My husband and I purchased a home in XX/XX/XXXX and got our first mortgage through Wells Fargo and a second with XXXX. Unfortunately, we currently are very much underwater and have to delay retirement and much needed downsizing due to this situation for the foreseeable future. Wells Fargo solicited us in XX/XX/XXXX to do what we thought was a refinance. We did get a lower rate and changed our repayment term, but unbeknownst to us, this now makes us unable to get any kind of gov't assistance ( HAMP ect. ) because they say our mortgage originated after XX/XX/XXXX. If we had known that refinancing back in XX/XX/XXXX would preclude us from any further ( and much better ) gov't help later on, we would never had done the refinance. As I mentioned, the XXXX mortgage representative solicited us on this, so I feel they did this on purpose. I 've asked countless times if something could be done to help us- both companies- XXXX and Chase- and because we do n't have a financial hardship and because of the XX/XX/XXXX thing, they wo n't help us. And the other big point here is when we got the original mortgage, XXXX did a bridge loan because we had n't sold the house we were living in yet. I feel that should n't ever have been allowed, but it was. As a result, we had trouble selling our original house because the real estate market was just beginning to plummet here but we did n't know it yet. So we had XXXX houses ( and mortgages ) for six months back in XX/XX/XXXX putting us into pretty bad financial hardship then. The last point is, the house we are in now is in an area of multifamily homes with illegal renters which has led to a decline in our property values even less than what it should be for our area. You could say it is a somewhat blighted area. This has made matters worse and is a factor in me wanting to get out of here. 

We just feel that even though we unfortunately signed on the dotted line with all of this, we really were victims of mortgage practices that now are not allowed plus the whole idea that we ca n't get any help because we refinanced in XX/XX/XXXX even though we bought the house in XX/XX/XXXX ( which puts us squarely in the place of people who need help and are underwater ) is just outright unfair to me. Also, just because we are hardworking, taxpaying people does n't mean we should n't get some assistance too. My husband is XXXX and would like to retire but he ca n't because we ca n't sell this house. We could just foreclose like everyone else out there, but we would n't do that. However, I am not sure how long we can do this. Even if Chase ( the second XXXX holder ) could turn our mortgage into a personal loan that would be a great option here, but they said no on several occasions. The house is currently worth the first mortgage ( XXXX ) so that could easily be paid off with a sale. The problem is a sale currently would not pay off the second mortgage completely, but Chase wo n't budge on working with us on this. 

Sorry for the lengthy summary, but this has just been such a terrible experience and I do n't know what else to do. I feel these big banks ( ironically XXXX and Chase the XXXX that seemed to survive this whole financial mess really well even though they helped cause it ) have so much money and gov't encouragement to help people, but they really are n't. 
