Consumer complaint received 2018-08-31
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CT
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau consumerfinance.gov/complaint On XX/XX/XXXX, when XXXX XXXX declared bankruptcy I had {$35000.00} cash in the bank and I was debt free. 
When my father died on XX/XX/XXXX, I was {$5500.00} in debt to my Chase Bank   checking account overdraft protection and {$10000.00} in debt to my XXXX XXXX XXXX VISA credit card. I then moved to XXXX XXXX from Connecticut to try and find work but there was very little work and I returned to Connecticut on XX/XX/XXXX with a debt of approximately {$24000.00}. 

I told my sister who is a lawyer and she insisted I apply for debt counseling and that I should declare bankruptcy. 
I researched the bankruptcy option but the fees to file for bankruptcy were expensive and there was no guarantee my plea would be successful so I decided to tough it out and just pay the debt down. 
I appealed to a debt counseling company recommended by XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
They took over both the Chase overdraft loan account and the XXXX VISA loan and said they would reduce the interest rates but their fees kept climbing from {$48.00} to almost {$480.00} a month. 
They also wanted the power to withdraw the money directly from my checking account each month. 
I told them this was unacceptable because my income varies so much the money might not be in the bank at the time they wanted to withdraw it. I asked them what would happen if I withdrew my application. 
They said that the accounts would go back to Chase and XXXX and that by law they would have to restore them back to their original state of the previous interest rates. So I said okay do it. 
But Chase and XXXX were furious with me for sticking them with a now bad loan which might hurt their audit rating. 
So they both imposed penalties and increased their interest rates. 

When I told them this was illegal they said their was nothing they could do about it since I was in default on the loans. So I endured years of very high interest with very high minimum payments and seeing the balance go down very slowly if at all. Then in XX/XX/XXXX, Chase sent me a check for {$1700.00} saying they had made mistakes and errors on the account and this was what was owed to me. 
While I was thrilled to get the money I was also concerned about what the mistakes and errors were. 
I called the help line but the women became hysterical saying she didnt know anything. I went to the XXXX XXXX XXXX showing them the letter from Chase and the check and said that XXXX had done the same thing so maybe it also owed me money for overcharging me for years. Again I met with a stonewall for an answer and they never got back to me. They also told me that XXXX XXXX the manager who had handled the account had just retired to Florida and they had no way to contact him. So I let the matter drop. 

Recently, I was at the XXXX Library in XXXX XXXX, CT and I saw your brochure and I thought maybe finally someone can help me with paying off these loans. It has been seven very hard years and I have gone without many things to pay down these loans. If you could get the overcharges applied to reduce the account balances I would be thrilled. The Chase balance is down to {$390.00} and the XXXX is {$5400.00}. The XXXX started at a much higher balance though so the overcharges may substantial. 
Any help you could give me I would be very grateful for. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation