[azdmsmith]

Thanks to all for your support. My loan is current and yes, one of the original reasons for my denial (and what Chase reported to the BBB) is that my loan is less than 1 year old. What is OCC? I really want to avoid the expense of an attorney if it is at all possible and may use NACA if I have to start all over.


I did get a call back and the latest reasons I was given for my HAMP denial are that I have too much money in the bank and my existing mortgage is a 40 yr mortgage.


The original guidelines indicated that an individual could not have more than 3 months of total debt payments available as "emergency funds". The latest FannieMae guidelines now indicate that an individual cannot have the equivalent of more than three months mortgage payments available. I had planned to NOT pay my June mortgage payment because it appeared I was not getting assistance since I was current on my mortgage. When it looked like I was making headway I went ahead and made my payment on June 14 to avoid late fees. Well wouldn't you know that payment didn't clear before my bank statement closed so I had that "extra" money that cleared my account the day after I sent my bank statement to Chase. That, coupled with accounts that are in my kids names and SS#s but appear on my statements put me just over the equivalent of 3 months mortgage payments in the bank. So, I would strongly caution anyone thinking about not making a payment just to try to get the process moving along to think carefully about ALL the impacts of that. While it looks like I have money if you take a snapshot of my accounts on payday, within a couple days as automatic payments hit for utilities, car loan, HOA, etc., the picture changes very quickly. My divorce agreement addresses the kids bank accounts as theirs (vs. liquid assets available to me) but I don’t even want to get into that with Chase. Now that my mortgage payment cleared I am well below the maximum "emergency fund" allowance even with the kids accounts.

The 40 year issue is what really worries me. I have a 40 year mortgage because I knew from day 1 that would be the only way I could afford to keep my home. I was told that part of the reason for the denial was that my mortgage is “already at 40 years”. It is my understanding that the guidelines require FIRST reducing the interest rate to as low as 2%, and if the payment is still more than 31% of gross income THEN extending the mortgage terms. While it appears the guidelines are silent on addressing an existing 40 mortgage, they certainly don’t exclude 40 year mortgages. I would think that common sense would tell them that since reducing the interest gets me to the 31% payment without having to go as low as 2%, they should be able to do that and stop there. I guess that makes to much sense!
I vented my frustration at the denial and was told I could fax in my current bank account info and they would submit it to underwriting "a third time" (I think only because they know I’ll continue to complain to whoever will listen). I'm not sure I believe that it was sent twice and denied because the guidelines require that financial info be no more than 90 days old (mine is 120 days+ old since they took so long to process my app), and I have not completed the revised application that is now required and is on the Chase website. I'll get everything together and fax it again to see what happens next.

All I am asking is that Chase follow the guidelines. I will keep pushing and use whatever resources I can to try and make that happen.