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Chase Releases Mortgage Mod Numbers

""Chase Bank"":http://www.chase.com announced this week that it has approved 138,000 trial mortgage modifications for struggling homeowners since it began processing loan workouts through President Obama's Making Home Affordable program on April 6. The bank says another 155,000 loan mod applications are currently in the review process.
Charlie Scharf, head of retail financial services at parent company ""JPMorgan Chase & Co."":http://www.jpmorganchase.com, said, ""We have made terrific progress since April 6 in helping families with trial modifications by ramping up our capacity through hiring people, adding office space, and investing in technology. We also clearly understand that many more families are anxious about their homes and need to hear from us as quickly as possible. We are committed to do whatever is necessary to help homeowners who qualify for these programs.""
Chase explained that to assist homeowners who are having trouble making their monthly mortgage payments, the lender first determines whether they qualify for the government's Making Home Affordable Program. Under the guidelines of the federal plan, Chase has approved 87,100 trial modifications, and 44,100 of these customers have already made their first modified payment. The bank said it typically reduces the mortgage interest rate or extends the length of the loan in order to bring the borrower's monthly mortgage payments down to 31 percent of gross income.
For those homeowners that do not qualify for the Making Home Affordable Program, Chase offers a viable alternative. Through the bank's own modification program, Chase has approved 50,900 trial modifications since early April. Of those homeowners who are part of the bank's internal mod plan, 9,500 of them have already made their first modified payment.
Both the bank's and the federal government's modification programs require the borrower to make three modified payments in full and on time and to submit additional documentation, including income verification, so that the modifications can become permanent.
Scharf said, ""We are encouraged that more than 53,000 families have already made the first payment for their trial modifications. But we know it is extremely early in the program, so it is difficult to gauge its ultimate success.""
If a loan does not qualify for a Making Home Affordable or a Chase modification, it is referred to the bank's loss mitigation department, which will consider more traditional plans as well as short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure.
Chase started taking steps to implement the Making Home Affordable Program before initial details were announced in early March and began processing trial loan modifications April 6 even as the government continues to make additional key decisions about the program and communicate them to mortgage servicers.
Scharf commented, ""It has taken some time to put the resources in place to handle the extraordinary customer demand during this crisis, to incorporate each update to the Making Home Affordable Program, and then to properly evaluate each borrower's situation. Over the last three months, we have made great improvements and we expect the numbers of approved modifications to continue to grow for some time.""
Since 2007, Chase said it has continued to expand its ""homeownership preservation efforts"":https://www.chase.com/chf/mortgage/keeping-your-home, helping prevent 565,000 foreclosures for Chase, Washington Mutual, and EMC customers, including the 138,000 trial modifications performed this year under the federal mortgage relief program. This year, the bank opened 27 Chase Homeownership Centers - three more than originally planned -- where struggling borrowers around the country can meet face-to-face with trained counselors. The lender says already, more than 20,000 borrowers have sought assistance from foreclosure counselors at its centers.
Since the beginning of 2009, Chase has hired 2,000 additional mortgage operations employees to handle the unprecedented volume of defaults and problem loans generated by the troubled economy and housing market. Chase has also added 950 loan counselors to its staff, bringing the total to 3,500, and the bank says it plans to add hundreds more in the weeks ahead.
Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. The bank operates more than 5,000 branches nationwide under the Chase and WaMu brands and services approximately 10.3 million loans, including about 8 million loans for investors.

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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