Reporting from New York — When Meghan Faux, a lawyer and foreclosure counselor in New York, calls JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help a homeowner modify a mortgage, she expects the runaround from representatives unwilling or unable to answer basic questions about the borrower's case.
She's more hopeful calling Wells Fargo & Co., which like Chase is one of the three largest mortgage servicers, along with Bank of America Corp.
"There's still a long way to go there," Faux said of Wells Fargo. "But they are at least responsive to our concerns."
All mortgage servicers — which collect monthly payments, deal with delinquent homeowners and negotiate loan modifications — have come under a harsh spotlight in recent weeks over their foreclosure paperwork. But the available data suggest a wide variation in how well the firms do their jobs.
A number of federal and state agencies are investigating the servicers' foreclosure practices. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said last week that there were "significant differences" among the companies but declined to elaborate.
Faux's experience at South Brooklyn Legal Services is borne out by the Better Business Bureau, which gives Wells Fargo's mortgage servicing operation an "A" grade and Chase's an "F."
And of the calls about Chase to the Treasury Department's foreclosure help line through August, 7.2% were complaints, the second-highest percentage among the eight largest servicers. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo had the lowest proportion of complaints, 3.7%.
J.D. Power & Associates, the customer satisfaction specialists in Westlake Village, recently gave Wells Fargo the highest rating among large servicers. Chase came in near the middle.
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