Consumer complaint received 2021-04-04
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (FL)

Being a chase Private client for both personal and business accounts I felt confident about applying with Chase when a needed a home mortgage. The amount I needed was only 30 % of the value Of the property. Mr. XXXX XXXX was my lending advisor and was very helpful and responsive at the beginning of the application. During the phone application with Mr. XXXX, I answered all questions in regards to my self employment income, and explained how much of my income was in w2s and how much it was as distribution income. Having excellent credit and after checking my finances Mr. XXXX even offered me to be pre approved for a higher amount, which I did not accept as I didnt want a big mortgage. I proactively sent all supporting documents they needed. After 3 weeks of sending a huge amount of paperwork and being super close to my contracts deadline to get chase approval, I decided to contact him and find out whats taking so long. He then proceeds to tell me that my case has been handled by 3 levels of underwriters and they are all having issues approving my distribution income as real income. I could nor believe I was left in the dark the whole time and here I was thinking the loan was a for sure thing. I proceeded to contact his supervisor XXXX XXXX in hope of a solution and let me tell you he was so rude to me, he would not reply to half of my emails and could not care less to help me resolve the issue. At the end of the day, another supervisor told me the main reason my loan was denied was because we were in the middle of a pandemic and chase was looking at small businesses owners as very high risk even when my businesses never closed and showed improvement in sales and profits month after month. After I kept pressing saying my business is showing sales improvement during de 2nd and 3rd. Quarters of XXXX he them tells me that I received a PPP loan and it made the business look like it was on the negative during a month. I proceeded to explain that for the PPP loan to be forgiven, I didnt let go of my employees nor reduced their hours so I paid them the same amount they would had made in average for XXXX according to SBA guidelines. It didnt matter how much Id explain this to them, they just didnt want to understand and made me feel guilty for taking this government assistance program to use it and keep my store open. I had the income, the taxes and everything to show but they still saw me as very high risk. I felt discriminated against just for being a small business owner and because other businesses were closing even though I was doing everything right. After hours of back and forth, I lost the money I paid chase for the appraisal, my time and almost loose the house i had been searching for a long time. Thankfully my realtor recommended getting an extension from the seller and trying with a smaller bank name XXXX home loan. They got me approved in 2 weeks, without having any financial relationship with me. I tried and escalated this case to many different levels at Chase so I could at least get a refund for the appraisal but they didnt own up to their mistakes and the request was denied more than once. My biggest complain is that if Mr. XXXX and XXXX would had advised me from the beginning about Chase not accepting distributions as an income, I would had not wasted my time and money with Chase. They knew they made a mistake as Mr. XXXX told me more than once that he had no idea why they denied my loan but still could not do the right thing and at least refund the money I paid for the appraisal.their denial reason is excessive obligations but that is not at all what they told me over the phone. Also I can prove I was more than qualified for this Loan.