Does Chase Help Consumers to Preserve Their Homes?
On November 10, 2009 Chase bank inIselin, N.J.,distributed a Press Release with the title “Chase to Hire 1,200 Mortgage Officers to Help Families Buy, Refinance Homes.” Here are great news that Chase announced to the rest of us. Don’t expect to be able to talk with these new mortgage officers for a year or more, because the bank is just PLANS to hire new employees…
In Press Release is written the following,
Chase, one of the nation’s leading home lenders, today (on November 10, 2009) announced that it plans to hire 1,200 mortgage loan officers by the end of 2010, increasing the sales force 60 percent to help Chase customers finance home purchases or reduce their monthly payments through refinances.
Comment: So now Chase has only 40% of workforce (mortgage officers) in home mortgage centers?! No wonder people who are brave to deal with this bank’s BureauCrazy don’t get any responses or attention for 8 months! And Better Business Bureau assigned Chase Home Mortgage “F.” Imagine a student having “F” grade. No one college will want to keep him.
“We have made a number of strategic investments in our organization,” said Dave Lowman, head of home lending at Chase. “We have invested in new systems, aggressively grown our capacity and now are looking to increase our sales force. With our vast branch network and growing customer base, the opportunity for Chase loan officers is tremendous.”
Comment: Hmmm… Mr. Lowman, head of home lending at Chase definitely doesn’t get it. He said, “…now we are looking to increase our sales force…” What for, Mr. Lowman? To bring more business to the bank and enrich it more? Then he continued, “…”With our vast branch network and growing customer base, the opportunity for Chase loan officers is tremendous.” So, in your own words, the tremendous opportunity is for Chase loan officers only. What about your “growing” customer base? Where is the opportunity for your existing customers? According to numerous complaints spred all over the Internet, many of your customers are neglected, disrespected and unprofessionally treated. They are going to run away as fast as they can, and as far as they can from your bank? Do you have anything better to say to them?
New loan officers will serve customers through bank branches in 23 states — including key states such as California, Florida and Texas and key metro areas such as New York and Chicago – as well as metro markets outside the bank’s branch footprint, such as Boston, St. Louis and Washington D.C. They will help consumers meet their home financing needs by working with personal bankers and referral sources, such as real estate agents and builders, as well with their own network of homeowners.
Comment: Again, you don’t think about your customers. According to your own words, you don’t hire enough new loan officers, and you know it. Why do you hire them to work only in 23 states? What about other states? And how these new mortgage officers will help consumers meet their financing needs, if they’ll work with personal bankers and referral sources instead of working directly with your customers? Do your customers have any place in your plans and projections? It doesn’t look that they have.
“With nearly 5,200 bank branches — one of the largest networks in the country –we need to ensure each branch has seasoned mortgage professionals to help meet the needs of their communities and is well positioned when the housing market fully recovers,” said Lowman. “We see the mortgage business as core to our relationship with consumers and expect to be a major leader in the industry for many years to come.”
Comment: You repeat yourself several times: 1)”…one of the nation’s leading home lenders…” and 2)…”one of the largest networks in the country…” We also know that Chase acquired WAMU, which was the nation’s leading home lender, and friendly to its customers, too. Unfortunately no one of your customers can say the same about your bank. If you see the mortgage business as core to your relationship with consumers, why don’t youy do any good to your mortgage holders TODAY when they desperately need your help? Why you created all this BureauCraziness requesting your customers (WAMU customers) to present not less than 100 pages of private documents package, then loosing it without taking any responsibility for these irresponsible acts? What are you waiting? Would you like to see how consumers loose their homes and watch them to get more frustrated and hopeless in dealing with your bank? You must act now when people need Chase’s help the most!!!
Further Press Release reveals us the following,
Chase’s home lending team is well-equipped to serve customers: (Comment: Not now! Period.)
- The fiinancial strength of parent company JP Morgan Chase enables it to continue to lend prudently to an array pf customers – from exclusive union member relationships to being a top FHA mortgage lender, to having a strong jumbo portfolio capability.
- Chase is the nation’s third-largest lender, originating $37.1 billion in mortgages in the last quarter.
- 43 percent of U.S. households are near a Chase branch. (Comment: Really? How it’s so, if it has branches only in 23 states?))
- 55 percent of the nation’s real estate officers are within five miles of a Chase branch (Comment: Are you sure? For example, in South Florida Chase has only two home mortgage centers within more than 50 miles of the customers reach.)
- Its new patent-pending Chase Exclusives 1% Mortgage Cash Back offer can save homeowners thousands and shorten their mortgage by months by paying them 1% of their scheduled monthly principal and interest mortgage payment annually. (Comment: What’s the catch? Please show one real-lefe example.)
For more information on open home lending positions at Chase and also to apply, please visit:www.jpmorganchase.com/careers. Comment: Finally I got it. All these promises are for new recruits, but not for the bank’s customers. They can wait.
The last paragraph of this latest Press Release informs you again About Home Lending at Chase: Drawing on its 200-year legacy and integrity, strength and financial resources, Chase helps families achieve and sustain homeownership. Today Chase originates home loans through more than 5,100 Chase branches, (?) as well as mortgage offices,(?) call centers, and through retail correspondent lenders in all 50 states. The company also services $1.1 trillion of home loans. Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JP Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) More information can be found at www.chase.com
If Chase’s executives will stop making promises they are going to accomplish not earlier than the end of 2010, this bank’s with its financial strength and human willingness can do a lot for their customers those mortgages they service now. There is only one obstacle, if the bank is ready and willing to do so.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet and novelist said once, “It is not enough only to wish; you must also act.”
Chase must act sincerely and fast in helping its existing customers to preserve their homes. It must stop its bureacrazy in demanding impossible and making people’s life more difficult than it is with over-complicated application process. Then the bank can publish a new Press Release with real-life examples how it did help their customers.
References: http://investor.shareholder.com/jpmorganchase/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=423294
Photo by respres photoctream at www.flickr.com/photos/repress/2539334956
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