[StBernard] Another twist in the long and winding Road Home

[Westley Annis]

The answer is easy.  Chase is collecting the interest on all our money.
MsSimms


> -----------------------------------------------------

> When the state changed its Road Home rules last month so homeowners

without

> mortgages could get their grant awards in a lump sum, nobody told the

> recipients the funds would be held up at an Ohio mortgage bank until they

> sign more legal documents. 

> 

> The latest Road Home delay affects 1,100 Road Home recipients who own

their

> storm-damaged homes outright, or one in every five people who have closed

on

> their grants to date. It's another example of how major changes in the

> state's homeowner aid policy are slowing the process of doling out $7.5

> billion in federal funds. 

> 

> Some homeowners without mortgages say it was only after their closings,

when

> their money hadn't arrived, that they learned about the additional wait

and

> the involvement of mortgage bank Chase Home Finance in Columbus, Ohio. 

> 

> Mydas Williams gave her contractor the go-ahead to start fixing the back

of

> her West Bank home, which she owns free and clear, when she closed on her

> grant last week. She was told she'd have her money Monday, but when she

> called Chase she was shocked, first to find out her money had gone to a

> mortgage company at all, and second to learn the state had put a hold on

it.

> 

> 

> "Now what do I tell the contractor?" she said. 

> 

> Another grant recipient who owns his home outright, Michael Stapleton,

> encountered problems even before the lump-sum policy came into effect

March

> 22. He closed on his $47,900 grant for the Elmwood Park home he owns

> outright back on Feb. 28, had finished all his repairs 11 months ago and

was

> told at closing he'd be getting all of his money in 10 days. Instead, he

has

> waited more than a month. According to Chase, the grant funds didn't

arrive

> in Ohio until last week. 

> 

> Now, Stapleton, Williams and the rest of the unmortgaged Road Home

> recipients have to wait even longer because the state changed its program,

> ostensibly to get money out faster. The state Office of Community

> Development said it is sending out new legal covenants to the 1,100

affected

> homeowners this week. Chase will get the go-ahead to pay them as soon as

> they get the documents, sign them, get them notarized, send them back and

> have them processed by the bank. 

> 

> The revelation comes as the balance of Road Home applicants, the estimated

> 80 percent of applicants who are carrying at least some mortgage debt,

wait

> for the state to come up with a new way to pay their grants. The state's

> negotiations with lenders about adopting payment methods that would comply

> with federal guidelines continued throughout the day Tuesday. A group of

> state lenders proposed to let applicants borrow against the money in the

> Road Home grant award letters to fund repairs right away. That would allow

> the state to pay them in a lump-sum and still ensure it is used for

> rebuilding. State officials declined to comment on that or other proposals

> Tuesday. 

> The state chose to change its payment policies after the U.S. Department

of

> Housing and Urban Development announced two weeks ago that Louisiana's

> method of paying grants in installments as repairs are completed was not

the

> program the federal agency had approved. 

> 

> The homeowners without mortgages were supposed to be free of all those

> concerns. The 1,100 of them who had closed on their grants signed

covenants

> promising to use the money to rebuild and to live in their fixed homes for

> at least three years. To make sure they complied, the money was funneled

> through Chase. 

> 

> A call to Chase's "LRA Department" in Columbus was not answered at 3:30

p.m.

> and the department's voicemail was full. 

> 

> Chris Spencer, a spokesman for the bank in Louisiana, said Chase Home

> Finance was working on a new dedicated phone system for Road Home clients.

> He said the bank had agreed to handle these no-mortgage cases, at no

charge

> to the state or the Road Home program, because it has a vested interest in

> seeing homes rebuilt. 

> 

> Initially, Chase was supposed to send out first installments of 10 percent

> of each award, up to $7,500, as soon as it received proof repairs had

begun,

> and then it would use its inspectors to determine when each third of the

> repair work got done so the rest of the money could be sent to the

> homeowners. If work was done already, Chase was supposed to send out an

> inspector to verify that, then send the full amount. 

> 

> But when the state ended the time-consuming disbursement payments for

> unmortgaged properties on March 22, Chase was told to wait until the

> homeowners could sign new covenants promising to live in their homes

within

> three years after getting the grant money. 

> 

> The state Office of Community Development put out a statement the same day

> saying the money would be available to those without mortgages on April 2.

> Not until Stapleton and others complained to The Times-Picayune did the

> state acknowledge it had told Chase to hold onto the checks until the

> homeowners could sign the new covenants. 

> 

> Meanwhile, Stapleton went on a world tour of telephone operators, speaking

> to Chase representatives from Columbus to Manila, Philippines, some of

whom

> told him he now had a mortgage with the bank. Spencer said Chase didn't

even

> get Stapleton's grant payment until last week. On Monday, Stapleton got a

> letter from Chase identifying his money with a loan number, even though he

> had no loan. That's when he learned about the latest delay. 

> 

> "I finally managed to contact someone in the office where the letter

> originated. She assured me that there was no mortgage against my house,

but

> she said that the original covenant agreement that we signed at our final

> closing is no longer valid," Stapleton said. "I'll tell you, it can't get

> any more screwed up than this." 

> 

> Chase says it's waiting on the state to release the checks, but Mike

> Spletto, senior housing manager for the Office of Community Development,

> said that doesn't explain why Stapleton and others are still waiting for

> their first disbursements under the old policy. He said there is no hold

on

> the money and if a homeowner has completed repair work or needs to pay a

> contractor, Chase should send that money. 

> 

> "The bank has signed a disbursement agreement, so if it's taking a month,

> that's just unacceptable," Spletto said. "The banks are taking a while to

go

> out and inspect homes. Why Chase hasn't done this I can't answer." 

> 

> Spencer says it was the state's fault that it took a month for the bank to

> get Stapleton's grant money.

> 

>

****************************************************************************

> ****

> The only word that comes to mind is a 2 syllable word that begins with

> cluster and the other one sounds like muck.