Consumer complaint received 2019-07-02
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CT)

I fell behind on my mortgage back around XX/XX/XXXX. I had a bad break up with an x and was left to pay unsecured debts and try to keep up on the mortgage plus my other bills. I ended up falling behind 3 months on the mortgage and once i was good to be back on my feet, i was denied my payment. I was told i needed to pay up the whole amount which was about {$4800.00}. My morgage was {$1400.00} a month and at that time i was offering to pay them {$1800.00} and from then forward i was going to be able to pay $ XXXX- {$300.00} over my minimum payment to start catching back up. I was denied those payments and was told i needed to pay in full what was owed. I then turned and decided to sell the property. I was living alone so it was not possible for me to just catch up in one payment. I listed the house for sale, had a possible buyer within 3 weeks. The buyer put in a good offer and was going to close by XX/XX/XXXX. While this was going on i was figuring out a place to go. I ended up moving in with a woman who i have known for almost 8 years now. She is now my wife. So i moved in with her and the house was empty. After i went thrugh 3 seperate closing dates, the buyer backed out due to him not meeting stipulations with his bank. At this point, because i was helping with my now wifes bills in her apartment, i was not paying the mortgage but i was paying for oil, eletric, and maintaining the house. Once the buyer backed out i got back in contact with Chase bank to try their mortgage assistance program. Something i should have done off the rip but i made a mistake, i am human. So when i talked to Chase bank, they told me the only way i could be cinsidered for any loan modification or any mortgage assistance, i needed to be living in the property. At this point a foreclosure process had already began. So i agreed to move back into the house with my now wife and her XXXX year old  son. We left her apartment and went back to the house in hopes to figure out a solution to the past balance and move forward in keeping and paying for this house. In the mean time, we were saving money. We both work full time and make more than enough to pay the {$1400.00} mortgage payment, but we were not able to obviously to pay montly payments because they wanted full payment which at this time was about {$10000.00} with the late fees, attorny fees for the foreclosure and past due payments. This was around XX/XX/XXXX when we moved back into the house. About 3 months after we moved in, we finally got word with the mortgage assistance. Chase bank told us that I was only approved for a short sale because there was no way to lower my interest rate '3.75 % ' or my montly payment of {$1400.00}. " I never asked to lower the payment, i offered to pay MORE to catch up. '' They told me that the house was affordable and that they could do nothing for me. Short sale was the only option. So i ended up putting it up for short sale. I had a solid buyer offer {$210000.00} for the house. Another month and a half went by, Chase bank ended up saying they wanted {$210000.00} for the house. The buyer backed out due to the fact he would have to come up with another {$4200.00} that they didnt have at the closing. At this point i beyond had enough. Chase bank sent me a letter saying that i had until XXXX, XXXX XXXX to have another buyer or the short sale would be terminated and the house would go back to a foreclosure process. It was at that time i found XXXX XXXX XXXX which is a law firm out of XXXX. California. They told me they have a 95 % success rate in turning around mortgages and helping people stay in their homes. This was what they specialized in. So i highered them. I submitted all the info thay needed on my mortgage and i paid them {$3500.00} for their retainer fee. They worked with me and contacted Chase bank over the last 3 months. This past saturday, XX/XX/XXXX i recieved a letter from XXXX XXXX XXXX stating that my request for any sort of option to keep my house was declined, for the same reasons that were stated before when i was told 6 months prior i was only approved for short sale. Also stated that they could not lower the payments or interest. Which I NEVER WANTED OR ASKED FOR THAT. I feel there has to be some sort of way to fix this problem. My credit is shot now when it was a XXXX score when i purchased this house in XX/XX/XXXX. We have looked into a few apartments but due to this being on my credit, even with my wifes pretty decent credit score XXXX ' we are denied because of these unpaid payments. She makes {$15.00} an hour full time, but is not enough alone to get any sort of mortgage or any decent apartnent. I make {$24.00} an hour and have overtime every week. That money cant count on any application due to my bad credit score ive accumulated because of this situation. Togeather we NET {$5500.00} a month. Take home ... i find it hard to believe that Chase bank CANT work something out with us. We want to keep our home. We also have a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX   XX/XX/XXXX, which i had mentioned to Chase bank with what seems to be, no care in the world. At this point it does not seem we have anywhere to go if we lose this house. With a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and two full time decent paying jobs, i dont see what the huge issue is with letting us pay extra each month until what we owe is caught up, then putting the payments back to normal. I want to pay, we want to stay in the home. We just need the OK to start sending out the checks. At this point the past due balance has accumulated to just about {$24000.00} in 12 past payments now plus fees and attorny fees.

Thank you.