New Chase center helps struggling homeowners
Published 9:46 pm Sunday, December 19, 2010
Chase, the consumer business of JPMorgan Chase, will open its first homeownership center in Seattle early next year to provide face-to-face help for people in danger of losing their homes.
The company announced last week that it will open 24 more Chase Homeownership Centers by April to help customers struggling with their house payments. Last year, JPMorgan Chase took over Washington Mutual, which was headquartered in Seattle and was among the biggest mortgage lenders in the region and the nation.
Chase doesn’t have a homeowner center in Seattle and is looking for a location, said spokeswoman Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot, adding that traditionally, Chase locates the centers in high-traffic areas that will be most beneficial to customers.
It’s not clear when the branch will open, but firm plans should start taking shape next month, she said.
Chase already has 27 centers in other metropolitan areas. The additions will bring the total to 51 locations in 14 states.
“Our first 27 centers have proven to be very effective in reaching families who are facing financial hardship and have fallen behind on their mortgages,” said Charlie Scharf, head of retail financial services at Chase. “So we are adding more locations to help more homeowners with their loans, including working with them to complete and assemble all the documents we need to provide permanent payment relief.”
Once the center is set up in Seattle, borrowers can schedule appointments or simply walk in six days a week. Joining Seattle as new homeownership markets will be Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, and Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
