JP Morgan To Modify Troubled Securitized Mortgage Loans; Doesn't Believe Actions Will Violate Investor Agreements

In New York City, Reuters reports:

• JPMorgan Chase & Co., the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, on Friday said it will boost home foreclosure prevention efforts by modifying loans tied up in securitizations, in addition to the loans it owns.

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• "Chase believes it can legally modify the vast majority of its mortgages owned by investors consistent with the relevant investor agreements and the best interests of investors," the retail arm of JPMorgan said in a statement. It will seek approvals from a "small number" of situations where contracts may limit modifications, it added.

• An investor group led by Greenwich Financial Services is suing to force Bank of America-owned Countrywide Financial to repurchase thousands of loans that the lender intends to modify under a predatory lending settlement. The lender would be liable to pay hundreds of trusts about $80 billion for loans it modifies, according to lawyers of the plaintiffs.

For more, see Chase to tackle modifying investor-owned mortgage.

For Greenwich lawsuit, see Greenwich Financial Services v. Countrywide Financial Corporation.