Consumer complaint received 2017-12-18
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: VA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Billing problem

Complaint:
My vehicle was repossessed XX/XX/XXXX by JPMorgan Chase as a result of Chase losing and not accepting a handful of payments between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. One payment was lost and later applied to the loan, while two others were refunded about two weeks after the repossession. The details around those payments are  confusing at best, but the primary issue was a block that was apparently placed on our account sometime in XX/XX/XXXX. This block should prevented us from paying online via ACH withdrawals and required us to pay with certified funds. However, our online payments continued to go through with money withdrawn from our bank account, and the only written communication from Chase we have regarding payments instructed us to pay online, by phone, or by check, none of which are certified means of payment. Accordingly, Chase also agreed after the repossession that we were never told about the certified funds requirement, but that the " status of our account was clear '', at least on their end. Despite that, it took over 3 weeks of research on their end, including the gathering of tracer information from my bank, to locate all of the payments and determine what happened to them. Even with the realization that the money was in the custody of Chase at the time of repossession, Chase refused to return our vehicle and we had to spend {$750.00} towards a lawyer. With the assistance of a lawyer, we were able to get Chase to agree to 1 ) re-instate the loan, 2 ) return possession of the vehicle to us, 3 ) waive all fees associated with the repossession and 4 ) fix our credit reports to show that the account was current and not 90 days late. 

Chase agreed to those four terms in a letter sent to our lawyer on XX/XX/XXXX and gave us 24 hours to pay {$2700.00} which covered a few fees, and the payments for the loan that were either refunded or that would have been due while we did not have possession of the vehicle. Chase also gave us a 7 day extension to pay our monthly payment due in XX/XX/XXXX. Both the XX/XX/XXXX payment and the redemption payment have been made in a timely manner. However, Chase has been unable to uphold their end of the agreement. 

Specifically, there is still a {$430.00} " REPO EXPENSE '' fee on our account. Our lawyer has asked the representative in the Executive Office to remove this from our account, as they previously agreed, but she has not responded to our lawyers phone call or the letter that was sent via fax. 

Our credit report now shows that we redeemed our vehicle following the repossession, but it still shows that we were 90 days late leading up to XX/XX/XXXX. This was as a result of payments that were processed by Chase ( money taken out of our bank account via ACH transaction ), but that were held, unknowingly to us, and not resolved until weeks after the repossession, as explained above. That incorrect information on our credit report represents violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, but more importantly, should no longer appear per Chase 's letter from XX/XX/XXXX. We have n't been able to receive confirmation from Chase that they have completed fixing our credit, but after making the redemption payment they did claim that it was in the works. 

Finally, the vehicle was released to us and we were able to physically gain possession of it from the auction house. However, Chase has yet to complete the process to retitle the vehicle in our name from the repo title. Without owning the vehicle, we can not register the car, meaning that while we physically have it, we can not legally operate it on any road. Numerous phone calls with Chase have offered nothing more than a convoluted string of missed exceptions and excuses, but a summary is as follows : Upon making the redemption payment, the Executive Office indicated that a request to have the vehicle retitled in our name was already in the works. Upon calling the redemption department on XX/XX/XXXX, I was told that the request was being worked on and had been expedited, but no completion estimate was available. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received the same answer, but was advised to call the main customer service line to be connected with the titling department. Status updates from the titling department have been extremely mixed. We were initially told that Chase had ordered a duplicate title from the Virginia DMV and they were waiting to receive that so they could sign it over to us, and then return it to the DMV so they could complete the titling process. We were initially told this request with the DMV was put in on XX/XX/XXXX, but during later calls we were told that a representative from Chase was in the process of contacting the DMV to ensure they had all of the proper paperwork to order the title, and that they had tried calling the DMV the previous day, but the DMV was already closed. On XX/XX/XXXX, we called asking for a status update and were told that the duplicate title request had actually been completed and they were in the process of updating the title and returning it to the DMV. However, on XX/XX/XXXX, a representative in the titling department indicated that 1 ) the duplicate title request had n't been submitted until XX/XX/XXXX and 2 ) that Chase never ordered the title from the DMV, but rather from their Asset Remarketing Team, which is apparently separate from Chase. That representative indicated that they still did not have the title in house, which means we 're going on almost 3 weeks without any sort of meaningful action for the titling process and previous representatives either lied to us, the representative on XX/XX/XXXX lied to us, or one or more representatives were confused on the entire process. Nevertheless, it 's unclear why the request for the title would n't be put in until XX/XX/XXXX if it was started on XX/XX/XXXX, or why it would take so long for the title to be mailed. At this point, it could be another 2-4 weeks before we can drive our car again, bringing the total time we 've been deprived of our car to close to 5 months. Additionally, we now have to explore renting a vehicle for XXXX since we will most likely be out of a suitable car for that time.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief