West

Introduction

As authorized by Congress, the United States Department of the Treasury implemented the Home Affordable Mortgage Program (HAMP) to help homeowners avoid foreclosure during the housing market crisis of 2008. “The goal of HAMP is to provide relief to borrowers who have defaulted on their mortgage payments or who are likely to default by reducing mortgage payments to sustainable levels, without discharging any of the underlying debt.” (Bosque v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (D.Mass. 2011) 762 F.Supp.2d 342, 347 .)

*786 After her home loan went into default, plaintiff Genevieve West agreed to a trial period plan (TPP), a form of temporary loan payment reduction under HAMP, from defendant JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Chase Bank), 1 which had acquired her loan from the original lender. West complied with the terms of the TPP, and timely made every reduced monthly payment on her loan during the trial period and afterwards. Nonetheless, Chase Bank denied West a permanent loan modification, and West’s home was sold at a trustee’s sale just two days after Chase Bank told her, so West alleged, that no foreclosure sale was scheduled.

West brought this lawsuit alleging fraud,…