A coalition of union leaders, homeowners, elected officials, and others launched a statewide campaign today urging JP Morgan to change its mortgage policies. The campaign states that unless the firm modifies its practices to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, participants of the coalition will boycott the bank, and encourage others to do the same.
This comes at the heels of a New York Communities for Change (NYCC) report about JP Morgan’s mortgage modification practices. The report stated that Chase has only granted about six percent of requests for mortgage modifications from New Yorkers with JP Morgan mortgages. The campaign urges the firm to stop all foreclosures and to change its mortgage modification policies, allowing more modifications and helping New Yorkers avoid foreclosure.
“Chase has a horrible record of modifying mortgages and working with homeowners to keep them in their homes,” NYCC Executive Director Jon Kest said. “We’ll be reminding them of that fact until it changes.”
Among coalition participants are officials from teachers and transport workers unions, State Senator Malcolm Smith, and New York homeowners whose requests to JP Morgan for mortgage modification have not been settled.
“The public needs to know how Chase has abused the public’s trust in pursuit of fattening its ledger sheet,” said Ted Feng, a local union official.
The coalition also stated that the campaign will feature weekly action by its members to try to convince JP Morgan to change its policies.
