Franklin Family Facing Eviction Thought They Had Saved Their House

About a month ago, homeowners Sharon Gagnon and her husband were facing foreclosure.

But they sought help from a HUD certified housing counselor, and got a modification with Chase Bank under the federal Making Home Affordable Program.

Gagnon had recently sent in her signed authorization with a check when a real estate agent came by and told her she didn’t own her house anymore.

Naturally my reaction was what the hell are you talking about. I just I mean I just restructured my mortgage with Chase.

Gagnon says she then went on to explain why the agent had to be mistaken.

There is no foreclosure. I have a three month deal with them. If I make this happen, make these payments over the next three months they will permanently modify my mortgage. I mean, I saw it in writing. And she’s like, well, I hope Chase didn’t screw you was her response.

According to Gagnon and her counselor, Chase bank, a unit of JP Morgan Chase, accepted the modification and the check that Gagnon sent.

But the bank then sent the check back with no explanation of why they were doing it.

In the meantime, Sharon Gagnon got another surprise in early August.

And the next thing I know is there’s an eviction notice on the door, from the sheriff, telling us we need to be out by September 15th. This was on august 10th. So, naturally that was a whole other level of panic. Now not only are they telling me they own my house. They’re kicking me out of it.

Housing activists say what the Gagnons experienced was unusual in New Hampshire.

Some say they are caught in a bureaucratic quagmire while others say the banks are overly aggressive in seeking foreclosures.

Many activists outside the state say they’ve seen this kind of thing before.

Bruce Dorpalen of ACORN Housing, a non-profit counseling agency, says in recent months his group has seen more than 500 cases of banks scheduling foreclosures when they shouldn’t.

Dorpalen says that’s because of rules for banks in the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.

Under the HAMP regulations you’re not allowed to proceed on a HAMP eligible family on a foreclosure or scheduled share sale date without having the HAMP review completed and foreclosures have continued to proceed as if everything is normal and there’s no need to do the HAMP review.

A spokesman for JP Morgan Chase says the company won’t comment on this story, except to say the Gagnon case is under investigation.

Gagnon’s attorney, Peter Wright at Franklin Pierce Law Center, says his team is already working on trying to keep the family in their home.

We’re certainly at a minimum would file a plea of title in any eviction action challenging the legality of any foreclosure under these circumstances.

Wright says he also thinks the Gagnons won’t find themselves out on the street come September 15th.

If Chase wants to go forward with eviction, they would need to actually formally start something probably in Franklin District Court but I’ll be speaking to the attorney handling the matter for Chase before then to see if we can’t…just work something out short of filing major law suits.

Wright is optimistic he can help the Gagnons.

They’re hoping he’s right, because they really don’t want to move.