Chase Begins Foreclosure Process On Active Duty Servicemember After Advising Him That Missed Payments Are Necessary To Qualify For Loan Modification

In Bend, Oregon, The Huffington Post reports:

• In August, Tim Collette's son Aaron will spend 15 days on leave from Iraq. Aaron is 20 years old, and he's been in the Army for about a year and a half. A few weeks ago, his squad was hit with an improvised explosive device. Everybody survived, but it frightened both the soldier and his family. The Army told Aaron he could go anywhere he wanted. And of all the places in the world he could visit, Aaron wants to go home.
• But Aaron might not have a home to come home to. Collette has been defending his house from foreclosure since 2008. It's currently scheduled to be auctioned off in July.

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• Tim said negotiating with his bank, JPMorgan Chase, has been a living nightmare. When he first asked for help in 2008, he had not missed any payments. At the time, his mortgage was being handled by Washington Mutual, a subprime lending specialist Chase purchased in the fall of 2008. Collette said WaMu told him he would only qualify for a loan modification if he missed two of his $1,100 monthly mortgage payments. So he missed the payments. And the bank began trying foreclose on him.
• "They told me that you can't qualify for a loan modification without missing two payments, so I missed two payments, but I haven't gotten the modification," he said.

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• JPMorgan Chase and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, have spent months apologizing for illegally foreclosing on the homes of active-duty military members currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers have an extra layer of legal protection in mortgage lending. Even if you miss payments, a bank cannot evict your family while you fight for your country.

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• But that extra layer of legal protection does not apply to the parents of soldiers. Aaron wants to come home, but since the mortgage is in Collette's name, the family is left with the narrower legal protections of non-military families.

For more, see Foreclosed From Iraq: Father Seeks To Preserve Home As Son Fights Abroad.

See also, The Oregonian: Bend soldier serving in Iraq in dire need of closure, not foreclosure.