Chase opens Arlington center to help homeowners avoid foreclosure

By Jim Fuquay

jfuquay@star-telegram.com

ARLINGTON -- JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's biggest mortgage servicing companies, has opened a counseling center in Arlington aimed at helping homeowners who are struggling to meet monthly mortgage payments avoid foreclosure.

It's the only such center in Tarrant County operated by the nation's three largest mortgage servicers. The others, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, have either opened similar centers in other markets or use special events to offer counseling to borrowers. Chase also opened a Dallas Homeownership Center last year.

The moves come after a record 2.9 million foreclosures were filed nationwide in 2010, including more than 60,000 in North Texas.

Jorge Davila, who oversees the Arlington Chase Homeownership Center and similar facilities in the Southwest, said the lender has added 8,000 loan counselors in the past two years to meet the needs of homeowners. The Arlington center will have six counselors and aims to match each household one-on-one with a counselor who will handle the loan modification.

David O'Brien, director of Housing Opportunities of Fort Worth, a nonprofit counseling and education service, said meeting face-to-face and having a single counselor manage a mortgage modification are both good ideas.

"If people feel they're getting the runaround, you've got a situation that's almost out of control," said O'Brien, whose organization gets 60 percent of its funding from lenders and foundations. He called Chase's decision to open a Tarrant County facility "a very positive move" and said the foreclosure crisis is easing, "but we're a ways from seeing an end."

Chase and other lenders say the first option for a homeowner at risk of foreclosure is to enter the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Since its launch in 2009, about 1.6 million households have entered at least a trial modification, including more than 15,000 in North Texas. A trial modification, which lasts three months or more, can be followed by a permanent modification.

If a borrower is eligible, a HAMP modification can reduce mortgage payments to 31 percent of pretax income by reducing the interest rate to as low as 2 percent, extending the term to 40 years, or deferring a portion of the principal until the loan is paid off and waiving interest on the deferred amount.

Loans that don't qualify for HAMP can be handled under an alternative modification program, said Davila and Hugh Rowden, Wells Fargo's regional servicing director. Rowden said 14 percent of loan modifications occur under HAMP, with other options including programs offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big federally backed mortgage investors, or private programs operated by lenders.

Rowden said Wells Fargo has done about 650,000 loan modifications. He said that among the bank's borrowers who were 60 days or more delinquent, it can keep a majority out of foreclosure if the borrower works with the bank, compared with about 25 percent who proceed without help.

Wells Fargo does not have a North Texas location among its 27 Home Preservation centers, but has conducted 29 special Home Preservation Workshops around the country. It has scheduled a workshop for Aug. 3-4 in Dallas, Rowden said; information on how to register will be released soon.

Besides the lenders, agencies such as O'Brien's offer foreclosure counseling. A list of counselors certified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development can be found online at tinyurl.com/ctwfjj,

Cities also offer homeowner services. For example, Grand Prairie has scheduled a foreclosure prevention session at its free Homebuyers Fair on June 25.

Jim Fuquay, 817-390-7552

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