Consumer complaint received 2016-08-23
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: OH
Product: Credit card
Issue: Credit determination

Complaint:
On XXXX/XXXX/2016 when visiting the XXXX XXXX Chase branch, a Chase banker by the name of XXXX XXXX informed me I was preapproved for a Chase XXXX XXXX credit card and asked me if I was interested in accepting the offer of credit. I said, yes, I was interested. He then began the process, and then he told me he needed to check something. He walked away and came back a few minutes later after speaking to another employee in the branch, and he informed me I was preapproved for the Chase XXXX and Chase Freedom credit cards, not the Chase XXXX XXXX card ; however, he told me since I was preapproved for both of the above credit cards, and based on our discussion of how much I travel, income, credit score, etc., that we could just put the regular application through for the Chase XXXX XXXX card, and I should be " approved no problem '' given I was preapproved for the Chase Freedom and Chase XXXX cards. I informed him I had applied for a Chase XXXX XXXX co-branded card a couple months prior, and I was denied, not due to my credit worthiness, debt, or credit score, but according to Chase Consumer Lending, I was solely denied due to the number of credit cards opened in the last 24 months, and that I was concerned about being denied again by submitting a " regular '' application, as he called it. XXXX said that should be no problem here since I was preapproved for XXXX other Chase credit cards and since I was applying in the branch. Due to his encouragement and stating my application would be considered differently due to having XXXX preapproved offers for other cards in front of him, I accepted to allow him to take the application. He finished and told me that the application would be reviewed and I would be notified within XXXX10 business days, and he gave me a phone number to call to check the application status. When I called the XXXX number XXXX provided at the branch to check the status on XXXX/XXXX/2016, they informed me that I was denied solely due to opening XXXX credit cards in the past 24 months, which the representative ( XXXX ) made a point to say was " excessive ''. I asked about my stellar credit score, credit history, payment history, etc. and he told me none of that mattered, and Chase was denying me simply because of opening XXXX credit cards over the last two years, regardless of whether those credit cards are still open or not. I asked for reconsideration, especially since I have worked for XXXX different banks over the past 2 years and it is common for senior employees to represent the bank by opening their employers credit cards, a practice known by even the president of Chase Card Services to do by holding every Chase credit card in his wallet, and that many of the XXXX cards he mentioned had been opened in XXXX24 months ago. The reconsideration was refused, and stated it was a final decision, and no other review of credit worthiness to determine qualification for credit to be issued would be considered. I asked if this policy was applied across all of Chase 's customers, which I was told " yes ''. However, I then asked if this policy was also applied to applications by the Chase Card Services president when applying for " excessive '' number of credit cards within a 24 month period, and the rep would not confirm. I also asked if this same policy applied to Chase Private Client customers ( high net worth ), and I was provided an answer that stated the customer relationship in branches is different than the card services, so I explicitly asked Chase if they deny Chase Private Client customers ' credit card applications solely based on the number of credit cards the customer has opened in the past 24 months and not on credit worthiness, and I was told the policy to deny applications solely based on number of credit cards opened in the past 24 months does not apply to Chase Private Client customers.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation