Consumer complaint received 2018-05-07
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Other problem

Complaint:
I am a longtime Chase customer with several credit cards and a bank account. I have paid my accounts on time 100 % of the time, and can see no valid reason for why the following has occurred to me. In XX/XX/XXXX I applied for and was approved for the new Chase IHG Premier card. The underwriting department saw me as a worthy customer - obviously taking into account my excellence history with Chase, my income, my high credit score, and the good standing of my credit file. However, Chase apparently has a separate department who reviews credit applications even after an approval. And apparently this department has a different set of criteria than the approval department. And upon reviewing my application ( which was approved ), and taking a look at my credit file, this separate department used a separate, and confusing, set of criteria to decide to close every single one of my Chase credit accounts - including the IHG Premier which I had JUST been approved for by Chase. The fact that Chase has two departments reviewing credit applications, and each of these departments has different criteria, and each of these departments has different powers, is incredibly confusing and unfair to the customer. Hopefully this is already clear. 
After realizing that my accounts were closed ( which I discovered by logging into my account ), I called Chase and was given the reason that I had opened too many new accounts in the last 12 months, and that I had too many open credit cards. I received this same reason in a written letter in the mail. I tried to explain that I own several businesses, and as such own a few credit cards for each of these businesses. Additionally, one of these businesses is a XXXX XXXX   business, and of course I have several credit inquiries from mortgage providers in the last year on my credit file because of the nature of this business. I further explained that although I have many credit cards, I have never missed a payment, I use the cards for varying purposes, and I have no derogatory marks on my credit file. I explained that for an average customer, the amount of credit I have may seem high, but I am not an average customer. And regardless, I have not misused my credit to even a slight degree, and I have been a good Chase customer for 15+ years. 
I went on to question this department 's criteria, and tried to inquire why my credit report would be deemed fine for a Chase credit approval just a day before also being deemed too risky to hold any Chase account. There was no sufficient response to this question, which I think is quite important. 
I asked for a secondary review over the phone and was told it would take a few days. At the same time I opened a case with the Executive Office because I deemed this a case worthy of high escalation. After some back and forth with Chase, and after several days, I received a call back from the EO with a decision concerning my file. They were refusing to reopen my accounts. I reiterated my concerns stated above, and implored them to please reconsider and make a true SECONDARY LOOK at my credit file so they could understand my side. I provided the EO rep the information about my personal and business situation and how that clearly explained the high amount of credit and inquiries on my report, and asked her to please send my concerns back to the department handling my closure. Within the same day - possibly within an hour - I received a call back from the EO stating they had reviewed my provided information and were still not reopening my accounts. 
This is where the crux of my complaint lies. I do not believe the department responsible for my closure is truly giving my file a secondary or thorough examination. I believe the initial decision was made based off the high amount of inquiries and accounts, but since then I do not believe a single person has bothered to take my information into consideration and do a secondary review of my file. For a person such as myself, with three businesses - one XXXX XXXX, one XXXX, and one in XXXX XXXX - the amount of inquiries and credit accounts on my file is what I would consider normal. I think someone doing a personal review of my account, and understanding what I have just said, would likely come to the conclusion to reopen my accounts. If not based on the amount of businesses I own, then surely based on the fact that even with my high credit, I have not ONCE missed a payment or used an excessive amount of my credit. My utilization is typically below 5 %. 
However, I feel that the agent or agents in the closure department have a very short-sighted view of credit files. I also believe these agents are purposely NOT looking at my file because they are frustrated with my repeated attempts to reopen my accounts. 
These reasons are not valid to keep a loyal customers credit accounts closed, and to negatively affect their credit in such a way. So far I have felt that Chase 's customer service has been lacking with respect to this situation. In fact, one agent I initially spoke to hung up on me and yelled at me. Chase 's last response to CFPB complaint made it seem as though that was not true, which again angered me. I was on the phone with this agent - I know for a fact I was yelled at and hung up on. 
I will continue to fight to have my accounts reopen, because I truly believe the decision was wrong and not thought out.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation