Bank admits Iraq veteran foreclosed on in "error"

Bank admits error after couple claims home was illegally taken
By Daymond Steer
Nov 03, 2011 12:00 am

Further, the Drews say the debacle has impacted Travis Drew's health. He is an Iraq war veteran who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He retired from the Army in January.

EFFINGHAM — A major Wall Street bank is apologizing to a Maine couple who allege that the bank wrongfully claimed ownership of their second home on Green Mountain Road in Effingham. But the apology rings hollow for the Drew family.

Apparently, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. confused a little red house, owned by Travis and Paula Drew, at 529 Green Mountain Road, for a no-longer-existent mobile home at 519 Green Mountain Road.

The structures were owned by different people even though they once shared the same lot. The confusion led the bank's agents to change the locks on the Drews' home and remove $14,000 worth of belongings from the property.

The Drews don't live in the Effingham house. They live in Stow, Maine.

Another entity, called EMC Mortgage, had foreclosed on a mobile home in 2002. The bank-owned mobile home burned down in 2007. EMC Mortgage became a part of Chase when Chase acquired Bear Stearns in 2008.

The bank, which was apparently under the impression it owned the mortgage on the Drew house, sent a contractor to maintain the property.
read more here