Advocacy Group Calls On Chase to Help More Homeowners

Thursday, June 11, 2009
Topics: Economy, Other
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Dozens of activists around the state today protested affiliates of Chase Manhattan Bank, demanding that it step up its efforts to modify loans of mortgage-borrowers facing foreclosure. ideastream®'s Bill rice reports.

The protesters were from the nonprofit group ESOP, which stands for or Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People. The group works with borrowers and loan servicers to keep people that are facing foreclosure in their homes. ESOP’s Jenelle Dame (Jen-ELL Dahm) says her group is working with over a 100 borrowers that have been waiting for months to hear if Chase will help them on their home loans. Dame says the message to Chase is that it needs to work with borrowers especially because it received federal bailout money.

Jenelle Dame: These homeowners are also taxpayers. So why aren’t you helping taxpayers that essentially gave you a bailout?

ESOP has agreements with several national loan servicers including Litton Loans, Ocwen Financial and Countrywide.

Chase spokesperson Mary Kay Bean only broadly addressed the accusation that the bank is stalling or being deliberately slow. 

Bean:  We are working as quickly as we can to help people, there’ s a lot of paperwork involved on both sides, both with the borrower and with us.  So we are working just as fast as we can to resolve issues with homeowners

Bean says the bank has helped 400,000 families avoid loan foreclosures since January, 2007, and currently handles forty thousand calls a week to its hotline.