CHASE MORTGAGE/HOME FINANCE STOLE OUR HOUSE!

Does someone know if the statute has run on mortgage lawsuits/class action suits where now ex-homeowner was forced to foreclosure by Chase Mortgage/Home Finance in December 2007? We owned a beautiful 125-year-old Queen Anne historic home (listed on both State of Texas & City of Fort Worth Historic Register/Landmark Designation w/bronze plaques by door so indicating) in Ft. Worth which we worked on extensively to restore. Our original note was with First Franklin Mortgage in July 2003, but 2 months later note was sold to Chase. Loan was an ARM that provided our mortgage payment could ONLY be raised every 2 years. Chase began raising our mortgage 2 months after they acquired the note and continued raising it randomly but no less than every 2-6 months. Mortgage payment started out in August 2003 at $635, the note was sold to Chase in September 2003, and by late 2005, Chase had raised our mortgage payments so many times - in breach of contract - that it reached $1, 350 by mid-late 2005.

When we lost our jobs; both got very sick a couple of times each; our only vehicle (a Nissan Frontier pickup) was stolen, stripped, and burned (we only carried basic liability w/uninsured motorist on it b/c it was fairly old & paid for). We couldn't make such high mortgage payments (twice what the original payment was in just 2 years’ time). We filed both Ch. 13 then Ch. 7 bankruptcies and tried to work with Chase to help get our monthly payments lowered. However, Chase’s help in this was minimal at best and did nothing to help us. In November 2007, Chase filed for foreclosure. At that point, we naively/stupidly/desperately paid $1, 200 for foreclosure negotiation assistance through a woman in Arlington, TX named Joanne Partida, and, of course, eventually learned she was scamming us – she did nothing and we never got our $1, 200 back from her. However, we had 3 different people who definitely wanted and were ready, willing, & very financially able to buy the house from us before foreclosure. At least this way, we would avoid foreclosure & get our equity back, even if we could no longer remain in the historic home we’d worked so hard on & loved so much. We contacted Chase every day to get a payoff amount on the house in order to sell it to 1 of these 3 anxious potential buyers. However, whenever my husband Michael or I called or wrote Chase to obtain a payoff amount on the house so that we could just sell it and get some of our equity back and move on before losing all to foreclosure, we never received anything from Chase in response to our written requests, and all the Chase reps that both I and Michael (my husband) spoke with stated clearly to us that Chase refused to provide us with a true and correct final payoff amount on the house. Of course, we had to have this figure to be able to sell the house. The last person I spoke to at Chase (a woman named Barbara ______________ in California) just before foreclosure told me in these EXACT words and in a very vicious/deliberately cruel manner/tone: "[WE] (I.E., CHASE) ARE REFUSING AND WILL CONTINUE REFUSING TO PROVIDE YOU WITH YOUR FINAL PAYOFF AMOUNT. [WE] (I.E., CHASE) ARE GOING TO SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE DEFINITELY FORECLOSED ON." I explained to her and other Chase reps that I absolutely had to have a final payoff amount because I had 3 definite buyers wanting – and competing with one another - to buy the house at a good price before Chase foreclosed on us. Ms. Partida also went so far (in her almost non-existent help) as to contact Chase for a payoff amount as well, but Chase kept sending her different figures that kept increasing each time they sent one to her, so none of those amounts were final or reliable. Chase continued until the last moment and throughout the foreclosure sale to refuse to provide us with a final payoff amount.

So, despite having 3 definite, guaranteed buyers who wanted to step up and buy the house immediately and were standing in line ready and completely prepared to bid on/buy the house from us right then and there for a very decent price, Chase made sure it went to foreclosure by refusing to provide us with our final payoff amount. Then, at the foreclosure sale, Chase bought the house back for itself. (We have investigated further into this and have reason to believe/suspect that a Chase employee ended up getting the house, which we find extremely strange and suspicious). This is also highly suspicious, as the house was slated to go onto the National Register of Historic Places – its unique history, one-of-a-kind architecture, location, and other provenance on the house made it a very desirable property.

Whoever lives in it now has torn it all up -- it hardly looks like the same house we bought and worked on so hard ourselves to restore. It has lost its historic plaques/designations because whoever lives there now is not following the strict historic guidelines that an owner of an historic home must follow to keep the house officially designated as a state and city historic landmark, and as an upcoming listing on the National Historic Register. The formal English gardens that were out in front of the house surrounded by a wrought iron fence are now overgrown with weeds and dead, and the beautiful antique wrought iron fence that surrounded the front English gardens has been torn down as well. Aluminum foil and stained flowered sheets now hang in the windows. When we owned the house, it had a small but nice-sized glass greenhouse on the back next to the kitchen which was also beautiful with many unusual, old, heirloom plants and flowers, a shower, and a work sink. The new owners tore the historic greenhouse down altogether. They painted the house a pale “vomit-colored” yellowish-green and the trim/door, etc. a battleship gray. It's ruined after all the labor of love we put into it ourselves when we owned it. If Chase had not breached contract by illegally raising the mortgage payment every 2-6 months so that it shot from $635 to $1, 350 in 2 years' time, we would still be living there and continuing to restore it. It was one of a kind and was built by a famous Fort Worth sheriff, who then became a prominent judge, and then moved on to become a state congressman. Or, alternatively, if Chase had just given us the final payoff amount on the house (which Chase was required to do by law but instead just thumbed their nose at both us and the law), we could have sold the house immediately, before foreclosure, to one of 3 anxious, aggressive, definite, and financially sound buyers - with at least 1 of them (and possibly 2) paying full cash for it.

When I bought the house in 2003, I paid $95, 000 for it and put down $25, 000 toward the purchase price. In fall 2007, the house appraised at $137, 000, and the 3 buyers were gladly willing to pay us that (and perhaps more), as they were competing against each other to get the house. That house was an IMPORTANT, SIGNIFICANT, AND VALUABLE HOUSE. Because Chase would not give us the payoff amount as they are legally required to do so that we could just sell it and start over elsewhere, we lost every penny of equity we had in the house -- approximately $67, 000 in equity ($25, 000 down payment plus $42, 000 in sales proceeds) had we been “allowed” to sell it.

Now we have nothing. We are middle-aged and are having to start all over like kids in their early twenties. We rent a house in a very bad and dangerous section of town (basically, the “’hood.”) One of our cars (a 2006 Nissan Altima) was repossessed b/c we refused to make further payments until either Nissan U.S.A. and/or Carmax honored Nissan's recall of the car's alloy wheels (I had a serious accident in the car due to this defect, but neither Nissan U.S.A. nor Carmax would honor the recall/warranty). One week later, our other very old car finally bit the dust for good. So for 5 months (Dec. 2009-April 2010) we had no vehicle or mode of transportation, which ruined our job-hunting abilities. We finally saved up $800 to buy a used “fixer-upper” cash car last month, so we now have 1 set of wheels, anyway, although we really need another car for us to each realistically pursue our separate, respective job searches. We live in dire poverty, and now our unemployment benefits have just run out. Since we are middle-aged, we are too “experienced” or “over-qualified” for many jobs now, as the poor economy has resulted in companies hiring less experienced, younger applicants who will accept a very low, entry level salary. Even when we have stated to employers that we are willing to take a very large pay cut in order to just be employed, employers are not comfortable with that b/c they know we are worth much more than what they are – these days – willing to pay. They would rather hire a less capable, less experienced youngster at a low salary than feel guilty about paying highly qualified, very experienced people like us at an equally low salary b/c they’re embarrassed about their salary low-balling. However, as middle-aged people, we still have quite a long time to live (barring any serious medical conditions that may arise, but we’re both very healthy and have longevity in most of our family histories). So, we’re way too young to just “quit” trying to get back on our feet again. But with the unemployment rate like it is right now, we’re too old to land decent jobs to be able to start over again from scratch. People tell us, “Just go work at McDonald’s or somewhere like that for now until you find a job in your real career field.” Well, places like McDonald’s look at us like we’re crazy when we apply for low-level positions b/c we both are degreed & experienced in our chosen fields. (My husband is a graphics artist and customer service rep with a B.A. in Fine Arts; I am a paralegal/legal-executive assistant/secretary with 2 bachelor’s degrees (cum laude) in English Literature and in Philosophy plus 18 hours in post-grad courses toward my master’s degree. We both have over 18 years’ experience in those careers). Employers are uncomfortable hiring us for “no experience needed” jobs, or they tell us we don’t have any experience working retail or working in totally different jobs than what we’ve always done so we don't qualify for employment with them, even if their jobs would be a cake walk for us right now.

The trickle-down effect of losing our historic home due to Chase’s constant breach of contract in raising our mortgage payment every 2-6 months, then their consistent refusal to give us a final payoff amount so we could go ahead and sell the house, get our equity back, and avoid foreclosure has turned us into paupers who have nothing now except physical and severe, non-stop depression/stress, 24-7. We have both been so mentally wasted and in shock and SEVERE depression that we have been unable to come to grips with this and seek out help. We did try to get help from a few of the attorneys I worked for, but they made it clear to me that since I was not a paying client, they didn’t want to be bothered by my problems. AS FAR AS I AND MICHAEL ARE CONCERNED, CHASE IS IN LEAGUE WITH SATAN HIMSELF. CHASE MORTGAGE/HOME FINANCE WITHOUT QUESTION STOLE OUR HOUSE FROM US BY (1) FIRST RAISING OUR MORTGAGE PAYMENTS FAR MORE OFTEN (EVERY 2-6 MONTHS) THAN WAS PROVIDED IN THE CONTRACT TO THE POINT WHERE - OVER A 2-YEAR PERIOD - OUR MORTGAGE PAYMENT WAS TWICE WHAT IT BEGAN AT CONSISTENTLY, REPEATEDLY, AND THEN (2) ILLEGALLY REFUSING TO GIVE US A FINAL PAYOFF AMOUNT SO WE COULD SELL THE HOUSE TO 1 OF 3 DEFINITE BUYERS WE HAD LINED UP PRIOR TO FORECLOSURE! I HATE CHASE MORE THAN I’VE EVER HATED ANYTHING ELSE IN MY LIFE!

Does someone you have any suggestions or know of a GOOD attorney, anywhere in the U.S. but preferably in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who specializes in and is now handling such cases? We would be EXTREMELY grateful for any attorney referrals or referrals to any other entities through which we can seek remuneration and damages from Chase Mortgage/Home Finance if we aren’t too late in bringing suit or, preferably, in joining an existing class action.

SAD AND LOST, WE ARE

MICHAEL AND KIM KRANKER
5205 S. HAMPSHIRE BLVD., FORT WORTH, TX 76112
817-607-3713
[email protected]
[email protected]