STOCKTON – JPMorgan Chase, which merged last fall with Washington Mutual, is gearing up to launch a loan modification center in downtown Stockton today.
The center, one of nine such offices opening in California to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, is designed to negotiate loan modifications with customers of Chase, Washington Mutual and EMC – a Chase subsidiary.
Community leaders at an open house for the loan center Thursday called the first “face-to-face” center a needed innovation for this part of the Valley, hard hit by foreclosures.
Chase Center
Where: First floor, 400 E. Main St., Stockton.
Who: Counselors will work with homeowners with mortgage loans with Chase, Washington Mutual and EMC.
When: The center will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays.
What’s needed: Documentation, including recent W-2s, tax forms, pay stubs and bank statements. Also, bring any information, such as a hardship letter, that will help explain your current financial challenges.
For appointments: (209) 460-2450 for those at least 30 days late on their monthly mortgage payments. For those who aren’t yet behind on payments but expect to be later, call (866) 550-5705 toll-free.
What: Chase Homeowner Center, where counselors work with homeowners to try to avoid foreclosure by modifying loans.
San Joaquin County Supervisor Carlos Villapudua said he was excited to see the loan center opening.
The community has been looking for answers to foreclosure problems for a while, he said. If you don’t have answers, you at least want to offer hope, he said.
“Hope is here,” Villapudua said.
Stockton City Councilman Elbert Holman Jr. said the openings of such foreclosure centers where homeowners can talk to bank representatives face to face make Chase a leader in the banking industry. “It really renders hope to our people.”
Carol Ornelas, CEO of Visionary Home Builders, which provides free counseling for families struggling against foreclosure, said the Chase center will offer a welcome alternative to trying to negotiate loan modifications in person instead of via phone, fax or mail.
“We don’t have that with anybody else right now,” she said. “We hope some of the others can follow suit on this.”
Much of WaMu’s presence in the downtown building – a landmark in downtown Stockton – has shriveled greatly in the past few years because of layoffs at Washington Mutual and then Chase.
The new loan center will occupy a ground-floor section of offices formerly used by human resources staffers. Chase is recommending that homeowners make appointments to talk with one of the seven counselors at the Stockton center.
Earlier this week, a loan center in Oakland drew more than 100 homeowners on the first day trying to get loan modification help.
The loan center is for homeowners who are at least 30 days delinquent in their monthly mortgage payments. Those who aren’t yet delinquent but expect to be can get help via a toll-free phone call.
An initial interview with homeowners takes about an hour. The counselors collect the financial information and pass it on to others within Chase who will evaluate the loan. But the bank is promising that homeowners will be told within 30 days whether a loan can be modified enough to make it affordable.
Chase spokesman Gary Kishner said 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,” he said.
Cynthia Thompson, Western regional manager for Chase Homeowners Centers, said modifications can involve stretching a loan over 40 years or reducing the interest rate.
Chase already has 2,500 people nationwide involved in loan modification counseling, said Diana Nimmo, manager of the Stockton loan center, which will serve customers from San Joaquin County to as far south as Fresno.
Twenty-two such centers opened nationwide this month will add 300 more counselors to that effort, she said.
“Foreclosure is a no-win situation for customers, and it’s a no-win situation for Chase as well,” she said.
Other California centers are in Sacramento, Oakland, Santa Clara, Glendale, Santa Ana, Rancho Cucamunga, Downey and La Mesa/San Diego.
Contact reporter Bruce Spence at (209) 943-8581 or bspence@recordnet.com
#1 by Rosa Peralta on May 19, 2009 - 2:47 am
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I lost my Job on March 31, 2009. My loan is currently being reviewed by Dwayne Coley in the settlement department. Dwayne called me last Friday and informed me that WAMU has agreed to settle my loan to $31K. However, he was only going to allow me 3 days to come up with the 31K. WAMU/Chase This is great news because, this settlement offer will allow my family and me to keep our home. I would like to ask WAMU to allow us a little more time to see how my husband and I can come up 31k. I am asking that you please accept my offer. This would prevent me from losing my house.
#2 by Pat H on October 10, 2009 - 4:23 pm
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I lost my employment in March and conta Chase and it’s mortgae assistade department in April , I have furnished them with all the paperwork they requested. I was never able to get a responce from any of them and no assistance has been offerd. We had to file for Bankrupscy in September. I let the Chase people know we would need to file and still noting from them no calls . emails, responce , leters nothing..Now they are tryig to get a releif from a Stay issued by the courts so they can take offers on our home and sell it out fom under us.. Nice plan Chase, I paid my mortgae on time for 4 years!.. Help for homeowners, what a load of crap
#3 by Pat H on October 10, 2009 - 4:25 pm
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sorry for all my typo’s I did not use spell check