Also posted at bottom of page full court document in PDF format.
From the Urban Justice Center
For Immediate Release, Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Contact: Anna Deknatel, (646) 200-5311, BerlinRosen Public Affairs
JP MORGAN CHASE ILLEGALLY DENYING HOMEOWNERS FORECLOSURE RELIEF
NYC Homeowners Sue Chase for Unexplained Delays & Denials of Permanent Modifications under Federal Program, Including after Months of ?Trial Payments?
Latest in Wave of Lawsuits across the U.S. against Banks for Violating ?HAMP?
New York ? Today three homeowners from Queens, New York City?s foreclosure epicenter, joined with attorneys from the Urban Justice Center to announce a lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase Bank for illegally delaying and denying their applications for permanent foreclosure relief under the federal ?Home Affordable Modification Program? (HAMP).
The lawsuit charges Chase with breach of contract for violating HAMP requirements, often without providing timely or sufficient information to the homeowners. Under HAMP, servicers are required to provide permanent modifications to all eligible homeowners who complete three months of trial payments and verify their income.
?Chase has collected months of on-time payments from these homeowners? and surely many like them across around the country? with seemingly no intention of giving them real relief through permanent modifications on their loans,? said Carmela Huang, an attorney at the Urban Justice Center, which filed the complaint.
The homeowners are suing for an injunction to force the bank to modify their loans, an end to their foreclosures, and damages.
?Chase must end their endless tactics to dodge providing foreclosure aid to eligible homeowners, as required by the federal government,? Harvey Epstein, an attorney and Project Director at the Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center.
One Queens Village homeowner, Shanaz Begum, has made trial modification payments of $1576 on time for eight months. Begum bought her home in 2005, where she lives with her husband and two sons, but fell behind on mortgage payments in September of 2008 after losing a previous job as a manager of a retail business. Chase did not offer Begum a trial modification until July 2009, the same month she was served with a foreclosure summons.
Chase claims their consistent income is suddenly inadequate? even though Begum met Chase?s demands for documentation, beyond HAMP requirements, of her husband?s cash income from taxi driving. Begum now works as a clerical assistant at the Department of Transportation on weekdays, and on weekends as a server at Boston Market.
?We made the three trial modification payments, and then didn?t hear a peep from Chase until December; then, abruptly, they said our income wasn?t enough, even though it hasn?t changed,? said Begum. ?Chase has completely lacked any transparency and has been staggeringly unresponsive? leaving us in the lurch for months. They have demanded spurious documents and claimed they lost others. Our son is headed to college in the fall. We don?t know how to afford those bills too with the possibility of losing our home still looming.?
Chase has also failed to provide a permanent modification to Tamara Williams, who lives in Jamaica, Queens with her two sons, despite three on-time trial modification payments of $1,274 this winter.
Williams bought her house in December of 2005 though a subprime, interest-only loan fraudulently marketed to her by a rental broker. Able to make payments until the summer of 2008, she fell behind when she lost her job in November of 2008, and went into foreclosure in March of last year. She now works doing post-renovation and demolition cleanup for Interior Quality Renovations and also attends school.
?The Obama administration?s program was supposed to give people like me a lifeline and a chance to save our homes, but if the banks won?t play by the rules, what else are we supposed to do?,? asked Williams.
The lawsuit also includes charges of fraud against Chase because the bank instructed homeowner Alex Lam, of Fresh Meadows, Queens, to deliberately miss mortgage payments in order to become eligible for a modification. Lam bought his house in 2002, and refinanced in 2005. In 2009, he was told he did not qualify for a modification because he was current on his payments. On the bank?s advice, Lam skipped payments in February and March of 2009. To this day, those are the only payments he has missed. He now faces foreclosure.
?I may lose my home and my credit is damaged because I believed what the bank told me,? said Lam. ?I held out for the HAMP modification because the terms are better. But the months I spent waiting for Chase to follow through on their promises mean I may have lost any chance to get help by refinancing somewhere else.?
Modifications under HAMP reduce mortgage payments to 31% of the homeowners? income, by reducing the interest rate, extending the term of the loan, or adjusting monthly payments. Chase has reported Begum, Lam, and Williams as ?delinquent? to credit reporting agencies, harming their ability to secure other foreclosure relief.
Chase put Lam in a trial modification last year, and then refused to make it permanent. Chase has since denied Lam a HAMP modification because of the remaining value in his house, though they will not share their calculations. HAMP requires servicers to offer trial modifications, as long as the value of modifying the loan would be more than the value of foreclosing, as determined by a ?Net Present Value? test.
?Chase has misled these homeowners, plain and simple,? added Ted De Barbieri, an attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Urban Justice Center. ?Unfortunately, they?re not alone? that?s why we?ve seen a recent spate of homeowners suing banks for not complying with HAMP around the country, including in California, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Washington State. These homeowners have done their part and now the banks must live up to their end of the bargain.?
The lawsuit was filed Eastern District Federal Court in Brooklyn this morning. The full complaint is available on request.
50353-Final Chase complaint.pdf
http://chasehomefinancesucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/50353-Final-Chase-complaint3.pdf
10 comments
1 ping
Liz Brauer
December 27, 2010 at 4:07 pm (UTC -7)
I am beginning to collect data for a class action lawsuit. I am not a lawyer, but have some contract\real estate law under my belt (some JD program plus my own research\experience). Oh yeah, and I have played the part of a primary plaintiff on another class action lawsuit. Let’s give it a try!
Is anyone aware of an update to this case? (Begum et al v JP Morgan Chase). Just curious…I don’t have access to NY Sup cases right now.
Also, if you are aware of other similar cases (or class action suits already in preparation), please reply. I need to sift, sift, sift for the potential causes of action as well as defining the class.
Any help is appreciated.
TIA!
d. f.
January 18, 2011 at 4:43 pm (UTC -7)
Same fucking story as everyone else. Chase is dishonest, lying, POS, and violating so many consumer protection laws that it is crazy. I want to sue. Write me @ “[email protected]”. They are now wanting to foreclose and denying my loan modification when we easily meet the requirements.
Angel49040
February 18, 2011 at 9:43 am (UTC -7)
They really suck, don’t they…Husband and I fell behind a few months of payments due to a job loss a year and a half ago…..was threatened with foreclosure and proceeded with modification program to help catch up. First we were told not to make payments while going through the process, then found that was a mistake…constantly recieving wrong info. from Chase every time my husband had spoke to them..always following their rules. So never theless, we were told the modification would go through and the payments would be tacked to the back of the loan. The next week we were sent a letter of denial. We have been up and down with chase now for a year and a half and nothing has changed…every 2 months, we send in all the paperwork…a week later they always call and somehow lose paperwor that we have faxed….like clockwork!!!!! They won’t accept any payments because we’re in foreclosure…but how do we get out? They’ve also told us that we can’t pay up what we owe without the legal fees being paid, but refuse to tell us what that is…we’ve called the attorneys and they can’t give us that info. either!!??!! I feel that this is a scam and we are in need of some help. I feel that we’ve been dug into a larger hole than what we began and was fed misinformation to make it harder to qualify for home mod..for some reason they don’t plan on giving us this mod. I feel as though they’re just trying to make it look good on paper…they don’t really want to bother!!!
Charles
January 19, 2011 at 2:43 pm (UTC -7)
Chase informed me a week ago that my re-mod request was denied because I was unemployed. I am and have been on the same job for the past 23 years. Today I received a never requested “unemployment program” package they said I requested. It is for a3 mth forbearance to get another job. They obviously steered me to this department, falsely claiming I lost my job, because they will loose nothing, as opposed to lowering my interest rate. I absolutely meet the HAMP requirements, have never been late save last month, because my household now has less income.; But if even I was unemployed, what the hell will 3 months forbearance do for me, but push me in further debt? Who can find another job in this economy? This is a farce and our government does nothing for us. Everything is for the banks.
Charles
January 19, 2011 at 2:50 pm (UTC -7)
Chase informed me a week ago that my re-mod request was denied because I was unemployed. I am and have been on the same job for the past 23 years. Today I received a never requested “unemployment program” package that they said I requested. It is for a 3 mth forbearance to get another job. They obviously steered me to this department, falsely claiming I lost my job, because they will loose nothing, as opposed to lowering my interest rate thru re-modification. I passed their test for and absolutely meet the HAMP requirements, have never been late on my mortgage save last month, because my household now has less income.; But if even I was unemployed, what the hell will 3 months forbearance do for me, but push me in further debt? Who can find another job in this economy? This is a farce and our government does nothing for us. Everything is for the banks.
Alicia
April 11, 2011 at 8:20 am (UTC -7)
We have been through the exact same thing. We would love to join in on a class action lawsuite. Please call 540-382-3031 or email [email protected]. Thanks!
Yvette
June 20, 2011 at 5:53 pm (UTC -7)
I am having the exact same problem I also want to be part of the class action suit. em me at [email protected]
Mary R Jones
July 11, 2011 at 8:54 am (UTC -7)
Same as everyone else, but I got a permenent mod that said terms were nego. When I called to inquire, they did not return my call. When I used the customer service number, the voice mail system would say the office was closed when it was clearly open. If I put in a false SS# or loan number I could get through.
I was told that I got the best offer avail and the rep stood firm and said I was at faul and that I would not get an ajustment of the terms.
Natasha
July 27, 2011 at 3:05 pm (UTC -7)
Chase did this to me and my husband. I’m trying to modify my loan since 2009. They either claiming that we are making too much or too little to qualify.
I would like to join any groups against Chase. My email [email protected]
owen
August 2, 2011 at 6:40 am (UTC -7)
we have tried for months to get a modification from chase after i was laid off.they are in the jerking-off business.After several months we were notified from a chase rep. that someone else was attached to our mortgage they sent us the names, address and the name of the title insurance co. that was attached to our mortgage,saying it was a mistake.Mean while we fall farther behind because of their mistake and they just wait to foreclose. Wish we never bailed them out
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