Consumer complaint received 2017-12-06
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement

Complaint:
I was using my mother 's Chase credit card ( which she has authorized me to do ) to pay for my rent. I have been placing my rental payments on her card since XXXX XXXX XXXX. When I placed a payment on her card for {XXXX} in XX/XX/XXXX, she checked her statement, but did not recognize the name of the merchant that collects the payment ( listed under : XXXX XXXX XXXX ). She promptly called to dispute that one charge and then, Chase took it upon themselves to also dispute the two charges that were placed back in XX/XX/XXXX ( one for {XXXX} and one for {XXXX} - both had already been paid for, also ). My mother called me about the charge and I verified that it was not fraudulent. She then promptly called Chase back ( about 2-3 days after ) and asked that all the charges be placed back with the merchant since she had already paid off her statement. They verified that it would be, and we trusted them. 

Then, in XX/XX/XXXX I received a notification from my rental company that Chase had pulled out the amounts that were payed in XX/XX/XXXX. They did not mention the payments for XX/XX/XXXX, just XX/XX/XXXX. I immediately called Chase to ask what was going on and they stated that the payment had been sent to the merchant already and they instructed us to wait a few days for it to post to their accounts. We waited, and they still did not notify us of them having received any money, and my account still reflected the past-due balance for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. So we called again to have the money sent over and were told to wait. The merchant still had n't received payment so we called again, and another time after that. Even after all those times, they still had not received the money. 

Then, we called a few days before my XX/XX/XXXX rent was due, because my account STILL reflected the unpaid balance. We discussed it over the phone and they told us that the funds would be delivered within 72 hours at the latest. We called on the XX/XX/XXXX because my property manager stated that the company still had not received funds. We were told that the funds were posted that day at XXXX. But that was still not reflected in my account. 

When we called again on XX/XX/XXXX, we were then told that the merchant had received the payment but it would take an additional 72 hours for them to process the payment so that it could reflect on my account. However, my rent for the month of XX/XX/XXXX was already past due at this point, because I was unable to pay for it due to the balance that was still owed for XX/XX/XXXX, which prompted the company to close off my ability to make payments through their online portal. 

Finally, we called today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to see if we could just get the credit for the payments added back onto the credit card so I could make the payment myself ( I had spoken to the property manager and they agreed to unlock my account for online payment just this once ). We were told that it was not possible to do so, but would have to wait until the XXXX for the money to be posted. However, I was already given notice that the rent had to be paid in full ( XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, plus the late fees ) by the XXXX, or I would be forced to vacate the premises. I informed them of this and of the situation that led up to this, and they stated that they could not help me. I persisted and got transferred two or three times to higher-level staff until one of the staff members decided to get into contact with the accounting department to see if she could cancel the merchant repayment and just put the credit back on the card ( which would take an additional 24-48 hours ). We saw that it would be our best option and opted for her to do so, and they approved it. 

However, during the two-month period that it took to finally get this issue semi-resolved, my rental account had acquired over {XXXX} in late fees. And Chase is stating that they refuse to pay for it. They stated that we could have just paid the funds ourselves and just asked the money to be credited on the account. That is false, because due to the company pulling the money from the merchant, they locked all online access to the account. And, when we did try to get the money credited to our account, it took over an hour of arguing over the phone just for them to agree to do so. Also, the accumulation of all of these late fees is solely due to the length of time that it took for the company to send the money back to the merchant ( which still has n't happened, by the way ). Money for two charges that we did not even authorize to be taken out of the account in the first place. My mother had originally called to dispute a charge that was made in XX/XX/XXXX, not the two payments made in XX/XX/XXXX. 

Every time that we called to request the money be sent back to the merchant, we were guaranteed that they would receive it under a specified time frame. and all of those statements were false. Chase is denying all responsibility for this issue and states that the late fees are our responsibility, and that their sole responsibility is to return the funds to the merchant. However they have failed to even do the thing that they claim responsibility for. My mother and I are very frustrated and feel very cheated and taken advantage of. We are also discussing pursuing legal action. And not because of the late fees, but for the fact that it took such a lengthy amount of time to just send back two payments ( which they did not even do ), and for not owning up to their responsibility in the matter. If it were not for the kindheartedness of my current property manager, I would have been evicted and charged even more money in late fees. Chase needs to acknowledge their wrongdoing in this situation and own up to it.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation