Consumer complaint received 2020-06-29
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (IL)

To whom it may concern, I am writing in regards of the treatment my husband and I have received by a Chase lending advisor. Here is my Loan Number : XXXX if it`s helpful to find me in the system. The lending advisor`s name is XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. We were doing the loan refinance process with him and from the very beginning things were messy and unclear, with little detail on his side and overall very vague description of everything and left us feel unclear about the steps in the process. 
He had confirmed closing costs of {$5000.00} on an email and refused to correct this in the initial disclosure as he described that the final and corrected amount will be reflected in the final disclosure documents. It felt like a lengthy process, which we had started on XX/XX/XXXX, when we first signed the disclosure, and we were informed of the final approval on XX/XX/XXXX. As expected the closing costs were different from what we had prepared ourselves for, which involved him having to make corrections to match the {$5000.00}, which we had agreed upon. I had his confirmation in writing, otherwise I sincerely doubt he would have honored it. And here I would make a note, that he mostly liked talking on the phone and when I insisted on having something important as numbers or confirmation in writing, he would oppose and prefer to just call. Well, most of the time he either doesn`t remember things, or conveniently says so, but for the sole purpose of having a peaceful mind that I have a backup, I preferred to have things in writing. This is a good example of a situation where had I not have it in writing, he wouldn`t have honored it, and I am assuming it because he asked to see my emails before he confirmed he would honor this amount. 
I am writing the above just to give a little background of the situation. The thing I am mostly hurt and take issue with is his attitude. The evening, in which we were discussing the final disclosure- XX/XX/XXXX, we addressed the closing costs and that he had not corrected them as we had agreed upon in an email from XX/XX/XXXX. He agreed it was missed on his part ( only after seeing the proof of his confirmation in an email correspondence ) and he will revise the documents. However, the conversation felt as if we had been judged. The difference of the mistake on the closing cost numbers was roughly around {$250.00} and he kept referring to our actions of trying to have this adjusted to what was promised back in XXXX as nickeling and diming. His words were : Guys, you are nickeling and diming here. What I take issue with is that his words sounded very judgmental, categorizing us as people, who are paying attention to such a small amount of money. I feel like this is none of his business and moreover if it`s such an insignificant amount, why not come out of Chase, but has to come out of us especially being his mistake. I do believe that no matter what value one may attribute to something it could hold a different value to another person, and it is not his place to attribute value to my money according to his perspective. Another point I take issue with is that he emphasized on the fact that we had lost his assistant XXXX`s time the day before, and he repeated it on 2 separate occasions. Here is what happened with XXXX, I would really like to explain as this sheds light on another issue. XXXX called me on XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX pm. The phone call lasted XXXX minutes and I have a screenshot of that. This leads me to believe that XXXX had complained that we lost her time and that also leaves me with a bad impression as it gives me the feeling we have been discussed between these individuals in an unprofessional and gossiping manner. A little insight of the conversation with XXXX on XXXX XXXX she called me to inform me of the fact that we have been officially approved and to schedule a closing date. My initial impression was this was all that the call was going to be about as we had not have any documentation sent to us at that point. We agreed upon a date for closing and XXXX started throwing numbers at me. Different amounts of different charges, such as title cost, insurance, fees etc. I was really not prepared as I had no document in front of me to be able to follow her and I informed her of that. She said the document will be sent to us to view sometime the next day. I never wished to discuss anything regarding numbers with her that day especially when I did not have a document to look at and all I could do was just listen to her mentioning long numbers. The reason I am describing this in detail is to explain that in contrast to what apparently XXXX believed was a loss of her time and I was to blame, it was never my intention to discuss detailed information without being able to prepare myself. If she XXXX started addressing the numbers I would`ve never asked her to go into such detail. I felt really offended when I found out by XXXX that XXXX was complaining I had lost her time. 
At the time I was in between employments and apparently had additional verification of employment on a day that I was technically unemployed. The phone call from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX came on XX/XX/XXXX around XXXX and he was furious and rude. He kept throwing accusations at me, saying things like : you lost both mine and XXXX time when you knew you were unemployed, the {$250.00} you paid so much attention to is the least of your problems right now. His voice was so loud and it felt like he was yelling at me. At one point I had to tell him that he is very rude and I am not allowing him to talk to me in that manner. He then apologized and said sarcastically : I am a XXXX, it`s the way my voice is, it`s not that I am yelling, it`s just how it is, ask my parents. The whole sarcasm of that particular phone call was so unnecessary. It really felt as if he was delighted by being given a chance to somewhat get at me for the lost time or whatever grudges he may have been holding against me. He was really unprofessional and talked to me in a very rude manner. I am hoping you are recording these conversations so you could hear it. He spoke/yelled to me in a condescending manner, making me feel like the lowest of the low for the fact that I had been laid off in such an unprecedented time, where people are struggling all over the world, mocked me for the {$250.00} being the least of my worries right now as if some evil force was over me. This is the highlight of my bitter experience with this person. 
After I sent XXXX my work offer on XX/XX/XXXX, he had told me it will take about XXXX additional days. I am writing this update XXXX XX/XX/XXXX and I still have not closed the loan. Like I said previously, one never knows what he possibly means when he expresses himself. If I look at it from the perspective of the 4 days being business days it is still way past this amount of time. My initial impression is cemented by this, once again, vague description of what to expect next in the process. It is never clear. Today, only after my request for an update XXXX informed me that the one thing they are waiting for is the confirmation from my employer. My colleagues checked all emails, spam folders, faxes etc, there was nothing received. I am simply thinking, had I been waiting without asking for an update, when would she have thought of either follow up with me or attempt to resend the request. Another thing that bothered me is that I emailed her asking for this update at XXXX am and her reply came at XXXX pm. After also calling her phone number, leaving a voicemail with no return call, I just imagined she had taken a day off. Clearly this was not the case, she simply gets back to me with delay. In her email she says : " We will need to extend rate as it expires today. '' To which I replied asking her to elaborate as I have absolutely no clue what this would mean and in what ways financially or possibly timewise it would affect me. Turns out from her next email there may be a charge for this extension. Mind you this was the first time I ever heard of this even being a possibility, and when do I learn I will possibly be charged extra- the day of expiration. How convenient. Had I not reached out to ask for an update, I wonder if they would have even told me the rate is about to expire. To my further questions, asking for clarification and what to possibly expect with this extension of the rate, XXXX replied in a typical vague fashion, telling me he will call me the next day to go over options. After having the experience of learning things last minute my mind started racing and I had scenarios in my head that what if by options he meant conditions will change altogether, meaning rate and closing costs etc. He later clarified with assistance of management they will try to extend without further cost for us. However, I am especially irritated by the whole method of communication being so unclear. I called XXXX XXXX additional times that day. One of the times she hung up on me on the second signal. The last time she hung up as soon as the first signal. It was clear her phone was not off, but she was hanging up. 
XXXX XXXX emailed XXXX XXXX XXXX ask for an update. Also had called her cell phone. A little background on this- she used her cell when she was calling me previously, so I had saved it to my phone in case I ever needed to contact her. I used the same number I saved to reach her and she replied to me ( As seen on file Capture 1 ) with I also received your voicemail on my cell phone. Please call me on my office line if you have any questions.. This was very rude, because if she ever used her cell to reach out, s he shouldn`t be surprised people are using that phone number to reach her. And she emailed me, never called back. The way she specifies how she had received my voicemail, while not returning a call is rude. I am really at the final stage of dealing with these people and not want to tell them this to their face, but it is a torture to work with them. She never gives an estimate. I had emailed asking what`s the estimated time for the process to come to a final stage, and she said they were currently in about 72h underwriting. This was on XX/XX/XXXX. I guess this is partially my mistake for not specifying that my question meant how much longer total until we can go to closing and the way she responded was more like answering the timeframe for a stage of the underwriting. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX, confirming that we can proceed with closing and she informed me that we will not receive a closing date and time and view the closing disclosure until we can schedule an exact timeframe. I informed her of when my preference would be and she replied that they are currently waiting for my husband`s employment confirmation from HR. The amount of closing cost that XXXX gave me in the email was {$5300.00}, which is with {$300.00} more than what XXXX and I had previously discussed. XXXX called me after close to XXXX from my initial phone calls, voice messages and a text at XXXX, he called at XXXX am. He informed me that closing cost is {$5000.00} and money owed at closing - {$5300.00} because it consists of the {$5000.00} plus interest. I asked what is the {$85.00} charge for and he said it is for extension of the rate. He angrily and in his usual way of communication with a raised voice told me that he had to extend the rate twice and that instead of me being appreciative I am finding issues with this. And he said in his ironic fashion I didn`t think this would be such a big issue, referring to the {$85.00}, making it sound like it is insignificant. Well, it could be insignificant, but my issue is not with the money, but with the attitude. I told him that it is not a big issue, but it is still an issue. And that I simply had a question because I did not know where the {$85.00} was coming from. I expected my questions to be answered without ironic remarks. I still do not agree with the charge of {$85.00} because when we spoke in early XXXX, to my question if the process will take as long as it had so far, he replied that it would take around 4 days in addition. Well, it took close to 40 days since then. If he is saying that my rate extension charge of {$85.00} is something I should owe, how about him giving false estimates. If we really fit into the timeframe that he initially gave, maybe this charge of {$85.00} wouldn`t have been owed. I have been always polite with him and have talked to him with respect, and sadly did not get the same in return. He blamed me for not being happy and no matter the time they spent on my loan application, I was always ungrateful and in his own words this loan is not going to get us a trip to Hawaii. I don`t know what he was trying to accomplish with being sarcastic, but the way I take his comment is that my business is not giving him enough $ and implying I am a difficult customer, who on top of all his efforts is still unhappy. I informed him that I am not happy about his attitude and the way he raises his voice at me and I will try to have as minimum communication as possible with him until closing. The one thing I give him credit for is the fact that he was available almost all the time. However, I respectfully asked before calling if it was a good time and made sure to honor his best available time as well. For him to imply that I was bothering him with questions and that they as a team spend so much time for my application, and not getting a trip to Hawaii in return was a tacky thing to say in my opinion. Overall, I just wish I had gone with another lending advisor and I even worked with XXXX XXXX, and I am sad I did not proceed with him, but chose XXXX as being local. Well, I at least learned where not to go for the future. 
We have closed our loan finally. I had asked XXXX manager- XXXX XXXX to step in and she approved myself to be refunded the amount of XXXX. She agreed to it and said she had approved the refund and that XXXX was the one to make it. We spoke on XX/XX/XXXX. At that time she said it will take approximately 5-10 business days. She informed me in her last email that the refund was approved. I find this an odd thing to say- I am not asking if it was approved or nor, I am asking why is it still not reflecting in my credit card. Being approved, but apparently taking so long is not helpful. We all know that if I am late for a payment of my credit card I will automatically be charged a late fee. I find it really offensive for the bank to take an opposite approach to this when it comes to refunds. I am writing today- XX/XX/XXXX and have not received any refund yet. I followed up with her on XX/XX/XXXX and asked for an update, to which she said it has been approved. This is the only thing she said and she did not reply to my email asking why it`s past the 10 business days and how much longer I should wait. The other thing I`d like to request is the fee for rate lock extension of {$200.00} to be refunded to me as well. XXXX never informed me of exactly how much this fee would cost. He mentioned a fee of {$85.00}, which I never saw on the documents, and I am guessing this {$85.00} he was referring to is actually the {$200.00}, which Is what my fee ended up costing in the end. After obtaining the disclosure I then asked where exactly in the documents the specific fee of {$85.00} was displayed and he couldn`t point out. Then I asked him to walk me through and opened the lock in agreement and was looking for the amount of {$85.00} and could not find it. Then he said that it is not {$85.00}, but {$600.00} and he took care of some of it. I then asked where in the document the amount of {$600.00} is displayed and he kept going back to state that my closing costs were a little below {$5000.00} as agreed and he kept avoiding my direct question. I kept going back to it because it bothered me the way he emphasized on the fact that I had signed the documents and was referring to it like it`s something I signed and do not remember. But it was clear that when I had a question specifically related to the dollar amount of the fee he could not answer. Because there is none and this is the fact. To my question why I was not informed of the need for the fee to be extended he arrogantly said that it is something I had signed and should know myself and it`s not his duty to remind me. Like I previously said- I do not see the need to be charged anything for it to be locked since 1.XXXX never informed me of the exact amount, 2. The documents pertaining to the rate lock extension fees contain {$0.00} in the fee section and 3. It was the bank`s timing causing everything to take so long and way past the initial expectation. 

I am attaching screenshots of conversations with the above mentioned bank employees and anything relevant to my claims so you could get an idea of my ordeals. Mostly showing that it was really hard to get any written information from the lending advisor and I had to follow up numerous times. Thank you for taking the time to review my complaint. 

Sincerely, XXXX XXXX