Consumer complaint received 2020-04-10
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: MA
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Chase home lending to inquire about a possible refinance. I had my current mortgage with Chase and figured that since I had a good payment history with them, I would inquire. Before I began to ask about the possible loan, I figured I would tell the agent everything that had happened to me in the past five years. I had gone through a divorce, had to file bankruptcy, I am self employed and had a bad accident which had hurt my income for almost a year. To which the agent said .... '' Don't worry, we have this all the time '' So I let him run my credit and get all the personal information he needed. I came back at a XXXX, which for me is much better than it has been. My bankruptcy was discharged 5 years ago. My income was in line for the last two years and I have good equity in my home. He said, I can't say for sure but this shouldn't be a problem. He said if you want I can get you a great rate of XXXX and it will be locked in for 45 days ... ..but we should be able to close before that. And all you have to do is give me a {$500.00} FULLY REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT to get the process started. So before I gave him my credit card info, I told him one last piece of info. Part of divorce was that I held my home in a LIVING TRUST for my son. Again, XXXX said shouldn't be a problem!!! The next two and a half months were a living nightmare!!! First my representative went on a 10 day vacation and didn't tell me. No one else from CHASE BANK ever called me back. After 2 more weeks, they told me I would have to do my XXXX taxes before they made a decision. I did my XXXX taxes. Every time they called me for information it was an EMERGENCY ... XXXX needed to get it IMMEDIATELY or they could not proceed. Then a week would go by and I would hear NOTHING. Every voicemail NOT RETURNED. Sorry, I was out of the office or in meetings all day. They must have STANDARD EXCUSES that they teach their employees. I sent them lien releases, tax returns, a subordination declaration for my second mortgage, COPIES OF MY LIVING TRUST. Do you know what they did on day 43 of my process? Told me the loan was DENIED BECAUSE THE HOUSE WAS IN AN A TRUST ... ... are you kidding me? I told them on DAY # 1. If that is not misleading and deceptive business practice, I don't know what is. So foolishly I scrambled yet again. I met with my lawyer and had the house temporarily taken out of the trust XXXX {$500.00} later ). Again, was told I should be all set now and they would pay for the rate lock because of their mistake. I was told on three different occasions that a manager would contact me. Not ONCE did a manager ever reach out to me. Finally, on XX/XX/XXXX, I had enough. I contacted a local mortgage company who was incredible. I should have done that in the first place. In 17 days I was approved for more money at at RATE of XXXX and closed my new loan with XXXX mortgage on XX/XX/XXXX. NOBODY from Chase Bank reached out to me until they realized my old mortgage was paid off. It was the worst customer service experience of my life. Big banks really don't care about people. We are all just numbers to them. Money SLOBS. Disgusting that they got bailed out in XXXX and they can still do things like this to consumers. They never returned my {$500.00} that they assured me I would get back. Beyond that, the real time, aggravation and STRESS they caused me is something I should definitely be compensated for. They directly lied to me on multiple occasions on a RECORDED line. XXXX was very adamant that he told me we were on a recorded line!!!! Please help a regular guy with these BIG BANKS.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation