Chase Modification Success!!!!

[AACPA]

I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to find the right person/department within Chase Financial to try and find out if I can renegotiate the terms of my ARM. My mortgage is due to adjust on Jan 1st and I will not be able to afford the $500 addition to my current payment once it adjusts from 6.75 to almost 10%. Whenever I call I get the run-around and find myself either being transferred from one person to the next or just plain hung-up on. I just recently dug myself out of a 90 day late payment where I had to come up with almost $5,000 in 3 weeks time to avoid the beginning of foreclosure proceedings (no easy task being a singe mom of 4).

When I took out the loan on my home the loan broker said it wouldn't be a problem as I could just refinance before the loan adjusted. That would have been just fine had the sub-prime mortgage bubble not burst. Being a self-employed single mother of 4 with a credit score below the cut-off of 650 (thanks to my ex-husband who left me with his debts and no child support) has put me in the position of not being able to refinance as no lender is going to touch me with a ten-foot pole. Don't get me wrong, I knew what I was getting into with this loan, but honestly thought I'd be making more money than what I am currently and wrongly assumed that my credit score would be higher as well.

Any help on how to deal with Chase would be appreciated. My calls and emails to NACA and to ACORN have gone unanswered.

[Moe Bedard]

Thanks for sharing your story and I will do EVERYTHING in my power to assist you and help you stop foreclosure. Chase is very difficult to deal with and I have many of the same problems that you are having. I often get hung up on also and get sent to never, never land. You just have to be very patient and know going in, that it will be this way, with just about any lender.

Here is the income and expense sheet for Chase and you will need this when dealing with their loss mitigation department.
Click here http://www.chase.com/cm/chf/alternat...nt/HOAForm.pdf

Here is some contacts for Chase and I hope it gets you somewhere.
Chase
Robert Harris
614-422-3656 or
800-848-9117 x3656


Chase 800-446-8939

I'm very interested to hear more about your calls being unanswered from Acorn and other non-profit housing counselors. I have yet to hear from any and my emails and calls have also gone unanswered. I created this forum as FREE website to connect homeowers with the right information to help them stop foreclosure and I promote non-profits as a tool that consumers can use for help. I even emailed evey non-profit in California and had one BS response. I encourage non-profits to post information to help people in their community on this forum because I am getting a tremndous amount of traffic, but that has fallen on deaf ears.

Remember that all phone call are documented and anything you say, can and will be used against you. It is always best to have a plan before you call and stick to it. Don't let them know everything on that first call in regards to what you can do financially. Do a lot of listening and thinking before you talk or respond as to make sure whatever you say will not damage your chanced to modify your loan. If you have $20,000 under your matress, tell them you have $20k, maybe say "$10,000 max". They may counte back and say," Can you get $13,000"? You just saved yourself $7 grand for a rainy day.

You are negotiating and you need to put your negotiating hat on when trying to get a loan modification .

Best of Luck to You!!!!!!

[AACPA]

I called Chase and was told that they now have a loan modification program set up for people with ARM's that have reset to unaffordable payments. The number I was given for this department is 1-866-665-7629 and the hours of operation are Mon-Thur 11am-9pm and Fri 9am to 9pm.


The person I spoke to seemed knowledgable and helpful. She did say that as far as she knew that the loan modification department would only begin to work with you once your ARM had reset and you were showing difficulty in making the new payments. It is too early to call them (its only 10:16am here) so I will post again once I have called and spoken to someone in that department to keep everyone updated.

Thank you!

[Moe Bedard]

Awesome news! Yes, Chase loss mitigation has been stepping up efforts big time lately and it looks like they are following throught with their promise to work with borrowers and modify their loans.

Who gave you that number? Was it Robert Harris? Anyways, the point is that you got to the right department and your talking to the right person, so that is a milestone in itself compared to where you were at just this last week

That has been my experience also with lenders only willing to work with homeowners who are late or can show that they can't make the new payments. Hopefully soon they will work with borrowers who's payments have not adjusted but can show they can't make the payment. This way they can get a loan modification before it affects their credit.

[AACPA]

From what I've read here and online, the fact that I have a bit of equity in my home is going to work against me in trying to get a loan modification on my ARM? Is this really true?

I have about $60,000 to $80,000 of equity in my home and an ARM about to reset on Feb. 1st bringing my mortage payment from $1500 to about $2200 a month, which like everyone else in this boat, I will not be able to afford. I'd love to sell the house and move to another one using the equity as a downpayment and getting myself out of this loan all together. My problem is that I am a self-employed business owner (9 yrs now) and my credit score took a good hit this past spring when I was unable to make my mortgage payment on time, causing 1 60 day and 2 30 day late payments to appear on my credit. So even with an $60,000 down payment on a $200,000 house, I can't get a mortgage due to the tightened lending rules, especially since I'm self-employed. Renting is not an option, I've got 4 children and no landlord in his right mind is going to rent to me with kids and a crappy credit score.

This really stinks and of course Bush's new plan excludes me. Don't know what I am going to do.

[evel1999]

I would try for a Loan Modification and just see what does happen.

[Moe Bedard]

Sorry, I have been missing some posts in here lately.

It all depends on your servicer and investor. Also your loan to value. If you have a home worth $200,000 and $80,000 equity and a loan balance of $120,000. Then you would be at 60% loan to value and they may feel that you can be eligible for financing with a hard money loan and if you cannot do that then yes, they will take your property.

Their job is to mitigate loss to them. Plain and simple. They look at a situation and analyze where they will come out the best and whatever that is they will 999 times out of a 1000 do.

They are debt collectors and they (the servicers) are under contract to mitigate the loss to investors and not homeowners.

[AACPA]

I have finally been able to speak to a LIVE person in the loan modification department over at Chase. I was given a list of things to fax over including my hardship letter.

Since I have no paystubs being that I am self-employed I was told to fax them two bankstatements and two years worth of tax returns. I am concerned though because my tax returns are not a good representation of my actual income. My tax returns show a much lower income than what I actually have coming in due to being able to "write-off" many business items. My bank statements will show about $4500 a month but my tax returns will only show about $1300 a month of income. Is there anyway I can get out of giving Chase my tax returns? My original mortgage was a stated income loan.

Help!!!

[Moe Bedard]

Hi AACPA,
I am also working on a modification with Chase and I am self employed too. I don't want to curse it, but so far things are going pretty smoothly and I have had very nice understanding people to deal with......(I am keeping my fingers crossed it will continue)
I explained to them up front that my tax returns show no income either and my contact told me that all he would need is my 1099 from 2006 and I gave him my earning detail from my company for 2007 and 12 months of bank statements which coincide with the income on my 1099's. That is all.......and I just got a phone call from the supervisor letting me know that what I gave was good and that he will be working on the modification.

[AACPA]

Thanks for your reply! I sent them 18 months worth of bank statements since I could not reach the person my case has been assigned to. I hope that will be enough. I did NOT send my tax returns. I have been calling and calling all day trying to get a hold of my "case worker"..but she doesn't pick up her phone and all I get is her voice mail. I leave messages daily but I never get a call back. I would like at least a confirmation that she received my faxed information including the bank statements, hardship letter and my financial statement of income and expenses. My new higher payment will be due on 2/01 when my interest rate goes from 6.65% to almost 10% and I won't be able to pay it. I can make the original payment but not the higher one. I have exactly $200 each month left over after all the bills are paid. I have heard stories about Chase lowering the interest to 5% for the first 2 yrs of the modification and then leaving it at 6.5% for the remainder of the loan. I am hoping that I am able to get a deal like this but I'm not holding my breath. At this point, a return phone call would be nice though.

[Moe Bedard]

o.k. here is what I did for that................
Just call 1-888-311-2703 and don't hit the extension of your contact person, just wait until the call is transferred to a rep. When you get the rep, any rep will do, just be nice and ask them if you give them your loan number could they please look it up and make sure that your faxed information was received o.k. and is being looked over................they will tell you, and then you will know. I did that and 30 minutes later I received the call from the supervisor that is working on my modification. The people on this forum have been very helpful to me.........we even are fortunate enough to have an actual loss mitigater from Chase who has helped me alot by letting me know that these guys are working on 2-300 cases at a time and please just be patient. Chase's workouts can take up to 45 days and they do tell you that up front.
Hope this helps..................keep me posted.
***

[AACPA]

Believe it or not I was actually able to get my "worker" on the phone!!!! She was able to confirm that she had received my documents and told me that she would call me tomorrow if she needed anything else.

[Moe Bedard]

That is awesome.......................keep us posted!!
***

[Moe Bedard]

Sorry I didn't catch this earlier.

OK, the self employed dilemma can be tricky and lenders tend to take the stance that they know the self employed game well and they know business people may write off quite a bit.

They will really examine your bank statements and assets to make a judgment call on whether a. you can make the payment b. can afford resets or not c. if you can't, are they hiding cash?

It's really hit or miss and your truly know your own personal finances and how they would look to an outsider looking in. What does your finances and spending habits tell them about your cash flow situation. Remember they are underwriting your file for risk to them just like a new loan.

It seems like you both are making great progress and please keep us posted. I wish you the best and stay positive!

[AACPA]

AGGRRGGGHHH.........


I've been playing the loan modification game with Chase now since before Christmas. I gave them all my docs over a month ago and I call day after day and could never get through to my "worker" so I started calling the 1-800 # for the loss mitigation department. Last week I was told that that my account had "just" been received by them and to call back in a week. So I did and today I am told that they "just" received my account yesterday and to call back in 30 days. It seems like they just tell you anything to just get you off the phone. My loan just adjusted and my new payment is due Feb 1st. I told them I cannot make the new payment, I just do not have the money and again their response is "call back in 30 days"

Great...that's really helpful. What do I do now? I cannot afford the extra $500 now that my mortgage will go from $1500 to $2000. I am barely making the $1500 a month. Do I mail them Feb's payment at the old amount or will they just refuse to take it? I can pay the old amount I just can't pay the new adjusted amount and I'm not about to sit around for "30 days" waiting to see if my modification gets approved or not.

Put the money aside in your account, keep calling them, they can not put you in jail for the calls. You need to know, they need to kinda let you know....also send them a QWR...there are reasons for this.

There are examples of the QWR on the site, make sure you request everything in your file including a Life of Loan Pay History. By everything I mean everything and include the appraisal, Final Lender HUD-1, Note, Deed of Trust, Riders, TIL, Assignments of the Deed of Trust, Right to Cancel if this was a refinance. All dislosures. Send it Certified Return Receipt Requested and send it 3 times that way...it will get attention and should find the right desk rather rapidly.

[Moe Bedard]

And with a "QWR" they cannot report you late or charge you late fees for 60 days while it is being resolved. This is a powerful weapon and we recommend this for a reason. So, give it a shot and see if that can speed things up for you.

[workinlossmit]

sorry about the wait.. but.. yeah. your gonna have to wait.. when we receive your docs (underwriter receives them.. he will make his recommendations.. gets signed off by the senior UW and then the inverstor then the docs are processed and then we say.. hey here's our recommendations.. do you agree? and if you do.. then you send the good faith dwn pmt and get the docs notarized and send them back to us separately) so yea.. it takes some time.. bad thing about you fella.. if you cant make the pmt while the loan is being processed for a mod.. then you will go into foreclosure.. where you assume atty fees and cost.. and dependin on the state your in.. west coast and mtn states avg about 2k and northeast about 3k and south and midwest 1500-2500. so thas the downsize.

hope this helps.. but you have to call in every other week. while your laon is being processed....

guess what moe... I MIGHT BE GETTIN PROMOTED SOON>>> BOOOYAH!

[AACPA]

I received a call from a gentleman who stated that he was with Chase and wanted me to contact him ASAP concerning my adjustable rate mortgage. He called me three times while I was at work today and left messages stating that it was "urgent" and that he only had my file until 3pm tomorrow (2/8) so that it was imperitive for me to call him back ASAP. I finally got a hold of this person tonight when I got home from work and he said that he was working in a new department that is being pro-active in getting homeowners out of their adjustable rate mortgage. I told him that I already had a file submitted for a loan modification. He then proceeded to tell me that it probably wouldn't help because the loss mitigation department was turning down more loan modifications than they were approving. I was told that anyone getting a loan modification through chase was slim at best. I don't know whether to believe him or not.

Anyway, he told me that he could get my rate lowered and into a fixed rate if 1. My income to debt ration was low enough, 2. if I have a credit score of 520 or better and 3. my home is worth more than what I owe on it.

Has anyone else heard of this? The number I had to call him back at was not a 1-800 number which I thought was odd.

Possible SCAMMER - please call Chase's HR department and alert them that you may have had a PHISHING attempt.

Do not give any information out without recalling the number to Chase and verifying that the party works there. This is real fishy.....smells to high heaven.

[Moe Bedard]

Yes, what does this number lead to? I would call and see what it is all about and by no means, hand over a penny. If it is legit, it will be free, and they will send you something verifying this.

The ARM unit that I know of is in Texas and San Diego Ca.

This is the first time I have heard of this and FYI, Chase in modifying more loans then any other lender that I know of.

[Moe Bedard]

Hi AACPA..........

Yeh what Moe says.......

By the way......how is your modification going........any news?

[AACPA]

It is a 614 exhange which is Ohio. Most likely a scam. I will find out more tomorrow.

No, ***....no news at all.

[Moe Bedard]

Did you do the QWR?
When was the last time you heard?

[AACPA]

Well I found out today that it is not a scam. After speaking with someone from Chase is sounds just like the Hope program. Of course as soon as they found out that I have 1 60 day late payment from last July I was told "sorry you don't qualify".......gee what a surprise. I was also told that according to their sources my house is worth $319,000. What a joke. If I could get that kind of money for this house I'd sell it in a heartbeat and move somewhere cheaper.