Sherman followed up consistently after that. But, she says, “I’ve received nothing. Not a phone call, not an e-mail, not a letter, nothing.” Her loan officer’s voice mailbox is full, she says. Everyone she speaks to tells her it could take up to 90 days.
Tom Kelly, a Chase spokesman, says the bank first started processing loan modification applications for the government’s program on April 4 and that it has given highest priority to the most delinquent customers. It’s also hired 950 new loan counselors since Jan. 1, he says. “We’re just working our way through the applications.”
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When Sherman spoke with a Chase representative in mid-June, she says she was told she’d have to send in updated financial information since she’d now been waiting for three months.
Sherman complied, but she had a question for the Chase rep: “So all this time – these past 90 days – that I’ve been thinking an answer could come any day, no one was even looking at my file?”
All the rep could say was that files were getting forwarded to a new department for processing.
In a New York Times article on Monday, Michael Barr, the assistant treasury secretary for financial institutions, expressed frustration with loan servicers. “They need to do a much better job on the basic management and operational side of their firms,” he said. “What we’ve been pushing the servicers to do is improve their infrastructure to make sure their call centers are doing a better job. The level of training is not there yet.”
Barr estimated that by the end of August, the program would be churning out 20,000 loan modifications a week.
ProPublica is a nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism.
