Consumer complaint received 2022-01-06
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: TX
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
Hello, Thank you for taking the time to read this. 
This is concerning Chase Mortgage XXXX company. We applied for a refinance loan in early XXXX with Chase in the amount of XXXX ( our house payoff amount ). They increased our loan amount to XXXX and immediately sent an appraiser, did not disclose that we could hire our own, nor gave us time to get our own appraiser, and did not disclose that we would be charged for that appraisal. 
We uploaded our documents for our business of our primary source of income and our past documents with taxes. No other company was listed on our taxes. No other company was our primary source of income, ever. Our house was appraised at XXXX above the loan amount that Chase set, not us, as we had only asked for XXXX. An application was made XX/XX/XXXX Their appraisal fee showed up on the application as XXXX. Our monthly payments were set at XXXX. Our interest rate was also higher than discussed on the phone. 
Chase asked for many documents to be uploaded, a Profit and Loss statement 4 times, several documents were asked to be downloaded 3-4 times. Then Chase went silent. Not giving us any word on a closing date or denial, nothing. The loan officer did not return phone calls or emails for weeks. 
Then on XX/XX/XXXX they sent us a revised contract. They increased the appraisal fee 94 % to XXXX. To my understanding, Appraisal fees included with rules and guidelines by XXXX have a zero tolerance to being changed. This fee is incredibly unfair as our house is only XXXX sq feet. An appraisal fee for this size should not be more than {$300.00}. believe not disclosing that we could hire our own appraiser, or not disclosing the astronomical amount of their appraisal, and increasing it 94 % is unlawful. 
Principle and interest went up, and they demanded immediate flood insurance. Within XXXX days, we had flood insurance paid in full ( XXXX dollars ) yet on their revised contract they put their own flood insurance premium of XXXX dollars. Again, trying to take it into their own hands instead of allowing us to buy our own insurance. 
Instead of giving us a denial letter or a closing date, they started demanding taxes on a company that does not exist and is not on our taxes. We explained to them that these companies have been out of business, and were never a main source of income, that we could not provide tax forms for them as they were not on our taxes and have been closed for several years. They denied our explanation letter, with no explanation. To my knowledge, by XXXX XXXX guidelines, they have no business demanding information on closed companies that are not a source of primary income. 
As of today, XX/XX/XXXX, they have not sent us a denial letter because my husband and I have XXXX credit, make more than enough money to pay for a mortgage that would actually be lower than what we are paying now, have proven our income by sending all of our bank account statements and tax documents, do not owe IRS XXXX and have had an account with Chase and were never late with any of our payments. 

I believe that we are being treated extremely unfairly and I feel as though Chase is trying to make us give up and walk away so they can just send us an astronomical bill without loan approval since they do not have a valid reason for denial. They have tried to trick us into being able to deny us, such as they have sent us emails telling us to do something immediately with the due date being posted a day BEFORE the email sent date, making my husband and I scramble from their lack of professional ethics. They threatened that if we didn't do it in a timely manner that is the reason for denial but we had to point out that they were making these demands after the due date. We have bothered our original lender 3 times, for a payoff amount, each time with a little more embarrassment. All of our documents have had to be updated monthly with current balances etc and they have wasted copious amounts of our time. Please, please help us. We are tired and very, very stressed. This amount of frustration has even put a strain on our marriage. I am downloading both contracts so you can see that they in fact doubled the price of the appraiser fees and added their own flood insurance when we bought and paid for our own. 
Thank you so much for your time, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation