Wading through the Chase modification process

[jon604]

Hello everyone, I've been reading this forum for several days now and am very happy to find a group of people that are working towards the same goal as I am. Unfortunately, it seems I'm not the only one having a difficult time accomplishing a loan modification with Chase.

Here's my story -

I first contacted Chase back in May to start the loan modification process. I was only behind for the month of May when I first called. Surprisingly, they put me directly into a loan modification trial program. I went through the phone screening, they said I pre-qualified, and told me I was to expect the paperwork and documentation in the mail within 15 days. That documentation never came. I called back and they asked me to make the trial modification payments. After many calls and lots of confusion, I finished the 3 trial modification payments - the last one was August. Still no trial modification paperwork.

I called Chase last week to check on my status and I was told my case was denied back in May for some reason and we had to restart the process!!! This made no sense to me at all. I went through the process with that person to pre-qualify again for the trial modification and was told I should receive paperwork within 15 days.

Right away, I called back to speak with someone else. I told this person what had happened and asked to get a refund of the money I paid into the previous trial modification program. Since it hadn't been applied to my account and it wasn't going to be used for the trial modification, I wanted it back! A couple transfers later, I hear that I was not rejected and my case was available for an agent to actively pursue and they asked me to resubmit all of my paperwork. The representative then asked me to continue making the trial modification payments. I refused and said that without paperwork I should have received, signed, and returned months ago, I won't be making any payments. They said I should have paperwork within 5 days. Now I'm waiting...

I'm going to call back this afternoon to see where I stand and find out if my case is progressing.

Has anyone had a similar experience? At this point, I'm 4 months past due, have completed 3 trial mod payments, and have refused to make more payments without the proper documentation that I've been promised. Where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance and I will keep you updated

[Evan Bedard]

Hi jon604 welcome and thank you for joining.

I'm going to call back this afternoon to see where I stand and find out if my case is progressing.

Has anyone had a similar experience? At this point, I'm 4 months past due, have completed 3 trial mod payments, and have refused to make more payments without the proper documentation that I've been promised. Where do I go from here?

I'm very sorry to hear they tricked you into making trial payments without recieving the documentation for the agreement. No modification, whether its permanent or a trial period is valid until the homeowner recieves the paperwork, signs, and sends it back to their lender. Do not agree on anything until you first see it in writing. Hopefully they will fix your case because of their mistake.

Stay strong and keep us posted!

[SBBLUEWATER1]

I would not do anything until you get the trial mod paperwork from Chase. Chances are you will have to kiss the prior payments goodbye unless you get lucky and can convince Chase that they should be applied to your trail mod program and therefore you should now be considered for a permanent mod. Based on the posts on this forum the chances of that happening are pretty slim. Be prepared for delay after delay and keep all of your documentation like tax returns and pay stubs readily available as you will probably have to send them in to Chase over and over again. It is a very long process that so far has not yielded many positive results. We all have our fingers crossed that Chase will actually step up to the plate and do the right thing but so far the posts on this forum and others do not support this expected conclusion. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

[Evan Bedard]

Thank you very much sbbluewater we appreciate your input

[jon604]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

After my first post I called Chase back and went through several representatives until I found one that seemed willing to help. This person transferred me to another person that gave me more honest info than I've been able to get in the last 5 months and took about an hour out of their afternoon to talk to me.

It turns out I was purposely misled the last few months by all Chase representatives I spoke to. I was denied within 24 hours of the trial mod application back in May and the bank kept pushing those trial mod payments and misrepresented my acceptance into the program. These facts have been noted on my account and I hope will help give me some leverage moving forward.

There was unfortunately no reason noted as to why I was denied initially, but it seems like the process has been restarted and I'm on track to receive documentation and get the trial mod started. Of course this time around, I won't be making any payments until all the paperwork is done.

Unfortunately, it's likely the 3 payments I did make won't be applied to the "official" trial modification.

I guess this process is going to drag on for a long long time. Hopefully there will be some light at the end of the tunnel. Has anyone been able to finish a mod with Chase?

[pebblewriter]

Has anyone actually made all three trial mod payments and been subsequently approved for an actual modification? After 7 months of trying, Chase (orig with WAMU) finally granted me a forbearance/trial mod. But, in my agreement, they made no promises to ultimately grant a modification. This, of course, differed from the promises received over the phone. I'm about to make my third payment, fully aware of the possibility that I've been had. Anyone been to the other side yet?

[franklyspeaking]

Pebble,I"m just starting what you tried to start 7 months ago. Waiting on paperwork but it turns out the Ohio center is closed till October 1st for "restructureing" and "catchup" . Apparantly they are trying to put the left hand next to the right so they can tell each other whats going on. Not sure if thats who is handling your paperwork but if they are they are not doing much till October 1st but supposedly will allow them to catch up. I'll update here as I get closer to where you are.

[pebblewriter]

My office was in LA (Chatsworth.) I haven't heard either way about changes in this office. Had an interesting chat with the servicer of our second, though. This guy at Morgan Stanley said that most of the big banks have no intention of offering permanent mods. They're only offering the trial mods to earn the $1,000 from the gov't. I later spoke with a modification "consultant" who confirmed he's yet to have a WAMU/Chase loan go to permanent mod after making 3 trial payments. Anyone else out there have any luck? Are they just playing us? If this is true, seems like they are negotiating in bad faith - which is a legal no-no, at least in California.

[Marie T]

I think negotiating in bad faith is a legal no-no everywhere! Who is going to enforce it though? I have some huge issues with TILA and RESPA violations in my loan and when I called the department in Washington that oversees that, I was told I can file a "complaint" but the laws really don't have any teeth.

[caldwellb02]

Another reason to mobilize. and another and another.