Consumer complaint received 2018-05-21
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: MO
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Card opened as result of identity theft or fraud

Complaint:
CHASE allowed my wife to open two credit cards in my name, a CHASE Slate card ( opened XX/XX/XXXX ) and an XXXX card ( opened XX/XX/XXXX through CHASE ). I knew of neither one of these cards that were opened fraudulently in my name, using my personal information. I am currently going through a divorce, and I discovered the fraud after checking my credit score on XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX, and my wife admitted to defrauding me. My divorce lawyer advised me to request the statements from when my wife opened up both cards, and to start paying on the credit cards now that I know about them. I've done as my lawyer advised ; in the meantime, I informed CHASE of all of this, and they have done nothing to do right by me. They have instead chosen to victimize me further. I also have great concern with XXXX and request they right this wrong as well as CHASE. The following is the last attempt of many letters and phone calls to CHASE where I have tried to reach out and resolve this issue with a fair solution for both CHASE and me. It is XX/XX/XXXX and CHASE Fraud department told me they are not going to do anything to fix the situation where they allowed me to be defrauded. 

XX/XX/XXXX Dear CHASE, Please see the enclosed copies of the letter you sent me. You state : We submitted information to the following credit reporting agencies on XX/XX/XXXX noting the accounts [ # # # # & # # # # ] should be deleted and requesting an update to your credit report. 

Thank you for this action ; however, I have two questions Why did you open up the # # # # CHASE XXXX card in my name after closing the fraudulent # # # # that was in my name? Also, CHASE did the same with the XXXX card # # # #, which was originally opened up fraudulently as # # # #. When I talked with CHASE Fraud in XX/XX/XXXX, I had the cards closed and I strongly objected to your process of opening and issuing new cards. I was told, You dont really have a choice. I believe I did, and doand as a result of your absurd process of opening new cards, you have not only issued me an unwanted new card, but you have also issued a new card to the very person who defrauded me ( My soon to be ex-wife ). I explained all of this, and still you insisted on issuing these cards. Thats disgusting, and once again, CHASE has behaved unethically and recklessly toward me. I never opened a credit card to begin withmy soon to be ex didwithout my knowledge, using my personal information, and continuing to charge away while I didnt even know a card existed. Two, in fact, counting the XXXX card that CHASE has enabled. Can you defend any of this? The business practices and fraud mitigation CHASE follow are clearly hurting me and others. What is going on here? Im not even your credit card customer. How can I be when I didnt sign up, had no knowledge of the cards, and my soon-to-be ex admittedly defrauded me? 

Note the photocopy in this letter that displays the two new # # # # cards one issued to the defrauder, my soon-to-be ex. This is outrageous of CHASE to have done, and there is no defense for this. You have put me at risk and compromised my financial well-being AGAIN. I repeat you sent the person who defrauded me another credit card after I told you I DID NOT want you to open any more cards in my name. 

When I first learned of what my wife had done a few years agothe fraud that CHASE allowed her to commit, I immediately called CHASE Fraud, and consulted my lawyer. My attorney said to request all of the statements from when she first opened the cards up to today, and then to pay the monthly balance. This is in hope that in court it will be determined that she is responsible for these charges, not meand rightly so, as I did not open the accountshe did, defrauding me, obviously without my knowledge of the existence of any cards. She also hid any statements from my joint account, and obviously the CHASE statements, which were on an online CHASE account she created ( which I now have access to, but obviously did not the last few yearshow could I? I didnt know the cards existed ). 

I would like you to send me a letter stating that I am not responsible for the cards # # # # & # # # #, nor the new CHASE Slate cards. I would also like the letter to state that I never signed up for the cards, and that I owe nothing on the balance of these cards. 

In light of your first blunder that damaged an innocent person ( not even a credit card customer of yours ), and in light of your second blunder that issued the person who defrauded me a new credit card, I would like you to formally state that I am not responsible for the cards because I never signed up for them ; I was defrauded. I would like the statement to state my name and that I owe nothing on any of these cards. I would like XXXX to be informed of all of this as well, and would like them to be involved in fixing this error that has damaged me. 

Mine is a sound demand based on CHASEs legal and ethical negligence in my situation. Based on the whole blunder to begin with, and the subsequent blunder by CHASE to issue a new card to the very person who defrauded me, my requirement is for you to send me a letter stating all that Ive now requested in this letter. Let me explicitly state it one last time : I would like you to send me a letter stating that I am not responsible for the cards # # # # & # # # #,  nor the new cards issued that they represent, # # # # and # # # # on behalf of XXXX through CHASE. I would also like the letter to state that I never signed up for the cards, and that I owe nothing on the balance of these cards, and I want sent to me a statement with a XXXX balance next to my name. 

And then I want CHASE credit card services to contact the credit bureaus and inform them that the two CHASE credit cards were opened up fraudulently in my name, that I am not responsible for them, and that they be removed from my credit file and my credit reports. I want this done because CHASE and my wife damaged my financial health. I am a person who never opened credit cards in the first place, did not know they had been opened in my name, and who remained a victim of CHASE, unbeknownst to me, for years. 

I have asked my lawyer if CHASEs blunder of sending the person who defrauded me a new card entitles me to some legal recourse, and if so, I intend to pursue that should CHASE take no action to absolve me of all owed on all cards ( of which I had nothing to do with in the first place ). I have already tried working with CHASE and their fraud department, only to be victimized again. I ask again that CHASE honor my requirements to erase the fraudulent debt in my name and to request that the credit bureaus recognize this fraud and remove it from my credit file and report.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation