jQuery posting JSON

'data' should be a stringified JavaScript object:

data: JSON.stringify({ "userName": userName, "password" : password })

To send your formData, pass it to stringify:

data: JSON.stringify(formData)

Some servers also require the application/json content type header:

contentType: 'application/json'

There's also a more detailed answer to a similar question here: Jquery Ajax Posting JSON to webservice

You post JSON like this

$.ajax(url, {
    data : JSON.stringify(myJSObject),
    contentType : 'application/json',
    type : 'POST',
    ...

if you pass an object as settings.data jQuery will convert it to query parameters and by default send with the data type application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8, probably not what you want