Keller Rohrback LLP has announced that a class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California on behalf of all mortgagors in the State of California whose home mortgage loans are serviced by Chase Home Finance LLC or JPMorgan Chase Bank and who (a) have attempted to obtain permanent loan modifications from Chase through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) or similar loan modification programs; and (b) have made payments pursuant to a HAMP Trial Period Plan (TPP) or any other similar temporary modification agreement offered by Chase.
The complaint alleges that Chase engaged in bad faith with respect to mortgage loan modification negotiations by leading mortgagors to believe that Chase would permanently modify their mortgage loans upon successful completion of HAMP TPPs or other temporary payment plans. Chase allegedly instructed mortgagors to stop making mortgage payments under the false pretense that doing so would not hurt their credit scores and was necessary for them to attain a loan modification.
Even after mortgagors followed Chase's instructions, however, Chase allegedly imposed artificial obstacles to obtaining a permanent modification, by, among other things, repeatedly requesting duplicative financial information and needlessly delaying the loan modification process. The complaint also alleges that Chase proceeded with the foreclosure process based on mortgagors' failure to meet impossible and shifting demands, charged unreasonable fees, and failed to properly apply payments or keep accurate records. The complaint has been filed pursuant to the California Unfair Competition Law and the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and contains a variety of additional common law claims.
Keller Rohrback is also investigating the mortgage loan modification practices of the following mortgage loan servicers: American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., Litton Loan Servicing LP, GMAC Mortgage Inc., Nationstar Mortgage LLC, EMC Mortgage Corporation and SunTrust Mortgage Inc.
