Consumer complaint received 2016-04-02
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: WA
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
I purchased gap insurance from the dealership where I bought a car XX/XX/XXXX. After paying down my loan for almost 1 1/2 years, I decided I wanted to cancel my gap insurance since I was no longer underwater on my loan. My gap insurance contract states that refunds will be pro-rated before the end of the loan period. On XXXX XXXX, XXXX I sent written notification to cancel my gap insurance to the insurance agency for the gap insurance policy, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and it was received by them on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. XXXX from the XXXX XXXX left a voicemail on my cell phone on XXXX XXXX stating that " ... the gap ( refund ) is legally required to be paid back to the lien holder that applies it to your unpaid balance unless the loan is paid in full. '' I was okay with that, and I was expecting to get the pro-rated policy fee refunded to my bank and applied to my loan principal within a couple weeks. That never happened. 

On XXXX XXXX I checked the principal balance for my auto loan, and it did not have the gap refund deducted. I immediately contacted the XXXX XXXX, who then referred me to the dealership, XXXX 's XXXX XXXX, saying that they were the ones who would actually cut the check and send it to the financing company, who is Chase Bank. From talking to XXXX XXXX at Chase Bank I found that they had sent the check to the wrong address. Then I found that they had misspelled my last name on the check. Finally they overnighted a XXXX check to Chase Bank with everything corrected, and Chase Bank Auto Finance in XXXX picked up the check at XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX according to the letter tracking. 

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of more trouble. As of today, XXXX XXXX, XXXX I still do not have any verification that the refund has been applied to my loan principal. This is after more than a dozen phone calls and several hours on the phone with Chase Auto Finance Representatives, in particular XXXX XXXX. In fact, after being initially told by XXXX XXXX that the refund would be applied to the loan principal, she has now changed her mind and is telling me that the refund will not be applied to the principal. 

At first XXXX XXXX said they could not verify that the check was received. This went on for over 2 weeks after tracking said the check had been picked up by Chase Auto Finance. Then on XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX said she could verify that the check was received, but that she had talked to some supervisors, and that now the check could not be applied to the principal due to " some Washington State law '', and that it would only be deducted from the payoff amount if the car was being sold or refinanced. XXXX XXXX refused to tell me what law this was or any details about this law. 

About an hour later I called back and spoke to another representative ( XXXX at extension XXXX ) to get the payoff amount. And of course, the payoff amount did not have the gap refund deducted either. I asked her to verify why, and after sitting on hold for about 10 minutes, she told me she would call me back. 

It turns out XXXX did not call me back. XXXX XXXX called back and she now told me that not only would the refund not be applied to my principal, but the gap refund would not show up in the payoff amount. So I asked her when would the gap refund be applied. Her answer was that after the loan was payed off in full, a refund for the gap insurance would be sent out. I told her this was totally unacceptable. They had the money for the gap refund in their possession. Why would I pay for the gap insurance just so they could give it right back to me? She refused to answer my questions at this point. I asked to speak to her supervisor, and I was put on hold for 20 minutes before I finally hung up. I called back and left a voicemail for her to call me back asap. 

So now, 2 months later, I still have no refund.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation