Consumer complaint received 2021-04-15
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card
Sub-issue: Application denied

Complaint:
On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I submitted an application for a XXXX XXXX XXXX account. I received a determination weeks later although the letter of denial was dated the date that I made the application. I am writing because I believe I was discriminated against. I believe it is because of my ethnic name. 
My credit score is XXXX out of XXXX. However, they determined I did not qualify for the following reasons : 1. The outstanding debt on my credit account is too high : Not sure what that means as I have 4 credit cards, 2 are at XXXX. The other two are ( 50 percent ) and one under 50 percent usage. 
2. Delinquency history on one or more accounts. I had one 30 day late payment in 7 years on my XXXX XXXX account in XX/XX/XXXX. We pay the account off every month. One month it was an oversight. 
3. Balances on accounts are high compared to credit extended-this is not true at all. 
4. One or more requests for new credit in past 12 months. This is not true at all. The last card I opened was in XX/XX/XXXX for a balance transfer to 0 percent. So it was 13 months. 

I knew my credit was good so I applied to increase my available credit to increase my score and to use for travel for a business me and my husband have started. I knew I would have a hard inquiry on my credit and a short dip in my score because of it. However, I did not expect a denial. 

After receiving my denial letter, I contacted Chase initially on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX ( a local branch ). The banker representative expressed shock at how my application was denied when I shared with him my score and explained their explanations. He said he would escalate my concern to the lending branch of his bank. He obviously did do this and I received a call yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX about this issue. I explained that I did not understand why when I have a great payment history and a great credit score that I was denied credit with their institution. The banking representative could not assist me and shared my concern, but gave me the number to a lending office, who I called today. 
I was told by a XXXX ( 1st person I spoke with ), then a XXXX XXXX 2nd Person ) I spoke with, that they do not use the credit score that they received from XXXX to determine my lendability. They in fact have an internal score that they use that they do not share with the consumer. XXXX and XXXX looked at my credit report which again is 113 points away from a perfect score and proceeded to tell me nonsense as to why I was not approved. I shared that if my name was not ethnic with the score that I currently have, I would have been approved. To make matters worst, I put down the fact that my household income ( including my husband 's ) was XXXX ( we make more than that as this is our base combined income ). XXXX reviewed my account and began asking me questions about how I planned to pay down the debt that he was reviewing on my credit report. I was appalled in that clearly this isn't an intervention. I pay my bills as I have near 100 percent payment history and my score reflects that. I explained that I was an attorney for a debt collection company so I completely understand debt. I also explained that it was not right for them to pull my credit if the score wasn't going to be considered. Additionally, the " internal score '' was not on any advertisement material or shared in the denial letter sent to me. If I had known that there was some other score that I needed to adhere to in order to obtain credit from Chase, I would not have applied for a card with this bank. When I asked how they would have handled my application if my score was in the 500s but I had no debt, XXXX said that they would not have weighed heavily on that score if there were other factors at play when in fact I believe they would have heavily relied on it to deny me the card. I then called back and spoke to a person named XXXX. I asked her to remove the inquiry from my credit report since they don't use it and that it was a material misrepresentation for them to put a hard inquiry on someone's credit score and then use a completely different system. She did a 2nd review of my application, asked me some ridiculous questions and came back and stated I was still declined. She asked me questions about my debt as if I had so much, I do not. She asked me what I used one account for. The questions were outrageous. I wasn't refinancing my home. I wanted a credit card. Additionally, she said they used the credit report to look at my credit. Well, I have an almost perfect score because I pay my bills. So clearly, they were not using my credit score in their decision. 

I believe I was discriminated against. I further believe they are materially misrepresenting the use of the credit score they ask the consumer to agree to pull. According to what I heard today, they pull your credit but don't really rely on the score. There is an internal scoring that they rely on instead that they do not share with the applicant. Why would anyone subject themselves to a hard inquiry, if they knew the company would not use it. 

All of my conversations were recorded. As a consumer, I am very concerned about their practice of lending. I am further concerned that they use every method to deny credit to consumers of color even when their credit and payment history is good. I think there needs to be an investigation of them.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation