FORT GORDON, Ga. -- (Aug. 5, 2011) With the current state of the economy, many homeowners feel they have a great deal to be concerned about. This can be especially true for homeowners who are also servicemembers. Their biggest concern: what happens to my house if I have to PCS or deploy? Fortunately, there is an Army-wide program (which began on Fort Gordon) designed to assist military homeowners. As part of this program, representatives from Chase Bank were on post Aug. 5 to meet with military personnel and discuss their concerns and options.

“Our military and veteran customers are especially important to us,” Steven Charles, associate vice president of the Chase Military Homeownership Center in Norfolk, Va., said. “And it is our commitment to never foreclose on deployed active duty servicemembers. We will help them find a way to keep their home.”

Charles was one of three Chase representatives on hand during the presentation. Afterward, they met one-on-one with the servicemembers in attendance.

Chase is one of five mortgage lending companies (also including Bank of America, Citi Bank, USAA and Wells Fargo) that have signed a mortgage assistance program memorandum of commitment for Soldiers and Families alongside the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy and Environment) and Fannie Mae last September (see below). Earlier this year, Chase was outed to the public for charging servicemembers higher interest rates and in some cases, foreclosing. Charles explained how the company made a mistake and is working to correct it by offering even bigger incentives.

“In addition to their recommitment to avoiding foreclosure for deployed active duty servicemembers, Charles said the company has also, “set up a free distance education training program through Syracuse University, donated 1,000 homes to veterans, and is leading a coalition of 10 companies to hire 100,000 veterans within the next decade.”

Mary Scott, Fort Gordon housing program director, said she’s glad Chase as well as the other major lending companies, are stepping up their efforts to assist servicemembers.
“It all ties in to Fort Gordon’s Homeowners Assistance initiative,” she said.
Last year, Scott received a Superior Civilian Service Award for her work dedicated to assisting military homeowners.

During the award ceremony, former Fort Gordon garrison commander Col. Glenn Kennedy said, “[her] tremendous efforts are just another example of the hard work that is being done every day to improve the lives of our Soldiers and their Families. Mary Scott’s work began as a Fort Gordon initiative but was quickly recognized as being so critical to our Soldiers and Families that it was adopted by ... the Army and resulted in the Army-wide Mortgage Assistance Program.”