Consumer complaint received 2023-01-15
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
I am a long-time Chase Bank customer . I received an offer for a 0 % balance transfer for the " Chase Freedom Flex '' credit card with a " Respond Now '' button on my Chase account online. Chase did NOT make it clear that the 0 % balance transfer only applied to balance transfers from other banks. I was planning to do a balance transfer from my other Chase card. I clicked " Respond Now '' and when prompted to enter the credit card number that I wanted to do a balance transfer from, I entered my other Chase credit card number. I did not receive any alerts notifying me that I was not eligible to transfer the balance from another Chase card to receive the 0 % offer on the Chase Freedom Flex card. Rather, I was allowed to complete the workflow and moments later my Chase account log-in showed a Chase Freedom Flex card as one of my Chase accounts.

However Chase did not ever process the balance transfer request. I called Chase to inquire about the status of the balance transfer. I was first told that " there is no 0 % balance transfer offer for this card. '' When I explained that I could see text on the Chase website conveying the 0 % balance transfer offer, I was transferred to the Chase Freedom Flex customer service department. 

The Chase Freedom Flex customer service agent told me that it would take a few days to process the 0 % offer. They then asked what card I was trying to do a balance transfer from. I told them that I was trying to transfer from my other Chase credit card. It was only at that point ( after I had applied for the card including balance transfer offer, had the card opened on my account, and contacted customer service and spoken to two customer service agents ) that I was notified that the 0 % balance transfer offer does not apply to other Chase credit cards. I told the customer service agent that this was never made clear to me and the only reason I opened the Chase Freedom Flex card had been to transfer the high-interest balance from my other Chase card XXXX The customer service agent apologized but did not offer a solution. 

In discussing this situation with several friends I have learned that other financial institutions, such as XXXX, notify customers with a pop-up alert during the balance transfer process if they try to transfer a balance from another XXXXXXXX XXXX card. There is no reason Chase does not have a pop-up or other notice in the card application workflow to notify customers that they can not transfer the balance from another Chase card. If I had received a pop-up notification informing me I could not transfer the balance from another Chase card, I would not have opened my Chase Freedom Flex card at all.

I feel like I was tricked by Chase into opening another Chase credit card that I do not want or need, on the premise of having a 0 % balance transfer available. I was never notified that I could not transfer a balance from another Chase card to this new Chase credit card, and never would have opened the Chase Freedom Flex card if I knew I could not transfer a balance from my other Chase credit card.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation