting on their mortgages, hit borrowers with the full nastiness as soon as they are even a little bit late and scare them into paying?  In case anyone is wondering, the average time from first default to foreclosure these days is almost two years, so if your bank sends you a letter warning you of the consequences of non-payment, consider that as well.

Wouldn’t it be something if they sent a letter nasty letter to someone who was late due to Chase applying their mortgage payment to someone else’s loan?

I’m 2 weeks behind on my mortgage payment, today I received a 4 page letter from Chase(my mortgage lender)stating that I have breached my contract and what action next they are going to take..can this be real ????? 2 weeks behind I’m reciving this type of letter??

I’m so confused and scared, this is not the first time I get a little behind on my mortgage payment but I’m up to date as I always have.  I feel like these people are waiting like wolves on homeowners to make any mistake so they can come and take their homes.

I’ve lived in my house for over 5 years now never had a problem paying my mortgage but just like anyone else can run a week or two behind waiting to get paid or whatever else it could be, how can we fight these heartless predators ??  JPMorgan Chase is their names.

Chase foreclosures continuing despite self-imposed moratorium?

From the information posted in this article, it appears that at least some Chase foreclosure actions are continuing despite their statement that they have stopped them in all 23 states that require judicial oversight.

JPMorgan Chase & Company and Bank of America Corporation announced that they were holding off on court-based foreclosures until they could sort out issues with them.

But, in Lee County, court records indicate that both of those banks kept on receiving court judgments that allowed the sale of mortgages on foreclosed houses at public auctions.

Three years and still no loan modification

How screwed up is this?

I called Chase and they said they would not talk to me until I was 2-months late on my payment. So I became 2-mos late. So over the last 2.8 years or so, I have done trial payments 3-times. Each time, Chase has reneged and decided to start the entire process over again. I have tried NACA, to no avail. I have written my congress people etc. to no avail. I have dealt with the executive offices several times and they have made permanent modifications (I have letters to the effect) yet the right hand of Chase does not know what the left is doing and even though I have letters and documents saying my loan is complete and final, they refuse to acknowledge that and continue to send threatening letters of foreclosure.

Chase loses big in TILA fraud case

This story is good in so many ways.  Homeowner Paul Nguyen sued Chase for Truth in Lending Act violations for a loan that he says he was fraudulently led into.  It would have been a great story if Nguyen simply won against Chase in a court of law and received damages, but the story is so much better than that.

First, Chase simply didn’t show up for the case.  Did not appear.  One might interpret this to mean they were so guilty they felt that putting on any kind of defense might just make things appear even worse than they are.

So as a result of Chase not showing up, Nguyen wins a default judgment.  The judge rescinds the promissory note between Nguyen and Chase, thereby giving Nguyen the home free and clear, wiping out his debt.  Then the judge goes even further by awarding Nguyen damages, expected to amount to about $16,000, and also awards him attorneys fees, also in the tens of thousands of dollars.

A very solid win.

Chase widens foreclosure review to 41 states

With Attorneys General from all 50 states now breathing down their back, Chase is expanding its review of foreclosure practices to 41 states, according to this article in the Wall Street Journal.  In an interview JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says this:

“No One has been evicted out of a home who shouldn’t have been.”

Oh really?  What about Judi Moser?

She showed Channel 2 Action News reporter Richard Elliot what’s left of her life after deputies and crews evicted her from her home of 29 years — only to put it all back when they learned the bank made a mistake.”

And then they said, ‘Oops, wrong, we made a mistake. Let’s put everything back,'” said Moser.

Moser said it all started when she hit some tough times and called her mortgage holder, Chase Bank, to make a home loan modification.She said she was approved and sent Chase $4,000.But, she said, Chase never processed the paperwork, which caused a mistaken foreclosure in February, and last week’s eviction.

That story isn’t an anomaly.  We’ve seen quite a few stories where people are in the process of a loan modification and they get foreclosed upon, a process called parallel foreclosure which Chase has admitted to practicing.  For example:

We were in the middle of a loan mod when we got the foreclosure notice stapled on our home…we called Chase they said to ignore it and we continued with the loan mod.

That’s right, Chase actually told the homeowners to ignore the foreclosure notice and they lost their home.

The Chase no-fee checking account is a fee trap

How does Chase get away with providing so much misinformation to customers?  Stories like this keep piling up.  Are regulators and lawmakers not aware of them?  Perhaps it is time for people to write to their legislators about problems like this?

So against the recommendation of some of you wise folks on piggington, I went for a Chase checking account 6 months ago from a $100 new customer promotion. Why not, I thought since I needed a second account anyway. Chase opens a checking and saving account…

Plus the accounts would have no “fees” as long as you made 5 atm transactions per month or have direct deposit…or so I thought….

So I started out using it normally, with my 5 atm transactions per month. Stick of gum, ATM….Grocery ATM…Stamps at the post office ATM…No big deal….

About 3 months later, I get a note saying:
“Welcome to the Chase Visa ATM Rewards Program. You will be charged $5/month for being in this program…
WTF? You’re kidding right…So I call and talk to them about how this was suppose to be a no fees account…They say “sure, it’s no fees, the accounts are no fee. The ATM card you have however has a fee…..

At this point, I really want to close the chase account, but I recall there’s a “fee” for closing an account <6 months…So I’m arguing back and forth with the person, and finally, the 3rd supervisor says that “well, there’s another type of ATM card that isn’t part of the rewards program that doesn’t have a fee….Well switch you to that one..” Fine, I say.. Why they didn’t do this to begin with, well I guess they do this to try to wear you out, because obviously the first supervisors didn’t indicate there was this option….So at this point, I figure screw Chase. I’m not going to use the ATM. Instead, I setup direct deposit and deposit $1 each month…No fees…

Now it’s six months later, and I’m ready to close the account. I call the call center to tell them I’d like to close the account, and have a check cut from the checking and savings account sent to me….They tell me the savings account is $0…..What??? I had $15 in that account… Well, it turns out that 3 months ago, they started charging me a $5/month service fee for the savings account without telling me…I go back and forth with the agents and a few supervisors….

Me: “When I opened the checking account, you threw in a free savings account”…

Chase: “the savings account always had a $300 minimum deposit requirement, or a $5 service fee per month… ”

Me: “Bullshit…You changed the terms without telling me..I had this account for 6 months and only deposited $15 in this account from the beginning…If there was a minimum balance requirement since the first day , I would have had $0 3 months later, and -$15 now… 6 months later…”

Chase: “…Hold on a second please sir…Uh, we’ll credit you the $15 back on Tuesday, but just to let you know, starting next month, you need to maintain $300 or pay a $5/month fee…”

Me: “No problem: by tuesday, after I get my $15 back, I won’t be a customer anymore. BTW: can you give me the confirmation number for the $15 credit you just applied? “…

Chase: “Why?”

Me: “Because in case I need it …Confirmation number please…”

Chase: “Don’t trust me?”

Me: “No, I don’t..Would you, if you were in my shoes? Confirmation number please. And your name…”

Chase: “XXXXXXX, and my name is XXX”

Me: “Thank you…(click)”

Just to be extra sure, I called Chase back and asked a different agent if the confirmation number was valid….it was…fortunately….

… I know, I know… I think a few of you warned me about this…But I don’t like to listen to other people, even if it’s for my own good….

CA Democrats ask US Attorney General to investigage loan modifications

This is our 900’th post!

It looks like the big banks are starting to take some heat for making the loan modification process so (intentionally?) difficult.

California Democrats call for investigation into loan modification and foreclosure practices

October 5, 2010 |  3:42 pm

California’s Democratic congressional delegation has joined the call for investigations into delays and possible irregularities in the loan modification and foreclosure process.

In a letter Wednesday signed by the California representatives and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the delegation said that constituents who have requested loan modifications or a forbearance of foreclosure have reported lenders “routinely fail to respond in a timely manner, misplace requested documents, and send mixed signals about the requirements that need to be met to avoid foreclosures.”

The letter — which was addressed to U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and John Walsh, acting comptroller for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at the Treasury Department — asks the agencies to “investigate possible violations of law.”

The action follows several recent announcements by some of the nation’s biggest lenders that they were halting evictions and some foreclosure proceedings due to possible mistakes in their processes. But these freezes are taking place outside of California in so-called judicial foreclosure states, where courts have jurisdiction over the process.

Nevertheless, the California delegation cited the recent foreclosure pauses in their letter, saying the moves by the lenders “amplify our concerns that systematic problems exist in the ways many financial institutions have dealt with homeowners who are seeking to avoid foreclosures.”