Consumer complaint received 2022-11-11
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

We have been working with a Chase Bank mortgage lender for several months starting on XX/XX/XXXX, via email correspondence. After going back and forth on numbers for investment properties, we finally found and got our offer accepted for a property on XX/XX/XXXX. Before this, we have gotten a few conditional approvals for potential properties we were interested in that were given to us by our mortgage lender. Before we put in an offer on this offer accepted property, we asked our mortgage lender for a conditional approval to send over with our offer to show we are serious buyers. 

Our offer got accepted, and we began to move forward in the process. We were asked to pay a {$500.00} application fee that will be used to pay for the appraisal and our application was submitted to underwriting. Once in underwriting, the underwriter asked our mortgage lender to get a contract of employment for my husband 's job. We sent over the contract but were not told why we needed to submit it. Everything needed in terms of documentation, proof of income, XXXX XXXX, etc. was sufficient enough to get a loan and we were qualified to get a mortgage based on all of the qualifications on the conditional approval. Last minute in underwriting, I got a call from the mortgage lender that underwriting denied our application because my husband did not have XXXX future years of continuous employment and they were not comfortable loaning to us. We moved on to find another lender, and no other lender had issues with this. We were granted a loan from another lender a few days later. 

We were not given back our {$500.00} because they said the appraisal was already completed. Our mortgage lender never let me know the date when he requested this appraisal or that the appraisal was already completed. He even asked us if the appraisal was completed when we asked for a refund, and did not know himself it was completed until he sent us an email later with the appraisal. I gave confirmation that he could use my Chase credit card on file for the appraisal, but still did not let me know when ordered or finished. 

When looking back at this situation, we believe were discriminated against because of race and age. Being private clients of Chase, and having all the qualifications to receive a loan, we were surprised that we still got denied and that they would not want to work with us at all to complete the loan. The mortgage lender himself was also surprised and never brought up throughout the process that our loan would be denied. He also asked for an exception that the underwriter denied. 

At the beginning of our application process, the mortgage lender sent me an email on XX/XX/XXXX, asking " What is yours and -s ethnicity. It is needed for the application for fair lending purposes. '' We sent this information to him, not knowing this information was optional to disclose. 

To put this into context, we are a young XXXX couple. My husband is also a professional XXXX with a contract ending in XXXX. We have met all of the qualifications to receive a loan, but felt that underwriting was trying to find a way to deny us. 




We were able to get the money back if the application was denied, however, we were