Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Woman Sues Chase After Husband Has Heart Attack After Foreclosure

By Cornelius Nunev


JPMorgan Chase is being sued for a foreclosure, but not in the way many would anticipate. A wrongful death lawsuit has been submitted against the bank after a man had cardiac arrest after foreclosure. The lawsuit suggests Chase brought on the death of Harry Engel by heart attack in 2010.

Foreclosure leads to heart attack

Harry Engel, a 79-year-old retired minister in Grand Prairie, Texas, experienced a fatal heart attack in July 2010, according to KHOU, a Houston CBS affiliate. His family members believe his heart attack was induced by foreclosure proceedings begun by the Chase bank after the family had lived in their house for 22 years.

The Engel family lived on a fixed income and had heard of a refinancing program that would lower their rate. They talked to a banker at their local Chase branch, who told them to be able to qualify for the refinancing program through the Department of the Treasury, ostensibly the Making House Affordable Program, they had to first miss a payment, which they did.

The bank started to send late fees and updates, and he got a notice of foreclosure. Then, he got a notice of eviction and had the heart attack. Apparently the bank started the program and cancelled their enrollment in it.

Widow upset over it

Wando Jo Engel is his wife who is suing Chase for wrongful death, according to the Huffington Post. Chase was in the early stages of filing for foreclosure though it had not actually filed the paperwork yet. The Engel family was not the only family that was told to miss a payment to be able to get in the refinancing program just for the bank to change its mind and not keep going.

The Senate Banking committee hearings in 2010 talked about this, called "servicer-led foreclosure," according to the Washington post. It was part of the massive suit the government did against the five biggest mortgage lenders in the nation for "robosigning" and other practices that were not allowed. The mortgage lenders settled for $25 billion earlier this year, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Huffington Post explained that a servicer-led foreclosure went wrong this year at Bank of America too. Pamela Flores in Georgia was told the same thing from Bank of America just to have the modification not work out and foreclosure to follow, according to the Huffington Post. The Engel family is not alone.

Difficult to deal with foreclosure

There have been quite a few foreclosure suicides since 2008 when the market first started to crash, according to USA Today. Distressed homeowners had troubles with their loans and started calling suicide hotlines. This year, there have been a few incidents, two of which were suicides and one which was a murder-suicide. People are crumbling under the pressure of keeping their family together when getting kicked out of a home.




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