WaMu/Chase Mod Moving Forward

[baconati]

A Few Questions from a Newbie Here

Hi all,
Am new here and was hoping for some feedback. Some history, and very similar to many of the experiences read here: my husband was laid off at the beggining of March, we promptly applied for loan mod w/wamu/chase, after 60 days our app was shredded stating they hadn't received all the documents (with 95% of the correspondence initiated on our end). Reapplied with some minor assistance of a Chase rep in person, on June 3. As of today our app is pending assignment to a negotitiator, in the meantime, up until September we were current on our payments. Last months pymnt was sent in late, haven't been able to pay this month's yet. Again, we've initiated majority of the contact, of course, wamu collections promptly contacted us as soon as our payment was late. I sort of feel like I'm playing chicken through this process. If I was just worried up until now, I'm starting to freak out a little. We're due to re-fi in 6/2010 and our house is severely underwater (purchased at 465,000 and now assessed at 100,000 (I think the comps are actually a little higher), so we really need this loan mod badly.
Anyway, I have a few questions:
1) I am considering writing a letter to our local congressman about this ordeal. Has anyone done this with any positive influence or response?
2) we are also considering hiring a lawyer at this point. I'm wondering how a lawyer could facilitate this process with the bank, what leverage do they actually have?
Anyway, any feedback would be great, I've read many of these posts and impressed by the perseverance of what was shared, disgusted by the horrible treatment, greed by the lenders.

[cliffdweller]

Hi Baconati,
Welcome to the forum!

I have not taken the letter writing or lawyer route yet, but have seen posts
from others who have. You might want to check threads by Marie T, Rachel or Caldwell..seems like that is where I read about that. I think we have seen
little, bitty improvements in the process lately.

Best of luck!

[snapple candy]

baconati,
Im sorry to say most dont get much movement you become late in your payments. If your borrowing from peter to pay paul (your mortgage payment) I suggest you stop making payments. Posts by Gordiolox are helpful. He has achieved a trial loan mod the fastest without being late from Chase.

[caldwellb02]

Please forgive for hijacking this thread for a moment. Please check Moe's post on the Class action.

[cliffdweller]

Hi all,
Caldwell - thanks for the post and hijack away. This thread is for everyone who wants to present a point of view with respect.

Snapple - haven't seen or heard from you in a while and it is great to see you here!

I hear a lot of justified anger out there and desires to unite to change some pretty aweful things going on in the world. I support this, but my thing is about being
FOR things rather than AGAINST. That is when I get motivated and excited. For example, just listen to Martin Luther Kings words for a moment:

"I have not urged a mechanical fusion of the civil rights and peace movements. There are people who have come to see the moral imperative of equality, but who cannot yet see the moral imperative of world brotherhood. I would like to see the fervor of the civil-rights movement imbued into the peace movement to instill it with greater strength. And I believe everyone has a duty to BE in both the civil-rights and peace movements. But for those who presently choose but one, I would hope they will finally come to see the moral roots common to both."

I believe he got radical results because there is great power when you unite people
from this place...hoping OBAMA will step up to the plate.

Cliff

[snapple candy]

Hey Cliff,
Ive been in school and working along with having to go back down to Southern CA for a court hearing trying to medical support for ill daughter. Court always takes alot out of me. This set me behind and Im playing catch up. Havent had much time to cruise the threads till today.
Im with ya on MLK.
Thanks Caldwell for the info class action. I will check it out.

[Marie T]

Hey Cliffdweller...glad to see you on and it's not even Sunday yet! I have retained an attorney. He told me Chase is fairly quick to put you on a trial plan without totally verifying everything...then over the course of the trial plan they will verify. He told me that they are trained to tell you that they "don't know" what your permanent payment will be but said he has not seen it differ by more than $20-30 from the trial.

baconati...go check my post at NACA thread I just posted re:attorney..I won't highjack Cliffdweller's post with all the gory details. :-) As far as getting an attorney involved though, I think Chase has to have actually done something illegal on your loan or why would you have an attorney contact them?

Snapple...totally agree, do not use your cc's to pay mortgage payments...it only postpones the inevitable. I know as I did it for a long time and have the cc balances to prove it. I also do not believe that Chase will pay much attention to you until you are late. I am now 3 months late and just sent a payment yesterday to avoid being 4 months late. My attorney suggested I do that as it shows an effort on my part and it felt right. He said they may not accept it but make sure I can prove that I tried to pay it.

Caldwell...I will check out the class action thing too.

where is swiller?

I need to get to work here and get all the paperwork together for the attorney...he told me he needs everything that has already been submitted to Chase and I am thinking...great...that would be the two wrong budgets and info that NACA submitted to Chase! Now he has to undo that!

[cliffdweller]

Hi guys,
Hey Marie - I know..I couldn't stay away long...just need to keep a finger on the pulse and offer up my semi-sappy two cents here and there. Plus I miss people.

Gosh, I hope this attorney helps you out. I really believe that you are going to wind up on top by your sheer willpower and persistence...talk about Bull Dog..you go girl!

Would be great if perm mod was within $20-30 of trial, but wonder if that applies to internal mods as well..My trial is an interest-only payment. I would love it if they would give me a 2-3% interest only payment (can step it up if they want) and amortize T&I for the perm. I'm going to ask for it..I need the payment to stay the same to afford this.

Snapple - geeze...thought I was busy. All the best with your daughter. We're not
supposed to post links, right....but if you look up Jim Humble.biz ... there is the most
dramatic breakthrough that I have seen in my Wellness career described. Really briefly...based on the idea that all illness is the result of cellular degeneration (starvation basically) as a result of Toxicity...a whole lot of us were neurologically damaged by vaccines..as well as numerous other toxins. Not really new news but the way(s) to cure...not just treat...are achieving great results. I'm probably wayyy out of bounds here, but must share...and it's my thread, so there. At any rate...holding up the best for you as we come up on the final stretch here.

[Marie T]

Thanks Cliffdweller! It feels good just knowing taht I can get the burden lifted just a bit off me! I have actually slept the last two nights through the night since I decided to do this. Now, just trying to find all the paperwork I gave to NACA and the guy at Chase Homeonership Center.

Anyway...just wanted to say hi since you might not be back on til next Sunday...I had better get back to work. I posted a synopsis of my story on the NACA sub-thread under Caldwells thread "how knowledgable is NACA..." I think we are all wondering lately...

[snapple candy]

Hey Cliff & Marie T.

I gotta agree, Marie you are one tenacious woman and thats what it takes to get any kind of success with these lenders. I have no doubt that you will get some positive results. Interesting your attorney said that Chase put alot of people on trial mods without verifying, now they are rejecting people. Sure makes sense to me.

Thanks for the info CW on the mineral supplement. Sounds interesting. Id like to see some study data on this if it exists. Its hard to tell what really is effective and what is not without some sort of study done with patients. I used to do alot of research on alternative medicine and supplements for those with HIV and hepatitis and done some cleansing myself. The illness my daughter has, has a Chronic Fatigue component to it and I just noticed in paper a few days ago a new discovery of a viral infection linked to CFS. I believe there is alot to this cellular degeneration. The schooling I am getting will hopefully help me in doing public health disease mapping. I am particularly interested in infectious disease in Africa. Im off to school again......Ill check in later guys.

[cliffdweller]

Hey Snapple,
What is the best way to exchange emails or whatever? I have done much study on Chronic Fatigue..MMS is most processing...need to get you free e-books and what not. How to do??

Understand desire for data...that is what I am currently doing with a Health Scanning Device (cost me $20K in 2006...partly why we're so broke). The guy, Humble, is non profit motivated I believe...tells you how to make the stuff in your own kitchen. It is a natural substance that our immune system produces...most of us just need more of it. It kills viruses...very tough to do...I have spent much time studying and utilizing herbs, homeopathics, etc to kill Herpes, Chronic Fatigue...it is a B...tch! When you look at the chemistry of this stuff, it makes sense. Doctors are jumping on board ....see Andrew Moulden and Tunsky in google.

Cliff

[pbharris4]

We're still waiting. DH called last week with no change in status. What I wonder, and forgive if I have posted this before, is do you think the bank's priority is to modify the interest only loans first & then the fixed rate loans? Don't they want to get people out of those type of loans and into permanent fixed rate loans?

[cliffdweller]

PB,
I believe they do want to get you into a fixed rate loan. Not sure if a priority. I have been reading lately trying to figure out if they will modify into another interest only loan, and I can't seem to get an answer. In one place it said something like "we have a variety of options to get you into an affordable payment." I prefer interest only..I can pay on principal if and when our income increases. Will keep you posted.

[cliffdweller]

Hi all,
Quick update:
Fed ex showed up yesterday with request for new packet of info. I spoke to them last Friday and they said they would send it that day...so they weren't too terribly slow.

I know that many others have gotten to this point, and even further, to the point of permanent mod terms over the phone, BUT then there seems to be a major clog in the system. There are those who believe that this is a SCAM tactic on the part of Chase to collect as much $$ as they can.

I may be wrong, but I am more of the opinion that the sand is continually shifting under the Bank's feet right now, creating very tentative movement. New loan options are coming forward, changing govt. requirements, new thoughts and calculations on their part, etc. etc. There just doesn't seem to be a major Green Light to move forward....more like a Yellow Light.

My strategy remains settling in to the notion of 6 months of trial payments, while trying to make more income, so the whole thing becomes a mute point anyway!

For anyone reading for the first time, I have a Wamu-owned interest only loan, and am definite about wanting to remain in our home.

[cliffdweller]

ps We are instructed to fax or fedex our package to Cherry Creek Dr. Suite410,
Glendale, CO.....seems to be a new address....processing center maybe??

[snapple candy]

Hey Cliff,
For some reason at times I dont get responses back so sorry for not writing back. You can email me at my screen name @yahoo.com

[californiadreamer2000]

Can anyone tell me if these mods are just for primaries?
Can they be used for second homes or a rental?

[Benilole808]

Hi, I am here because I need to figure out the next step. We were originally with People's Choice when we purchased the house, than we were turned over to WAMU and now we are currently with Chase. We had managed to modify with WAMU from 7.9% ARM to 6.7% fixed. Although this helped, a month later my husband was laid off for 2 months and upon returning he had his hours and pay-rate cut down. This caused us to look into modification for a second time with Chase. We had applied back in August and they stopped processing our modification in later September because they said they didn't receive all the necessary paper work (and I swear I had faxed everything they asked for and the people I had followed up with told me they received everything). Anyhow, we wanted things to move along so we went ahead and sent current documents they were requesting and I called today to find out that they could not modify my loan because basically our income was too low to qualify. They told me that they couldn't do anything else for me but that there was a 1 year default program comming up "soon" that we may qualify for. Chase had moved two months to the end of the loan to bring us current back in early August when we first pursued modification so basically we are now current. I am somewhat frustrated because I know that even though we are current we will soon be struggling again and we would like to be pro-active in keeping our home. My husband is already talking about being laid off again in the near future, he works to build homes. Could someone advise as to how I can get some help please? Thank you and God Bless.

[californiadreamer2000]

Hi Marie T -

Do you mind sharing the latest with your loan/mod?
Did you continue to push forward with the modification?
What terms did you end up with?

[Marie T]

californiadreamer2000...I am now working with an attorney. I felt that I was getting nowhere and since I do not have a Fannie Mae backed loan I found that when I talked to the government agencies they could do nothing. My loan is owned by WAMU, now Chase and was never sold to an investor. I will definitely keep everyone updated and please, if anyone is getting anywhere with a WAMU owned loan...please let me know too!

cliffdweller...are you on a trial mod? did I miss that?

[joleslaurent]

Marie,

I just got a call from a Chase rep and she was really feisty. She told me that I should not have bought a house if I could not afford to pay it (yelling when she said this to me). I asked her if I could record the phone call and she said they do all the recording and the repossessing and she said if we don't pay within two weeks Chase will foreclose on the house and then she hung up.

She must be one of their top dog collector. She was really feisty.

[exhausted girlfriend]

Wow Joleslaurent,

She sounded like a top dog!! OMGoodness.

[smit5454]

Call her back and apologize. Ask her kindly to fax you a request for the funds, then assure her you will act as expeditiously as they have. Promise her the check will arrive on Friday via Fed-Ex. (Sound familiar?) Every time she calls you back, tell her you never got the fax, ohh so sorry!. Tell her she will have her Fed-Ex ASAP. Then GroundHog Day her A for the next 8 months.

[joleslaurent]

I wonder how much Chase is actually getting from the bank bailout program. And how much more money they are making on foreclosures...not all houses are "upside down." Some have equity.

[cliffdweller]

Hi Marie,
Yes - Started trial mod July 1..just sent 5th payment for November 1. Now in the
waiting game...they say it is in final review, should have perm payment for December 1. We will see.

Hoping lawyer gets some action for you!