Consumer complaint received 2024-05-28
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Applying for or obtaining a modification, forbearance plan, short sale, or deed-in-lieu
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

I missed my first mortgage payment in XXXX, XXXX I immediately called Chase and asked for a forbearance or other modification as I needed at least 6 months and ideally a year to be able to fully catch up while still servicing other debt. 

I was asked to apply online. It took several tries as the application process/system was non intuitive and they asked for multiple new pieces of documentation. My application was finally received on XX/XX/XXXX I believe. 

I was told that decisions are usually 30 days from the time of application and that during that time there was no real benefit of making additional payments bc I was in the application process and no action could be taken on my account. 

I was also told by multiple Chase agents that the most likely outcome would be a forbearance of 6 months but possibly longer depending on my situation. 

on my application I laid out that I had run into financial hardship due to divorce and a medical condition I suffered last year that cost me XXXX, which I had to use credit cards for and then interest rates skyrocketing, etc. I paid out and gave evidence that my situation would greatly improve in XXXX when I stop paying spousal support to my ex wife, and when the private company I work for most likely goes public. 

In the meantime my plan was to try and either get a hard money loan or negotiate approval with my Board of Directors to sell private company stock to one of our other investors. This takes time, and there are some long term downsides to me with this process ( selling private company stock ) so I was waiting to know the outcome of the mortgage assistance application before proceeding. 

However, the application process ended up taking several months, during which Chase ordered 2 appraisals done on my home. I called several times to ask on the status but was always told it was with the underwriter. The relationship managers that I spoke with told me that had limited information other than some notes on the file from the underwriter. But they told me I should hear any day, once 30 days had passed. On 2 of these occasions at least I was advised that given my situation it was highly likely that I would receive a forbearance, which would give me time to execute a private sale etc. 

On one occasion, the relationship manager told me that it seemed the underwriter had written in my file that I was soon to have LESS income and HIGHER expenses, which is the exact opposite of what I had indicated on my application!! I told them to correct the underwriter and asked if I needed to send more documentation or how to make sure the underwriter understood everything I put in my application. 

But they assured me they would add the note and if the underwriter had questions they should reach out. 

In the first week of XXXX ( more than 3 months since I originally contacted Chase and 2 months since my application was complete in their system I received a letter denying my application for forbearance with no specific reasons why they had made their decision. There was generic, boilerplate language but no explanation for what they considered or didnt during the review process. Note that the letter was post dated XX/XX/XXXX, even though I didnt receive it until XXXX. 

Also note that I do most of my correspondence online or electronically whenever possible and was told ( and it was also documented on their mortgage assistance website ) that any letters from them would be online in a section of the mortgage assistance website that captured Chases correspondence with me. So I had been checking the website near XXXX since I often miss physical mail given that I receive a lot of junk mail. 

In the rejection letter was told I could choose a short sale or pay the loan, basically. It was extremely unclear what next steps or timing was, I dont know if it was confusing on purpose or what. But regardless I was devastated since now I was more than 120 days past due and needed to scramble to keep the mortgage from going into foreclosure. Please also note that during this time they shut off my ability to pay the loan online and subsequently took away access to the mortgage assistance portal and mortgage website ( called Chase MyHome ). 

I eventually called Chase last week to discuss and was told that my house was past 120 days and could go into foreclosure process any day if I didnt pay XXXX ( 2 months of payments ). I told them I needed some days at least to try and find that money and I could not understand why they rejected my assistance plan. They told me that I could appeal the decision by XX/XX/XXXX via email. 

I spent the last week scraping together as much money as I could including cashing in XXXX, etc. I also scrambled to initiate a private sale of my stock which can take up to 45 days. 

I tried to pay over the weekend but as mentioned above they had removed all online ability to pay ( even though I can still see the account and statements online ). Since it was after hours XXXX XXXX on Saturday when I finally got the cash, and no one on the Chase technical team could help, I called back this morning to make the payment. When I told the person on the phone I planned to appeal the decision today or tomorrow, they said that the deadline was actually XX/XX/XXXX and I had missed it!!