HUNTINGTON – A woman is suing JPMorgan Chase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank after she claims they participated in predatory lending practices.
In 2003, Kathy L. Carroll and her husband, R.M. Carroll, were solicited by the now-defunct lender Aegis Funding Corporation, according to a complaint filed Aug. 22 in Cabell Circuit Court.
Wells Fargo is now the trustee for Aegis.
Kathy Carroll claims the defendants obtained an appraiser with the purpose of providing, without her or her husband's knowledge, an inflated appraisal to justify the refinance.
The appraiser appraised the Carroll home at or above $290,000, when the actual value of the home was $180,300, according to the suit.
Kathy Carroll claims in 2007 she began to struggle with house payments because of the death of her husband and asked Chase for assistance, but was not given any.
In August, Kathy Carroll discovered for the first time that the originating appraisal was inflated, according to the suit.
Kathy Carroll claims the loan carried an interest rate of 10.5 percent and had she and her husband been aware that the loan exceeded the value of the home, they would not have agreed to enter into the Deed of Trust securing the loan.
The loan contains "several substantively unfair terms that came as a surprise" to Kathy Carroll, including but not limited to the fact that the loan far exceeds the market value of the home, according to the suit.
Kathy Carroll is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Bren J. Pomponio and Daniel F. Hedges.
The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge F. Jane Hustead.
Cabell Circuit Court case number: 12-C-554