Consumer complaint received 2019-07-23
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: NJ
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: FHA mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, we stopped paying our mortgage due to an aging parent experiencing a life threatening illness. I had to leave my employment and rush down to Florida for a few weeks, which unfortunately turned into a few months to assist my ailing parent. During this time, we solely survived on my wife 's XXXX   salary. We fell behind on all of our bills during this time. When I returned in late XX/XX/XXXX, my job was no longer available to me. I was unemployed as a full time XXXX. I worked as a seasonal/part time travel XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX at the time because it was the fastest way to put food on the table for my family. I did not have enough hours to claim unemployment from my XXXX employer. In XX/XX/XXXX we were served the summons /complaint for a foreclosure from Chase 's attorney. 
I kept actively job searching for full time employment and on XX/XX/XXXX I acquired a full time XXXX position. On XX/XX/XXXX, we immediately sent in the loan modification application with my new income and my wife 's XXXX salary. We knew applying for a loan mod would also put a temporary hold on the foreclosure process. On XX/XX/XXXX we received the denial letter for loan modification for reasons of insufficient income which at the time was {$6100.00} gross monthly jointly. This is when we went for immediate housing counseling advice and I started searching for a higher income employment to give us a better chance to save our home and be eligible. I set out to find a higher paying position in the tri-sate area and got one. I re-entered a field that I had left 10 years ago due to excessive long hours and no time for my family. I had no other choice in order to make more income and try to reapply for a loan mod. 

In late XX/XX/XXXX, I officially acquired a full time position in the field of XXXX at an entry level, but still this was an increase from my previous employment. I'm currently making gross biweekly salary of {$1600.00} and net XXXX. My wife makes gross biweekly XXXX and net XXXX. This time our joint gross income was {$8500.00} per month. We reapplied for a loan modification on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX this is once I had 2 consecutive pay-stubs from my new employer which Chase mortgage lender strictly required. 

We waited for 6 weeks before Chase contacted us. It was not a decision, it was about sending a new loan mod application with present date because the last application date had expired. We faxed it again on XX/XX/XXXX with the date updated. We were confused because we had sent pay stubs required with our application the first time in XXXX and those were acceptable. Then shortly after, they requested the most recent pay stubs from my wife because those had also expired. This process took much longer than ever, and we kept falling deeper into arrears in the meantime. 

Finally on XX/XX/XXXX, we received a 6 page denial letter with 3 pages of Net present value/eligibility data from Chase dated XX/XX/XXXX. To our surprise, we were denied all mortgage assistance options to keep OR Sell our home. This also mentioned on 4th page that we had until XX/XX/XXXX to appeal their decision. We read this letter several times to find the actual reasons why all the options of our application were denied. We could not find any sort of explanation. As a result of this, we sent an electronic appeal to chase on XX/XX/XXXX after consulting with our housing counselor from XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
At the present time, we have not heard back from Chase with a reply concerning our appeal. All they have said in the last few weeks when we have attempted to call is that our foreclosure has been put on hold in the meantime while they review our appeal. We received a letter that this process will be determined by end of XXXX, but with their track record of lagging we aren't sure we should just wait around. We are now 15 months in arrears with a total of {$45000.00} we fell behind. We have no way to pay that back in a lump sum, but we can afford a repayment plan on top of our normal {$2500.00} mortgage payment.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation