Mitchell Stein, Esq.: Military Families' Foreclosure Fiasco Provides Ominous Warning in Dealing with Banks

HIDDEN HILLS, CA – Recent revelations that one of the nation's largest lenders overcharged thousands of military families for their mortgages, including families of troops fighting in Afghanistan, and improperly foreclosed on more than a dozen military families highlights the extent of the foreclosure crisis and the disadvantages homeowners face without expert legal help in foreclosure actions, according to Mitchell Stein, Esq. of Mitchell Stein & Associates.

The revelations were the result of a lawsuit* filed by Marine Capt. Jonathan Rowles, a fighter jet pilot who has served the nation as a Marine for five years, against JP Morgan Chase after he and his wife, Julia, tried unsuccessfully for several years to get a loan modification.  The lawsuit has received national attention and caused a review of every mortgage involving active duty personnel by the bank, which has admitted overcharging the family by as much as $900 a month, hitting them with three-a-day collection calls and claiming they owed as much as $15,000 --  even though they didn't owe anything and had never missed a mortgage payment.

"These dedicated members of the armed forces would have lost their homes through blatant mismanagement of their mortgages by JP Morgan Chase," said Mitchell J. Stein, a 25-year award-winning litigator, trial lawyer, and philanthropist dedicated to protecting consumers and victims' rights in reigning in abusive practices of banks, lenders and others.  "No amount of PR spin and backpedaling can make up for the damage the bank has done to the lives thousands of our service men and women and their families."

Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), active-duty troops generally get mortgage interest rates lowered to 6 percent and are protected from foreclosure. A Chase official told NBC News that some 4,000 troops may have been overcharged. What's more, the bank discovered it improperly foreclosed on the homes of 14 military families.

"Chase may have repeatedly violated the SCRA, which is designed to protect troops and their families from financial stress while they're in harm's way," said Mitchell J. Stein. "It is unfortunate that a lawsuit was required to get them to act within the law and it is likely we will see this situation repeated as the foreclosure crisis continues."

The Rowles' records show that while they were making payments at 6 percent, the bank had been charging them at rates above 9 or 10 percent. They called the bank repeatedly to explain the mistake without success and then the bank began harassing them for money they did not owe, including threatening to take their house and report them to a credit agency.  After collection calls started occurring at 3 am on weekends, the Rowles sued Chase for himself and other members of the military.

"At a time when millions of Americans are fighting for their homes due to foreclosure, this shows how banks and lenders often willfully ignore the law and wrongfully throw people out of their homes, and it is especially despicable that Chase treated our servicemen and women this way.  Based on what can only be described as a terrible mess, it is reasonable to ask: In addition to the military families, how many non-military families has this bank wrongfully foreclosed on?" said Mitchell J. Stein.