Consumer complaint received 2019-12-15
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: MD
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, My mortgage has been bought and sold two times in the past three months. I received no notification other than an email from the purchaser each time. These emails went to my spam folder and I searched for any mortgage related information because I noticed that my automatic mortgage payment had not processed. In all cases, I set up automatic payments with the mortgage servicing company in good faith. In all cases I expect that my payments will be processed until I ( the consumer ) have been properly notified and onboarded to the new service company. 

This has not been the case. Neither time that my mortgage was sold was I notified appropriately. By this I mean I must receive notification in writing from the current owning institution that the mortgage has been sold, and I must receive notification in writing from the new mortgage owner with instructions regarding what I need to do to set up my payments. Then after I have been onboarded to the new service company, and only then, must my automatic payment be discontinued with the original company, e.g. the one selling the mortgage instrument. The discontinuation must only take place after the new mortgage payment arrangements with the new mortgage company have been established and verified, and I provide an acknowledgement to the selling institution that I wish to discontinue my payment arrangement with them. 

Current Situation and Historical Facts in This Matter : The original service company for my mortgage is " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' ( XXXX ). XXXX ; XXXX ; XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX I set up automatic payments with the XXXX institution when I bought my home in XX/XX/2019. On or about XX/XX/2019, XXXX sold my mortgage to XXXX XXXX   XXXX ( XXXX ). 

XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX   XXXX XXXX or call us at XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX I received no written notification of this new arrangement either from XXXX or XXXX. The only communique was an email that I came across by chance from XXXX. I contacted XXXX, was informed they had acquired the mortgage, and set up automated payments with XXXX. Payment was established XX/XX/2019. 

On or about XX/XX/2019, XXXX sold my mortgage to Chase.

Chase Mail code XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, LA XXXX www.chase.com Again, I received no written notification of this new arrangement either from XXXX or Chase. The only communique was an email that I came across by chance from Chase. I am in the process of contacting Chase to gather information and set up automatic payments. However, Chase is under the misconception that " you are two mortgage payments behind. '' Hence, in addition to my obligation to set up yet another automatic payment scheme, I am in the unfortunate situation of disabusing Chase of the notion that " I am behind '' in my payments. In fact, the previous company, XXXX, is negligent, and is the direct cause of this situation because they have failed in their duty to process my automatic payments. Apparently, XXXX, and XXXX, believe that they have no obligation to me to process my payments when they have washed their hands of the mortgage. Nothing could be further from the truth, because when these " mortgage servicing companies '' fail to pay as per our arrangement, then I, the consumer, am imperiled. This situation is unacceptable. 

Clearly something is wrong with this process, as the consumer is the last to know that the mortgage arrangement has changed. It is incomprehensible that the consumer, the individual most vulnerable and susceptible to damage, is left out of the process completely. The consumer is left out that is until it is time to pay the piper. Then the consumer is expected to heave ho and produce. This " responsibility '' so conceived exists weather or not the consumer has been informed or has enough knowledge to pay whichever servicing company is now the " owner '' of the loan. 

Therefore, it must be mandatory that these servicing companies contact the consumer and verify that consumer is aware of the developments regarding such an important credit instrument. The consumer must be made aware of developments regarding the consumer 's important loan. This contact must be established and verified before the new servicing company takes the lead on servicing any loan. The consumer must have awareness of the situation and this understanding must be verified by the two service companies involved. 

This has not been the case, for me, and as a result, Chase now claims that you are two payments behind on your mortgage. This although I have previously established automatic payments with XXXX. Therefore, XXXX is negligent in its obligation to me ( the consumer ) to service my loan. The same situation occurred in the case of the transfer from XXXX to XXXX. XXXX did not process my automatic payment, and as a result it was suggested I was late in paying the new owner, XXXX. Actually, XXXX is negligent in its obligation to me ( the consumer ) in servicing my loan. Where are my interests, and the interests of the consumer in all this high-flying finance? Clearly my interests, and the interests of the consumer, are unimportant, subjugated, irrelevant ; the consumer does not even come into the equation on his/her loan except as a footnote after the fact. Clearly, somebody must pay for all this ; that falls on me the consumer. 

At this juncture, XX/XX/2019, I am in the unenviable position of needing to advocate for myself with the goliath Chase the manifest unfairness of these developments. I am now situated such that I must converse with Chase regarding notions of " fair play, '' in lending practices and in the buying and selling of mortgage instruments. This is the crux of the issue then, to me a mortgage represents my home, something acquired with great personal sacrifice, and a safe happy family. To the bank a mortgage is a financial tool. To the bank a mortgage is an impersonal device, an appliance crafted to derive profit. 

In representing myself to the Chases, and the XXXX, and the XXXX XXXX XXXX of the world, I need to expend considerable time and effort. This is a form of damage to me the consumer. I do not have spare time, either to discuss reality with Chase, or to present the facts of this matter to you, " Consumer Finance Dot Gov. '' At this point in time, I must convince Chase   that it would be unethical, to say the least, to report me to the credit bureaus, my involvement being as tangential as it is. My exertion comes at a cost, time lost with my family, time lost relaxing on the weekend, so on and so forth. This is time that is far better spent doing other activities. In business my time is billed @ $ XXXX/hour on the low, and @ {$500.00} on the high. I estimate that the amount of effort I have invested in playing this " mortgage servicing shell game '' comes close to {$5000.00} by the time it is concluded. This is a needless waste of time and effort, as it is due entirely to the negligence of the mortgage servicing companies. At this point it is clear who suffers the damages. It is not the large institutions. In fact, it is the " small player, '' the consumer who bears the brunt of this outrage. 

Please assist me in eliminating these harmful mortgage selling practices generally, and specifically in my case, by alerting these mortgage servicing companies to the appalling burden they have placed on me, due to no fault of my own. The shortcomings in the mortgage buying and selling process, as they relate to the consumer, must be addressed. 

Respectfully, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, MD XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation