All 24 Chase Homeownership Centers Now Open to Help Families Keep Their Homes

D.C. Center opening links coast-to-coast initiative to help to struggling homeowners

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 9, 2009 - Chase today marked the official opening of its new homeownership center to provide face-to-face help to D.C., Maryland and Virginia area families struggling with their mortgage payments.

Trained loan advisors at the center at 1350 I Street, NW, Suite 530 will help borrowers who have a home loan serviced by Chase, Washington Mutual or EMC - all now part of JPMorgan Chase.

"We created these local Homeownership Centers as a place for our borrowers to sit down and discuss their situation face-to-face with trained loan advisors in these challenging times," said David Schneider, head of mortgage servicing at Chase. "They are part of a wide-ranging initiative to help families stay in their homes whenever possible."

Chase is the only large mortgage servicer in the country to open local walk-in centers to provide borrowers face-to-face loan counseling. It now has a total of 24 homeownership centers in areas around the country with high levels of mortgage delinquencies: nine centers in California, five in Florida, two in the New York City area, and one each in the Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and D.C. areas.

The Washington D.C. area center will feature:

Trained advisors. A team of homeownership advisors will assist customers whose circumstances have changed and are no longer able to make their scheduled monthly payment, who want to avoid foreclosure and stay in their home. The trained advisors will evaluate their finances, review possible workout options and answer any questions.

Scheduled appointments. To reduce wait time, customers are encouraged to set up an appointment in advance. They should bring documentation, including recent W-2s and tax forms, recent pay stubs and bank statements and monthly expense documentation. Also, they should bring any information, such as a hardship letter, that will help explain their current financial challenges.

A track record of helping. The advisors reflect Chase's commitment to helping families sustain homeownership over the long term. Since 2007, Chase has helped prevent 330,000 foreclosures of Chase, WaMu and EMC loans, primarily by reducing interest rates, extending the term of the loans and providing principal deferral.

Through its own initiatives and by participating in Obama administration programs, Chase expects to help a total of more than 650,000 families by modifying more than $110 billion of home loans.

The Washington D.C. area center will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The center can be reached directly at (202) 216-8189.

Customers who would like to receive more information can call 1-866-550-5705.

About Chase

Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), which operates more than 5,000 branches and 14,000 ATMs nationally under the Chase and WaMu brands. Chase has 168 million credit cards issued and serves consumers and small businesses through bank branches, ATMs and mortgage offices as well as through relationships with auto dealerships and schools and universities. It also serves more than 30,000 commercial banking clients, including corporations, municipalities, financial institutions and not-for-profit entities. More information about Chase is available at http://www.chase.com/.