CHASE - I can see the light...

[JoannaOregon]

I see a light at the end of this tunnel!

Brief recap...

Started process in 1/06/09 after missing 2 payments ($4100 each) due to job loss. We were on an interest only loan.
Did not make Jan - March payments.
April 09 we were put on a 3 month forbearance with payments of $2741.40.
Actually made 5 payment on the forbearance plan as Chase was backed up and not given us an option after 3 months ended.
Just received mod offer $2195.20. after 2 months of payments at this amount the mod is to go permanent at a fixed rate between 2 - 3 % over 30 years with that $2195.20 payment including taxes and insurance. This is a principal and interest loan - NOT and interest only like we had. They are not asking for any of the missed back payments or a good faith lump sum payment.

Savings to us of $1904.80 - very generous.

Now we were told that it could take more than the two month to get the paperwork to us, but to keep paying the new mod payment and will come. (Yes, I know have heard that before and it has taken months, but they are correct in our case... always late, but so far it has come.)

Not holding my breath, but there is hope. I hate to even say that as I may jinx us!!! But regardless, I am not losing my home and no foreclosure process will begin according to their documents which our attorney looked over as long as we make the trail payments.

Silly part... we have been making 2741.40 payments for 5 month - you would think it would be a no brainier that we could make 2195.20 payment for 2 months for approval. But it is their process and we follow their rules.

I was told on 9/2 when I called that I would have the paperwork in 5-10 business days. I wasnt expecting it until October with their past track record. I about fell over when the following day FedEx was on my porch with the documents dated the day before, 9/2. Wheeeew!

[art4ari]

Hi Joanna! you seem to be soo close to finish the line. Do you think your law firm played a crucial role for your success?? Did you hear anything about the updating of computers at Chase? My investor is BOFA. Any advice?

[JoannaOregon]

Hello Art...

Yes, I think having a lawyer helped. I started this process alone in January and then retained an attorney in March. Soon after in April I was offered the forbearance. Prior to the attorney I had heard nothing. Not saying you cant go it alone and save some money, but for me, it just made sense. (Helped me sleep a bit better.)

Advice...

I know this may sound lame, but be patient. I have had the days, weeks and months too where my anxiety is through the roof on this. Chase tells me to expect something and it doesn't come for two months, but low and behold, it does eventually come. Many folks think that they are just playing games and I have even thought that too, but I really now think they are overwhelmed and there are two many hands in the pie. In the beginning it seemed like every time I called I got someone different and just explaining my story time after time was taxing. The attorney helped with that. They made the contact with Chase and they have a specific contact person. Cut me out of that stressful loop.

Be patient - my 9 months of suffering (probably a year once this done) could save me 100's of 1000's of dollars over the life of my loan... an added benefit to this whole thing above and beyond just getting the financial relief right now in our dismal but most likely temporary circumstances.

[CHANLY]

First of all Congrats!! You have made much more progress than most at this point. How did come up with the different payment amount, I assume they asked for updated income info and it was slightly lower? Did you have to keep calling to finally find out the terms of the final? I made my third payment in Aug and was told I would have to make 1 or 2 more while the computer thing is worked out. I am debating whether to just be happy making the lower payment and not out on the street or to keep calling them and pressing for the final so I can move on with life! Again, good for you, hope your story is finally coming to a happy ending

[Hard Times]

Johanna........That is fantastic! They cut your mortgage almost in half. I have been struggling with Wamu/Chase since October 08, and its still in "the Underwriters". I can only hope I get an offer.

Can I ask you a few questions so I will be better prepared:
1. About what % of income did they get you to.....all the way down to 31%, or higher?
2. When they told you qualified, and they said it was sent to the "Underwriters", how long did it take them to contact you with approval?
3. Did they tell you over the phone what the modification was, or did you have to waite for the package via fedx?
4. How many times did you have to keep faxing bank statements and w2's?
5. Did you ever have more than 3 times your mortgage payment in your bank account? (It appears that they will disqualify you if your account ever goes above that magic amount).
6. Did you run your numbers on the NPV test to see if you would pass before actually hearing from Chase?

Thanks. If only I too were approved for the mod, and then I could sleep soundly and shed ssooooooooooo much anxiety.

[rachel_p]

Congratulations!! That is great news, and a fantastic modification! You're right, that is very generous of Chase. Finally, a kudos to them!!

Did you have your lawyer handle everything for you as far as phone calls and such? We have a lawyer and he is more than willing to make the calls for us, we have just held back with going that far. I'm always afraid we will make Chase mad and they will no approve us, or will foreclose or something. Kind of walking on eggshells here. So I'm curious to know how big of a role your lawyer played throughout the process.

Congrats again! I hope it all continues to go smoothly from here on out.

[Marie T]

Hi Joanna,

You have brought a ray of hope here!

Congratulations as that sounds like a great restructure! Did you decide to use an attorney just to help with the stress? I have decided to go down that road too even though I have also enlisted NACA to help. I believe in NACA but I think they are so overwhelmed right now that I am afraid to totally count on them. We sure can't afford an attorney but I do have a bait and switch loan so I think using one makes sense from that viewpoint.

It is odd too that they would lower your payment when you already showed you could pay the higher amount but, that's Chase for you ...not necessarily operating from common sense!

[JoannaOregon]

Chanly - The final will come. You may get it quicker if you keep calling them, but regardless their will be some resolve for you. I have no longer been calling Chase. I have turned that over to the attorney I retained. I know it sounds petty, but I could no longer deal with it. All information I have received has been from the law firm or from Chase mailing me documents. I did happen to call Wednesday to verify my Sept 1 forbearance payment had been received and that is when (in a good mood) happened to ask - low and behold, karma, I had an answer and a Fedex the following day. Paperwork has come from my attorney to Chase. I submit any docs that Chase asks for to the attorney and they upload them to Chases system. The only thing I have sent is every month since my initial packet, I send updated bank statements and pay stubs to my attorney. They deal with Chase on what they need. I hope this is coming to an end soon as well - not just for me, but for everyone.

Hard Times - Long process my friends and you have been in this longer than I. So sorry! Yes, they got us to 31% of our gross monthly income. I never was notified that it was sent to underwriting. By the time it was, I was out of the loop and my attorney was working with Chase. Sorry I don't have an answer there. I did have to wait for the package.... only one day though. They would not even tell my attorney - odd, but fine. No, we never had 3 times our original mortgage payment in our bank account. That would have been $12,000. Yes, we have had 3 times the modified mortgage payment in our bank accounts and that would be $6,300. No, I never ran our number via NVP. However the attorney we are wok ring with ran our numbers when we first contacted them to see if we even fit the criteria for a mod and they said we did. Hold on my friend... I know this is painful!!!

Rachel - Yes, once the lawyer was involved in March, I no longer had any phone contact with Chase until I happened to call this week to verify my Sept 1 forbearance payment was received. The attorney has handled it all and to be honest, I think we got a better response with having representation. Still been 9 months, but they have seemed to move since the attorney came in the picture in March. Thanks for the congrats - I hope you have a better situation than I have had with Chase, BUT I must say that things are looking up.

Marie - I was hoping to bring a ray of hope! Things have been so bleak! I decided to use an attorney after I had dealt almost 3 months with Chase and we were coming up on missing our 5th mortgage payment. I was scare to death of foreclosure and desperately wanted to stay in our home. I really felt at that point that I needed professional help.

I really think no one at Chase was really looking at my information when they lowered this two month trial payment $600 less that what we had been making with the forbearance agreement.... meaning no one at Chase caught the "no brainer" either, but that is okay. We certainly can make that payment and are happy to make it as it is less than what we were even thinking it would be.

Bottom line is that I am thankful to Chase. They are helping us now in this while the economy stinks and my household has taken a drastic pay cut. BUT I do that will not last forever. Our employment situation will improve even if it takes a few years and at that point, we should be left with a smoking loan that we know we will be able to make in good times and in bad.

APOLOGIZE ON TYPOS - I wanted to get this back to you all tonight and my fingers are spinning!

[Marie T]

Thanks Joanna for answering our questions! My next question was going to be how did you pick your attorney but I went through your back posts and saw that you used Fransen & Molinaro, on this forum and it looks like they did a great job for you.

Have a great weekend...I will have a better weekend just knowing from your story I have a little more hope now!

[JoannaOregon]

Thank you Marie and you too. If I could change anything in the past nine months.... I wish I had not stressed about the whole thing as much as I had. Easy to say now and I totally understand how this takes over your life - how it took over mine.

As much as I just want this done, I understand that nonsense process and will follow the tracks that are infront of me... dotting my i's and crossing my t's. As much as I hate it and would rather have rebelled, I am glad that I did not and just went along with the twisted process even when it did not make sense.

I am not done and not holding my breath, but feel confident that the horizon is out there... may take more than the two months Chase said and I am okay with that now.

[rachel_p]

[Hard Times]

Johanna......thanks for responding so well to all of our comments......I sure hope I can someday soon post positive news too.

I sometimes wonder.....why even mow the grass? why keep my home in great shape and make those small needed repairs? Where will I store the tons of stuff I own if I have to pack up and move. Where to move to? Sometimes the stress of losing my home is unbearable, and a year of these thoughts takes its toll.

[rachel_p]

Hard Times, I feel where you're coming from. As a homemaker (with no job outside of the home...) my home is my outlet. I feel like I'm going crazy...I don't want to decorate for fall *just in case we have to leave*, I don't want to start any projects, or work on those that have been started already *just in case we have to leave*.

I've read on here of people that have been doing this for 22 months. I can't even imagine. The only break from stress I've felt over the weeks is when I'm sleeping. As soon as my eyes open in the morning I'm right back at stressing this.

[Hard Times]

Rachel....Yes, I can absolutely understand what you mean. When sleeping (and not dreaming about mortgage issues or moving to an apartment), I can leave this stressful world and enter worlds unencumbered with mortgage issues. But, upon awakening, it is there again....like a dull headache which sometimes turns into a migrane upon more mortgage negative news.

[JoannaOregon]

Just wanted to update... I returned all the paperwork to Chase and I made my first payment at the modification payment amount. (It was so nice to make a payment and actually mail it... not Western Union.) I did use a bank cashier check though. That is one down.... Waiting to see what happens now.

[Chased around and around]

Congrats, I hope everything they have said comes true. First good story I have heard about chase, please keep us updated...

[SwillerAlesbane]

Did you read the fine print? Is it a recourse loan?

It figures you had to hire one of their own to get anything accomplished. Sad.

[BudgetCutsinOC]

Originally Posted by JoannaOregon

Just wanted to update... I returned all the paperwork to Chase and I made my first payment at the modification payment amount. (It was so nice to make a payment and actually mail it... not Western Union.) I did use a bank cashier check though. That is one down.... Waiting to see what happens now.

So do you have a perm LOAN MOD, ? If not permanent then Chase is probably stringing you along. I cant believe they asked you for a "good faith" lump sum! What a joke The good faith was you paying the trial payment. Be careful.

[SBBLUEWATER1]

Joanna,
Did you sign docs for a permanent mod or just the trial mod? I have not heard of any Chase people getting permanent MHA mod docs. You would be one of the first.

[Shelly17]

Joanna,
Great news!! Congrats.
If you don't mind can you tell us what your new interest rate is. And is that for the life of the loan? 30 or 40 years. Or does it change in 5 years?

Thanks,
Shelly

[Chased around and around]

Originally Posted by BudgetCutsinOC

So do you have a perm LOAN MOD, ? If not permanent then Chase is probably stringing you along. I cant believe they asked you for a "good faith" lump sum! What a joke The good faith was you paying the trial payment. Be careful.

No she said, "They are not asking for any of the missed back payments or a good faith lump sum payment".

Some borrowers were asked to pay lump sums, but not in Joanna's case from what she posted...

[Hard Times]

Good luck to everyone else. I was laid off, so no income now to qualify for the Hamp. Gonna try to sell my home while looking for a job.

So Chase won at their game.....they stalled me so long until I no longer qualify.

Guess its time to move on.

[BobandArlyn]

Originally Posted by Hard Times

Good luck to everyone else. I was laid off, so no income now to qualify for the Hamp. Gonna try to sell my home while looking for a job.

So Chase won at their game.....they stalled me so long until I no longer qualify.

Guess its time to move on.

Hard Times, I'm so sorry to read your post. I know there are no words to make it better for you right. Very beest of luck on your next moves. Please let us know how you are doing and any progress on any of your endeavors. Don't be a stranger. You've made friends here I'm sure. Take care.

BobandArlyn

[famlena]

Hardtimes,

Sorry to hear about your situation. I just received my denial letter from Chase today. I'm so very disappointed but had the feeling something like this was going to happen to me too after reading about others being denied. Chase said I did not qualify for the HAMP or any other programs due to "Insufficient Income". This is after I've already made 5 trial payments to them. I truely believe now that they are just stringing everyone along. It gave them enough time to proceed with the foreclosure.

I highly doubt any perm mods were offered. i recommend people should just save their money. I feel like I've been throwing away 5 months worth of money that I could of saved to move.

[salvega530]

Famlena, was your mortgage from wamu and converted to Chase?