Consumer complaint received 2019-03-07
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019 I opened up a checking and savings account with Chase Bank. Upon successfully setting up my new accounts, I registered on Chase 's website for access to the online banking portal. While I was logged into my Chase online banking, I noticed a section titled " Just For You '' and clicking on it lead me to a page that displayed advertising for a Chase credit card product. The banner said, " You are prequalified for this card offer '' and the product it was referring to was the Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card. Upon clicking the link to see the offer details, the terms and conditions stated that this is a pre-approved offer based on my credit profile and that final approval is dependent on my credit report meeting Chase 's criteria for approval. I am relatively new to applying for my own credit card, but my research indicated that the Chase Freedom Unlimited card was a good product with favorable reviews, so I decided to accept the offer. Upon entering the requested information, I submitted my acceptance of the pre-approved offer and was instantly greeted with a " You have been approved '' notification. My credit monitoring service alerted me that Chase pulled my XXXX  credit report the same day on XX/XX/XXXX. After I had received my Chase debit card and conducted a few banking transactions, I had logged into my Chase online banking account and once again found another offer under the " Just For You '' section. This advertising was the same as before citing " You are prequalified for this card offer '' but showed a different product, it was for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. Upon clicking into the details for the offer, once again it confirmed that I was pre-approved for the account and that approval would be dependent on my credit report meeting Chase 's criteria for approval. My research into the Chase credit cards confirmed that this was an excellent product to have and the added bonus of the XXXX points after meeting spending requirements convinced me to accept the offer for this product as well. Upon providing the information requested and submitted the application button, I was excited to see that I was once again approved for the account. I received another notification from XXXX that Chase had pulled my credit report on XX/XX/XXXX, the same day. I was excited that I was a now a cardholder of two excellent credit cards available on the market. I had not even received my first credit card yet, when I was notified by XXXX that Chase had pulled my credit report again On XX/XX/XXXX for the 3rd time without me applying for another credit product. Upon checking my Chase online banking I saw that my newly approved credit card accounts with Chase had been marked with a closed status. I called Chase and spoke to a rep who informed me of the reasons for closure, citing that I did not have enough credit history and that was the reason for closure. I requested for a review for reinstatement because it did not make sense for Chase to advertise to me and to give me a pre-approved offer and then close my accounts after the fact that they had approved me. I told the Chase rep that I had just started banking there, and that I applied for those two credit cards because Chase offered it to me. The rep submitted my accounts for a review for reinstatement and told me I had to wait 10 days for the outcome of the review. A few days later, I received a phone call from a Chase rep from the lending department, and the rep informed me that a review of my account for reinstatement has been denied due to the fact that I had limited credit history. I explained to the rep that it is true that I am new to applying for credit, but I applied because Chase was the one that offered me the products and advertised it to me as a preapproved offer. I explained that Chase already knew about my credit profile and had my credit report when it decided to approve my application, and that it wasn't right for Chase to approve me and then subsequently close my accounts citing reasons that they already knew when they approved my application. The rep explained to me that the Chase lending department that closed my account is not the same department that handles account approvals, and said that it is unfortunate that the department that handles approvals is separate from the department that decided to close my account and that there is nothing they can do and my review for reinstatement was denied. After contemplating this issue for awhile and doing some research online, I was able to find several sources indicating that Chase Bank has been shutting down the credit card accounts of several credit card super users, who are defined as savy credit card users who apply for several credit cards to take advantage of signup offers and bonuses and then close the cards before applying again. I am not a credit card churner, and I am not trying to signup for credit cards to game the system to reap rewards and then close the accounts to try to obtain more bonuses. I am just beginning on my credit journey, and I think Chase has mistakenly flagged my accounts and shut my accounts down for reasons that ridiculous and unreasonable. Chase offered the credit card products to me to begin with, and I was not specifically looking to obtain the products offered prior to Chase 's product advertising. My applications were approved by Chase, and Chase was aware of my credit status when it approved me. To close my account citing reasons that Chase already knew about, is unreasonable and unfair. Not only is the closure of my new accounts unreasonable, it is more detrimental to my credit health than if Chase were to just deny my application in the first place. The unreasonable closure of my newly approved Chase credit cards will forfeit my opportunity to receive the signup bonus offers that were advertised and will prevent me from receiving the bonus offers for 2 years. Not only that, but now I will have 2 newly closed credit accounts that I never had the opportunity to even use that those closed accounts are being remarked as closed by credit grantor, which can negatively impact my future relationships with other lenders. I want Chase to reinstatement my accounts, because I deserve a chance to build my credit history after being targeted by Chase 's enticing advertising and being given a pre-approved offer. I assert that I haven't done anything wrong, and I haven't demonstrated being any more high risk than I was when Chase approved my new credit card accounts. Chase has demonstrated extremely predatory lending practices that have been detrimental to my credit health, and I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding or due to an error, but Chase has yet to rectify the issue.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation