Some homeowners have difficulty holding on to their homes simply due to miscommunication: banks lose paperwork and fail to keep track of mortgage modification applications. The confusion is a result of multiple employees handling the same case.

Laws that require a "single point of contact" between the homeowner and one case-assigned employee are the answer to the problem. But so far litigation that would put an end to the mix-ups has stalled. Zach Carter reports about it at The Huffington Post:

Tim Collette's son Aaron will get back from Iraq on Aug. 19. On Aug. 9, his bank, JPMorgan Chase, is taking his house in Bend, Ore. -- unless Collette can get a mortgage modification first. But unlike innumerable other borrowers in similar situations, Collette now has a pretty good shot at getting one.
Collette first asked his bank for help in 2008 when his work as a home flooring expert slowed down dramatically. The result was a disaster. He said the bank told him he had to miss payments to qualify for help. When he missed the payments, the bank began pursuing a foreclosure. One day someone from Chase would say one thing, the next, someone else would say something completely different.

The process got a lot easier last week when Chase assigned a single person to follow Collette's case and handle every single interaction that he has with the bank.

See the full story at The Huffington Post.

For more on mortgages, foreclosures and related topics see these AOL Real Estate guides

• Mortgage Jargon in Simple Terms
• Spot Foreclosure Scammers Before They Spot You
• Foreclosure Help: What a Housing Counselor Can Do
• Foreclosure: What it Means for Renters

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