Consumer complaint received 2017-09-24
Product: Mortgage — Home equity loan or line of credit (HELOC)
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

Chase Bank XX/XX/XXXX Chase Bank Representatives, You have failed to remove a block on my HELOC account ending in XXXX. 

IN XX/XX/XXXX I phoned a representative of Chase Bank to ask how I could pay my Home Equity Line of Credit.  I was two days late with the payment. You can pay now by phone ; you have 12 days to pay beyond the due date before your payment is considered delinquent., said the representative. I did pay that day. 
Some days later I received a form letter suggesting that I might need help keeping my bill paying current as ( according to the letter ) my XX/XX/XXXX payment was delinquent. 
I wrote a note on the letter, put the letter with my note back in the Chase envelope provided, and mailed that off to the return address. *I have since learned* that though I am a person, the correspondence advising me that my payment was delinquent was not generated by a person but rather by a computer. The computer further understood that I must need help paying my bills because I returned the computer generated mail. 
In XX/XX/XXXX During another phone call I asked a representative : I see on the web site that my funds are held in suspension. What does that mean? The representative assured me that the accounts would be returned to normal within a short time as he/she could not understand why the funds were in suspension. I had not been delinquent in my payments or in any other way had I indicated that I could not pay in a timely way. 
In XX/XX/XXXX Continuing with my calls to Chase Bank, now we are in XX/XX/XXXX and I have just ended a 1 hour 45minute engagement with a Chase Bank representative. I have spoken first with XXXX. My question was : why is my credit limit on our Equity Line of Credit now at XXXX XXXX said his department, though listed as a help line on the web site phone numbers was not the department to answer my question. He transferred me to XXXX in another department. 
XX/XX/XXXX Records indicated that I had applied for a loan modification in XX/XX/XXXX.. 
We did not apply for a modification, rather we applied in XX/XX/XXXX for an extension of our credit limit on the HELC. In XX/XX/XXXX we applied for an increase in our credit limit on the Home Equity Line of Credit mortgage Chase holds against our XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CA XXXX house. In XX/XX/XXXX we did not apply for a loan modification or any other action that would affect our credit worthiness. Our request for an increase in our HELOC was granted. Our loan terms were not modified. 
XXXX suggested that I write a letter explaining the error in reporting. She indicated that our account would likely be subject to a refinance. 
After some time a supervisor in the ESCALATION department addressed me. I asked what escalation means as it refers to Chase Bank. He said, Yes, it is for complaints. I told the rep. the story. After some time on hold, the rep. was able to assure me that the block on our borrowing more money would be removed within 24 to 48 hours. 
The phone number to access a supervisor in the Escalation department is XXXX XX/XX/XXXX 48 business hours after XXXX., supervisor in the Escalations Department, advised me that my inquiries would be forwarded to XXXX. XXXX  XXXX Arizona who is a Manager in the Escalations Department, I have not heard anything. Neither has anyone else contacted me. My account on line remains as it was on XX/XX/XXXX. There has been no correction or credit to my Chase accounts. 
I have since been told When I sent the notification letter generated in XX/XX/XXXX back the beginnings of a loan modification were triggered. From then on my accounts were frozen and from XX/XX/XXXX when we got back from our vacation, we have been trying to understand why our loan was in modification, why our accounts are frozen, why our payments have been in suspension. 
Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX Speaking with XXXX. XXXX XXXX I have been reassured that everything will be brought back to normal and a letter of apology will be sent to us. 
Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX no evidence of action. Im checking the email. 
I found the following : this is an Alert to help manage your home equity line of credit account ending in XXXX. We [ Chase Bank ] received your recent payment of ( $ USD ) {$500.00}. 
Sincerely, Chase Home Lending I have no idea what this means. Ill just follow up again tomorrow by phone. I hope that that is the right thing to do. 
Friday, XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX sent in a request for a change in status for our HELOC  account ending in XXXX. Now a new department will be involved. It is called CUSTOMER CARE. XXXX XXXX. requested of the Customer Care department that the Stop Hold on our account be removed. We can expect to see changes reflected in our on-line account page. We will have access to our money by Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX. 
Saturday XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX. is available. He had been on vacation. We are a very small department, XXXX XXXX. explained. In fact, when I called on Friday XX/XX/XXXX, it was XXXX XXXX. who did find our case. She is not in the same office as XXXX. 
I learned today from XXXX XXXX. that I should have waited for XXXX XXXX co-worker to pick up my file or for XXXX XXXX. to return from vacation. But because I didnt wait for one of XXXX XXXX colleagues to call but rather called in myself, reaching the escalations worker who picked up the phone ( XXXX XXXX ), I interrupted the expected flow of events and reports according to XXXX XXXX. That interrupted the time frame somehow. Expect a change in our accounts on-line status by Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. 
My husband at some point, just for the record because by this time we recognized that the cogs of business turn without concern for individual needs told someone on the Chase end of the phone, We are remodelling and will need access to our equity line account by Thursday or Friday XX/XX/XXXX at the latest. 
XX/XX/XXXX Today I connected directly with escalation manager, XXXX. I had been told by escalation manger XXXX XXXX that within 24 to 48 hours the block would be removed from our account. I have learned today from Escalation Manager, XXXX., that XXXX XXXX. had already closed the escalations case concerning our account when he spoke with me on XX/XX/XXXX. 
Just to check up I reviewed our Chase Bank Home Equity Line of Credit status with XXXX XXXX of the Escalation Department. He affirmed that a letter was ordered to be mailed to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX CA XXXX on Friday XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX said I would be dealing with another department now that is called The Internal Partners at on-line banking for the Home Equity Line of Credit. I do not understand why this is true. Is it because of the mistake of closing the account before it was cleared? What does it mean to clear an account? Why did representatives continue to talk with me after XX/XX/XXXX about the open case which was not open? 
Today I asked for an email copy of the letter that was mailed to us on XX/XX/XXXX because I have yet to receive the hard copy printed letter. XXXX XXXX emailed a copy of the letter. The encrypted code to access this email is XXXX. I was not able to open the letter. 
XXXX XXXX did say that promises made by XXXXXXXX XXXX. to send us an apology letter will not be kept because no Chase employee has made a mistake. The error is not a human error. The delinquent payment triggered a soft block on our account. I explained to XXXX XXXX that I have never been delinquent. 
According to XXXX XXXX, when I received a computer generated letter in XX/XX/XXXX, I triggered a computer response that possibly triggered the request for a loan modification and a trigger to put my account money in suspension. 
I was blocked from paying on my account at the next payment period, XX/XX/XXXX. I phoned a Chase representative who helped me by phone to make a Home Equity line of credit payment. 
PS. The letter of XX/XX/XXXX was received in todays mail. It contained information about our request for modification. Said our case is closed. Offered help if we got in financial trouble. 
PPS. Our accounts are still frozen. We have no access. We have XXXX available balance.