JP Morgan Chase Plays Fast and Dirty in Florida Loan Mod Waiver

Naked Capitalism:

Further confirmation of Chase’s duplicity comes via an e-mail from Lisa Epstein, who runs ForeclosureHamlet.org in Florida.

JP Morgan Chase Foreclosure Waiver and Release Redacted

The critical bit starts in the third paragraph. There JP Morgan Chase points out that it is becoming more common in Florida for judges to require the bank to take action, meaning file a motion, which then leads to a hearing and and order of cancellation, to stop a foreclosure. It also points out that this is a change. In the past, If the bank merely failed to appear at a judicial sale, most courts would cancel it.

Now here’s the sneaky bit. JP Morgan Chase never bothers to say that it regards filing that motion and going to the trouble of attending a hearing is just too much cost and bother to stop foreclosure action when it has started loan mod negotiations. And to add insult to injury, its sneaky wording makes it sound as if it lacks the power to halt the foreclosure process, as opposed to incur more costs (boldface ours):

Because Chase, as a plaintiff or servicer of your loan, is no longer able to unilaterally cancel a judicial sale in many Courts in the State of Florida….

In other words, JP Morgan Chase offers an irrelevant excuse as a pretext for the borrower to make an astonishing concession:

I/we the undersigned Borrower(s), understand and agree that any and all loss mitigation agreements entered into with Chase……..that requires the cancellation of a judicial sale, shall be made expressly conditional upon the Court rendering a valid and final Order cancelling the judicial sale….any and all loss mitigation agreements shall be deemed null, void, and of no further force and effect…..Chase, as plaintiff or as the servicer of your loan, may proceed with the lawsuit to foreclosure your mortgage, including, without limitation, the upholding of any judicial sale and the issuance of certificate of title, as if no loss mitigation agreement was entered into…

So effectively, what the borrower has agreed to is for JP Morgan Chase to proceed with the foreclosure and to waive all rights to using the existence of a loss mitigation negotiation, or even a signed loss mitigation agreement, as a reason for stopping the foreclosure action. The letter has a faux borrower friendly sixth paragraph, that it “may” attempt to cancel a foreclosure sale, but there is no obligation.