Consumer complaint received 2016-10-24
Product: Mortgage — Conventional fixed mortgage
Issue: Loan modification,collection,foreclosure — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (MN)

I write to seek assistance in addressing what amounts to at best a flawed credit reporting system and at worst unethical business practice by Chase Home Mortgage. In short, when I divorced, I was awarded a rental property jointly titled to me and my ex-wife, XXXX ( XXXX ) XXXX ; I was unable to refinance the property and had to short sell it. Chase conceded to sell short the home ( rightly ) without the use of any financial data from my ex-wife, including closing the sale without her signature, and yet nonetheless penalized her credit as a result of this short sale. This practice is wrong and unfair. It effectively allows lenders to honor divorce decrees for purposes of assessing short sale viability while disregarding terms of divorce decrees for the purpose of credit reporting. Further, in the case of Chase, it belies Chase 's conflicting and repeated promises throughout the short sale process to remove my ex-wife from the note. 

I was divorced XX/XX/XXXX and incurred a sizable debt and reduced income as a result. In the process, my credit took a severe hit and I was awarded a home that was worth slightly more than half of what was owed on the home. With poor credit and lacking the capital required to refinance, I was left to list the home for an expected short sale XX/XX/XXXX. In this initial listing, Chase refused to consider a short sale because I was current on my payments, so in consultation with my realtor, I skipped one payment XX/XX/XXXX for the preceding month and the home was re-listed thereafter. 

During this process, I was represented by XXXX XXXX of XXXX XXXX, a veteran of over XXXX short sales. In the first listing of the home, we understood that my ex-wife could be removed from the note with a refinance. However, I could not qualify for such refinancing and any loan modification would not have been sufficient for me to afford the payments with my income slashed, a renter in default and the property needing repair. Upon the second listing of the home, we were first told by Chase that my ex-wife could not be removed from the note since it was then in default. As the process deepened, and financial documents were being solicited of me -- and not of my ex-wife -- we were told by XXXX at Chase that Chase would in fact ensure her credit would not be affected negatively since they were only using my financial information to assess the short sale. When the underwriters finally approved the short sale, we were then told that the indemnification of my ex-wife would have to happen " further down the process. '' XXXX was also removed from the case at that time. It should be noted herein that my ex-wife requested repeatedly to be updated by Chase and was told she could not be since it was my financial data that was being used to process the short sale. Prior to closing the sale, Chase 's final position on the matter was that it would be easier to have the negative reporting removed from my ex-wife 's credit bureaus after the sale closed. Upon closing, my ex-wife has been stonewalled by Chase and has reached out to numerous outlets to underscore not only the convoluted and unfair logic at work herein, but the underhanded manner in which Chase made assurances while only my data was being used and then backed off of them once the sale cleared underwriting. 

In short, Chase honored our divorce decree for the purposes of assessing my qualifications for a short sale of this property ; during this time, they assured us that negative reporting to my wife 's credit status would be rectified. Once approved for the short sale, their representation to us, and their story, changed. The house closed without her signature and with her still on title and Chase has refused to amend their negative reporting on her credit score.