Consumer complaint received 2024-10-10
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Other problem
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

I have a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card. Chase offers a payment plan for large purchases ( over {$100.00} ). The feature is called Pay Over Time and its info is here : XXXX XXXX XXXX Basically its a small loan that you pay over time for an individual purchase and the balance of that loan does not trigger interest/fees on your credit card as if you had a balance that you just hadn't paid. To activate this service you go to your chase account, look through your purchases and some of them will have an indication that they are eligible for pay over time. I have used this service once for a large medical bill last year. It had XXXX interest. I paid it off early. Easy-peasy. 
I am about to incur a series of very large medical expenses next week totaling {$10000.00}. It is for a medical treatment that is not being covered by my insurance but is medically necessary. I am interested in finding ways to finance those charges. The doctor sent me info for a company called XXXX XXXX that provides XXXX % APR loans for medical purchases but I looked at the reviews and they were scathing. I don't want to get caught up in a scam with a shady bank. So I thought about Chase 's Pay Over Time option. I wanted to know IN ADVANCE if my purchases at my doctors office would be eligible for the pay over time feature with XXXX % interest because payment is due in advance of each day of treatment next week. I need to know if I can use this service in this way or if I need to arrange for another payment option such as XXXX XXXX or another bank. I called Chase and asked for this information, at first they said " Oh we understand why you want to know, unfortunately there is no way to know in advance if a purchase will be eligible '' this was unacceptable to me so I spoke to an account supervisor. She said the same thing. When I asked her " Well it can't be random these determinations have to be made according to a policy. '' She said " It is random sir, we even don't know thats why we tell people to never expect a purchase to be offered eligibility to that pay over time feature. '' I even asked, since I will have XXXX identical charges of {$2000.00}, if XXXX of them is offered pay over time if it will be guaranteed the other ones will as well, provided that the vendor is the same, the customer is the same, and the total amount does not exceed the credit limit of the card? The supervisor said " Its not a guarantee, I've seen it where people in this situation are given pay over time for some of these, but not all, and sometimes none. '' I said I'd like to file a complaint because this kind of opacity in offering what is essentially a loan isn't above board. I filed a complaint. Now I am reporting this to you because of the following concerns : XXXX. Lack of consumer transparency into financial services XXXX. Any time a financial services company says determination is " random '' or algorithmic, it is a recipe for discrimination and price fixing XXXX. The fact that customers cant make financial decisions with all the facts ahead of time is a guarantee that some people are going to misinterpret the tool and get trapped in bad financial predicaments XXXX. There is a legal definition of a loan, there are legal requirements for conditions of loans. I am concerned that these pay over time options are essentially loans, but the idea that they are being offered after purchase makes them able to fall outside of the traditional definition of a loan and thus skirt legal requirements for loan conditions. Those loan conditions are there for a reason. 
XXXX. On the whole it seems pretty shady and I trust that professionals in the CFPB will have the experience and expertise to extrapolate why this practice is problematic for consumers.