Consumer complaint received 2020-02-26
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Privacy issues

Complaint:
I have now had two calls with Chase bank over this issue. The first was on Friday, XX/XX/2020 at XXXX XXXX, lasting 37 minutes and 26 seconds. The second was on Wednesday, XX/XX/2020 at XXXX XXXX, lasting 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 18 seconds. I have been told Chase is unable to provide additional assistance with resolving the issue, which I do not believe to be true. 

On Friday, XX/XX/2020, I attempted to create an online account for my new credit card. When I created my account, I received a two-factor authentication request with an authentication sent to a phone number I did not recognize. I had to call in to the online support team in order to gain access to my account, as I was unable to authenticate. Once I was in the account, and over the course of my conversation with support, I could see the primary number associated with my account was the aforementioned number I was not associated with. My phone number, the number I used in my application for the credit card, was listed as the secondary number. The support employee removed the incorrect phone number listed as primary before I had a chance to write down the number, but I believe it to have ended to the effect of XXXX. She escalated the issue to an investigator who was supposed to call me back on Wednesday, XX/XX/2020. 

I received a call-back from the investigator on Wednesday XX/XX/2020 who could not provide any additional information as to why the number was associated with my account. As it was a credit card issue, she transferred me to the credit card team. The credit card team employee I spoke with could not assist me, and escalated me to his supervisor. His supervisor said it appeared to be fraud to him, and transferred me to the fraud team. The fraud team said they did not see any evidence of another number existing on my account, and suggested transferring me to another team. I was then transferred back to the online account team. The online account team transferred me back to the credit card team. I was then escalated to a supervisor on the credit card team, who escalated me up another level to someone with elevated access. 

The person I was escalated to was unable to help me understand why that number was associated with my account, and was able to confirm I do not have any other associations with Chase Accounts ( which is not a surprise to me, as I have not had a Chase account ). I had heard from her, and a couple of other employees, that having another Chase account could have caused the system to associate a primary number on those accounts to this new credit card, but that does not appear to be the case. I also correctly input my phone number when I initially submitted my application, another common cause of error, as my phone number was correct and associated with the account - as its primary number. 

I believe having a primary number associated with my account that I did not add, and should not have been associated with my account to begin with, to be a significant privacy and account security risk. I was not provided an explanation as to why this may have occurred. I was transferred in a circle, and transferred/escalated a total of 8 times over the course of an hour and a half, with not a single employee able to assist me. I was finally told by the employee with elevated privileges that there was no-one she could transfer me to that could assist in investigating the root cause of this number association.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation