Consumer complaint received 2024-10-15 00:00:00
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Struggling to pay mortgage — Trying to communicate with the company to fix an issue related to modification, forbearance, short sale, deed-in-lieu, bankruptcy, or foreclosure
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
In XX/XX/XXXX, I purchased XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX for approximately {>= $1,000,000}. 

After that, I took out a home equity line of credit for approximately {>= $1,000,000} with XXXX  XXXX. As you will see in Section XXXX of the XXXX  XXXX Agreement and Disclosure the only security instrument is the home and " nothing '' else. It states, " no personal, or real property, other than the Property, secures your obligation under this agreement ''.

Soon after that the market crashed and Washington Mutual was taken over by Chase. ( for .25 on the dollar ).

Chase closed all equity lines of credit because of the state of the economy. They canceled my equity line of credit using the XXXX XXXX loan agreement section 13 ( b ) without notice or any reason as required in the XXXX Mortgage Plus Agreement and Disclosure. My home never went below 50 % in value. They again, never gave a legal reason or any reason they just closed them. 

When I sold XXXX XXXX in XXXX. I told the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, located in XXXX, California, that I believed I had an equity line of credit. They searched several times and could not find anything in XXXX XXXX. They called Chase numerous times, and they couldnt find anything so they stated Chase could not reconvey the title and deed because they could not find any loan documents or deed of trust. The issue was that XXXX recorded the Deed of Trust in XXXX XXXX, and it was never recorded or rerecorded in the XXXX XXXX. Not even after Chase stated that they found out did Chase ever try to reach out to me or correct this recordation.

The house was sold twice since I sold it and both owners were granted title insurance. Which proves there is no loan or security agreement on the house. Furthermore, both buyers of the property financed the home with new loans and again had been issued title insurance.

Chase stated to me that they must have converted it into a personal line of credit. Which makes sense because the title agency would never give title insurance on a home that was secured by current loan that I allegedly had. Also, on all three credit reports it doesnt show as real estate but, a credit card loan.

I have been paying the {>= $1,000,000} interest-only since XXXX and I have never been late. I have paid over {$80000.00} in interest so far this year and I have had to deplete my retirement account to make these payments.

My concern is Chase canceled my equity line of credit illegally. They did this to most people in California when the market crashed, leaving me and many others to stay with them because we could not get another loan because of the market conditions at the time thereby, holding me and others captive. As interest rates went down to a historic low, I could not take advantage of them because I did not own the home. When interest rates skyrocketed, I had to continue to pay the incredible higher interest rates and even though the Feds reduced interest rates .50 % they still have not even reduced my incredibly high interest rates even though Chases CEO made a {$23.00} million bonus last year. Im just asking for help, and they will not give it to me. If I dont pay, they have no security and will not get the home back, but they said they would destroy my credit, which XXXX XXXX knows I need to keep my business. If pass-away they get nothing. The home is not secured by anything. They have me in a hard position one which I either pay them until Im gone or continue to pay them until I have no retirement left after my life works. The paid XXXX cents on the dollar. I understand that business to them is just that business, but Im lost, and I have no one to turn to.

Furthermore, they could not provide my title company with a deed of trust to reconvey to me when I tried to pay them off when I sold the home in XXXX. 

After several years trying to work with them and resolve this matter. I was told by Chase I couldn't get a loan modification or refinance it with them because I do not own the home. I requested a second mortgage on my current home, and they denied that because they stated they didn't do seconds anymore. 

They referred me to contact their escalation department which is in the XXXX and after talking to a supervisor I was told if I didn't continue to pay, they would foreclose on the current home from the current owners. They furthermore stated they would destroy my credit. 

I again reached out to the branch XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, California and he stated that indeed I don't own the home. He said I could pay it off and they would ask XXXX XXXX to reconvey a deed to me. They said that would not likely work since because the issue was it was recorded in the wrong County by Washington Mutual years ago and they found out about this several years ago after I sold my house in XXXX. He further stated in a video recording that is referenced in the link below, that Chase would hurt my credit if I stopped paying because he knew that I'm a small business owner and my credit is the success of my business, and a negative entry could force my business to close. 

They then said if I pay the entire loan off, they will somehow get the loan to be paid in full and somehow take the home off as a security instrument. This was all " maybe 's '' and when I asked them to put this in writing or email to me, they said they couldn't do that. I then inquired about going to the branch and getting this so-called letter explaining the process to me. They said they couldn't do that because their legal department told them they couldn't put it in writing. They said I could come in and they would verbally go over it with me. I found this very concerning, and I have tried so many ways to resolve this and I'm trapped and every month close to {$10000.00} of my life savings goes to Chase for a home I do not own and for a loan they will not even do anything about to help resolve.

I will get the initial loan documents from Chase today and forward them to you. 

Cordially, XXXX XXXX Bank video link : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation