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Chase Opens Loan Mod Centers

Over the past several weeks, New York's ""JP Morgan Chase"":http://www.jpmorganchase.com has opened the doors to 24 loan modification centers across the country, setting up shop in some of the cities hardest hit by the nation's sweeping foreclosure crisis.
Chase's ""homeowner retention hubs"":https://www.chase.com/chf/mortgage/hrm_centers - stationed in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and throughout California and Florida - are the first lender-owned walk-in centers of their kind. Borrowers of Chase, the recently acquired Washington Mutual, and EMC Mortgage, the former lending division of Bear Stearns, can walk right in to the new Chase Homeownership Centers, talk directly to one of the lender's loan specialists, and get immediate help to begin modifying their loans.
Chase hopes this personal, one-on-one approach will allow its staff to reach more customers struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments, particularly those who may have gone into what one spokesperson called ""avoidance mode,"" screening their collection calls and refusing to open their mail.
When the loan center in Oakland, one of nine across California, opened last week, it drew more than 100 homeowners on the first day of business who were seeking help with loan modifications.
The loan centers are going up to assist borrowers who are at least 30 days behind on their monthly mortgage payments. Those homeowners who aren't yet delinquent but expect to be soon can contact the center for help via a toll-free phone call. And, the bank is promising that homeowners will be told within 30 days if their loan can be modified.
According to Diana Nimmo, manager of the Stockton, California loan modification center, the bank already has 2,500 employees nationwide that work to help borrowers save their homes with loan modifications. Nimmo told ""Recordnet.com"":http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articlexAID=/20090320/A_BIZ/903200310, a local news site for San Joaquin County, California, that the new foreclosure help centers opened this month will add 300 more counselors to that effort.
Chase spokeswoman Nancy Norris told the _""Orlando Sentinel"":http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bizforeclose27032709mar27,0,7212536.story_ in Florida, home to five of the banks new loan modification offices, that the bank is funding its help center initiative with the $25 billion in federal bailout money it received. Chase expects to use this money to help about 700,000 mortgage customers - a total of $110 billion in home loans - by the middle of 2010. According to Norris, that's a 10 percent increase from the lender's homeowner assistance estimate last fall.
It has already been reported that Chase will participate in the Obama administration's Making Home Affordable loan modification program. Sacramento, California, center manager Tai Mamea, told the _""Sacramento Bee"":http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1717578.html_ that the bank's new homeowner assistance offices would also be instrumental in reaching borrowers eligible for the government program.
Gary Kishner with Chase told Recordnet.com that the goal is to find a loan modification that will successfully keep a homeowner in the home long-term, instead of simply delaying foreclosure. ""We don't want that person to be in the same situation six months from now,"" Kishner said.

About Author: Carrie Bay

Carrie Bay is a freelance writer for DS News and its sister publication MReport. She served as online editor for DSNews.com from 2008 through 2011. Prior to joining DS News and the Five Star organization, she managed public relations, marketing, and media relations initiatives for several B2B companies in the financial services, technology, and telecommunications industries. She also wrote for retail and nonprofit organizations upon graduating from Texas A&M University with degrees in journalism and English.
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