My Long Torturous Trek for Mortgage Mod with Chase

[dkathrens77]

Ah well...I'm guessing my story isn't so different from any other poor schlub who had the misfortune to have his "paper" sold to Chase Home Finance...but here goes.

I received notice back in June 2009 about the Sig Tarp program and the process of applying for a Mortgage Modification. I received a packaged in the US Postal Mail with all the forms, instructions, and an address to which I was instructed to mail my application.

I completed this and had it in the mail within one week. Time went by, and it got to be a month or more with no response. I was driving home from dropping my wife off at work (I am unemplyed currently) and I was listening to an NPR radio news article about a lady who had done just as I did (with some other bank), and had been denied a modification. Reason given "insufficient income". She felt and was proven to be correct in thinking this was a mistake.

She contacted some local TV news show and they "went to bat" for her with the bank. Apparently the threat of negative publicity got their attention in a BIG way.

This lady was quoted saying "I sent them the forms over and Over and OVER, and they kept LOSING THEM" (my emphasis)

This bank simply decided that since "she did not submit the required forms" they had "no choice" but to classify her as "below minimum requirements".

That made me decide to call up and find out what the status of my own request was. To my surprise, they not only told me that nothing had been done, but that they had no record of me even APPLYING.

I was asked "where did you get this paperwork?" I replied "Chase mailed it all to me." "Oh sir, we don't mail these forms...you have to download them from our website."

Then she asked me "Where did you send this paperwork?" I replied "To the address indicated in the accompanying instructions". I found my scanned photocopies and read the address to her and she said "I do not recognized that address."

She told me to go to their website and download the "official forms" and re submit, which I did. Having everything photocopied made this relatively simple to do. I faxed them to the number the phone agent gave me.

A few weeks later, I called back, and guess what? "You did not send us form A, or Form C or form F" I had in fact faxed them about 20 pages of stuff and had a transmittal confirmation to prove it.

But I sent them again anyway. A few weeks later? I was told they had only received three pages, (which upon further questioning turned out to be page 1, page 3 and page 20). "Oh, and page 3 was rejected because it didn't have your name and loan number on it anywhere." (I know damn well EVERY page had that info in the margin or across the top).

I reminded them that I had faxed the full set of documents at least 6 times already, and why, if they didnt' receive them, didn't they call me and tell me so? "Sir, we don't call you. It's up to YOU to call US."

Furthermore, there is no process of getting a case number, or anything to prove I even called them. In response to my questions, I was told "No, nothing in writing, no emails, and NO you can't tape the phone conversations. Are you taping now? If so, I'm going to hang up."

And about two months ago, I received a postal mail from some Foreclosure Counseling Service, telling me Chase had "paid for us to aid and assist you in preventing your imminent forclosore. Call us TODAY and start your Loan Modification Process".

What? I'm in the middle of that right now! I called them up and told them so.

Chase is apparently such a huge many headed monster that its many left hands don't have any clue what any of the other hands, left or right, are doing.

One valuable bit of info I got from this counseling agency (Chase couldn't tell me this, no, they had to pay someone ELSE to leak it.)

Your applications are only good for 60 days from official receipt. That's "OFFICIAL RECEIPT" as determined by Chase. You have no way to know if they have been recieived, or kept, unless YOU CALL and ask.

After 60 days of gathering dust on someone's desk, they become "outdated" and must be re-submitted. That's right, your last year's federal tax return (which never changes) is suddenly somehow inadmissible because they've been SITTING ON IT for 60 days. Start over. Your 4506-T, requesting a transcript of that non-changing tax return, is outdated too and must be resubmitted. Your hardship affadavit? Trash it and start over.

Crap, they even told me that my last paystubs were "too old". Well dammit, those are the last ones I got. "You should have told us that". And how was I supposed to know I 'should have told you that", hmmm? "You should have asked!" I'm serious, that's what the lady said.

Fellow abusees, I have faxed these documents about 12 times now. Chase and its associates have demonstrated a remarkable ability to lose random pages (never the same pages twice) and now its what? 10 months later?

In the month before Christmas Day, I received three written letters from a processing center right here in Denver (getting that information from Chase was like pulling teeth by the way) telling me in non-actionable weasel words ("we have not yet received all the documents necessary to evaluate your request for Loan Modification") that they had somehow managed to lose paperwork I had either faxed directly to that office or hand-carried there myself and gotten a written receipt for.

Each one of these letters followed within three days of another faxing or hand delivery of ALL documents, not simply the ones they said they never received.

And just last week, I got another one of these form letters, completely blank except for the boilerplate. In other words, the space below "Please send us the documents listed below immediately" was BLANK.

Three days ago I got a registered Postal mail from Chase (I had to sign for it) with the same brainless form letter they have sent me three or four times already in the mail. "WE NEED TO TALK. TODAY".

I've gottent to the point that I can't talk to these people without screaming. I had to mail them a letter authorizing them to discuss this with my wife.

The lady my wife spoke to told her that since we are "only three months behind on payments" we are "low priority". Well friends, I can FIX THAT...simply not going to send any more payments for a while until I become "high priority".

I"m going to end this novelette and to chew on some nails now.

[msndrstood]

dk- Welcome to the forum and well, welcome to the world of Chase...the never ending merry-go-round.

You will find lots of us on the forum that have gone through/are going through the same scenario that you are living right now. I, myself have faxed countless times 37 + pages of documents, have made 11 "trial" payments and I'm still waiting for that elusive permanent mod.

You may be denied, but the motto here could very well be, 'if denied, call back and talk to someone else, you will be approved'! Read through some of the stories, it will make your jaw drop with the incompetence and arrogance that people on this board have encountered while dealing with Chase.

On the other hand, some people at Chase can be very helpful, if you happen to get one of those folks...hold on to their number and extension for dear life because they are hard to come by.

I'm sure someone else will come along here soon and give you some good advice, mine is, always document date, time and person you talked to...and if you don't get an answer that makes sense or its one you don't like, simply hangup...and try again. Chances are...the answer will be totally different.

[I-LOVE-MOEBEDARD]

My advice is to echo msndrstood's. And also to start writing congressmen, senators, the occ, and anyone else you can think of. Many of these addresses/fax numbers are on the "contact information" sticky thread at the top of the Chase forum.

We are all in the same nightmare, but we are a smarter bunch now than we were a year ago and certainly smarter than when we got our mortgages. The sleeping giant that is the American Homeowner is waking up and we are NOT happy.

[msndrstood]

********-How could I forget papering everyone...I'm still in lala land.

It must be the snowmagedden.