Do I Even Stand a Chance With CHASE?

[G_Sup]

First I would like to say thanks to the people that created these forums! I found exactly what I was looking for! I like others am going through some serious hardships. I am a small business owner who over the past year and a half has seen a decent income dwindle to just being able to pay the bills. I have borrowed thousands of dollars via credit cards to pay off the mortgage and property taxes when the months were really slow. I honestly thought this "slow" period would be temporary but we are going into the slowest months of the year for my business and I'm just now relizing that I'm tapped. After making this months payment I will seriously be left with a few dollars in my bank account with little relief in site. Thanks to this site I am slowly learning of some options out there. I'm also learning that my lender (Chase) appears to be the worst one to be with when it comes to help.

My situation is as follows: I am married. We have a $780,000.00 balance on a fixed 5.625% interest only loan which is good for another 5 years which puts our monthly payment at $3,600.00 not including the $700 per month we save for the property taxes My wife has a decent job making roughly $40K a year although her $6k in bonus have been erased. Her bonuses are what helped pay the property tax. My $80K average income has been reduced by 50% over the past year and a half and as I earlier stated, my credit cards are getting out of hand. After reading the forums I found out about the HAMP(?) plan which gave me hope until I read that those with a balance of over $720,000 are not applicable.

So the question is, will Chase even consider us since we do not fall under the HAMP guidelines or are we pretty much screwed? At this point we are living for this house and it really isn't the way to live. We have already lost $200,000 (Our life savings that we put down on the house). Is there anybody out there that is in a similar situation that has any success with Chase. I have worked a lifetime to build near perfect credit, but when it comes down to food to live or a mortgage payment on a house that has depriciated over $300,000 in three years, the answer is pretty simple. From others experiences on these forums it appears they are helping some but I have yet to run into an interest only loan modification situation such as mine. (maybe I'm not looking in the right forums?)
Thanks so much!

[caldwellb02]

Hi and welcome. Chase is a very tough bank to work with, but they do have other loan modification programs that are not Hamp. Sometimes someone gets a surprise mod. So I would say that if you haven't applied, do so. In your letter be clear on your hardship, and your realization that you don't fall under HAMP but would they consider you for a different in-house mod. It doesn't hurt to try.

[booggs28]

Welcome: have you looked into the Hope for Homeowners in the slight chance that you could refinance?


The HOPE for Homeowners program will refinance mortgages for borrowers who are having difficulty making their payments, but can afford a new loan insured by HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Call 1 (800) 225-5342 for more information.

	Press Release
	For participating lenders

I don't know if this will help but I and figuring any information that you may be able to gather and see what, if any options you have is not a futile attempt.

[G_Sup]

Thank you both so much for the info and inspiration!!! Looks like Hope won't workout from what I can see... "The loan amount may not exceed a maximum of $550,440"