Consumer complaint received 2023-08-18
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest — Charged too much interest
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (NY)

I am submitting this complaint due to the unethical behavior of Chase. I have a Chase Amazon Prime credit card. Several months ago, I received an offer in the mail for a balance transfer at 1.9 %. I called the bank to ask for information about a transfer. I was given a disclosure that was very difficult to understand. I have no legal training, and the disclosure had a lot of legal terms. I ended the call without making the transfer.

Sometime later I decided to call and ask questions about the disclosure. I spoke with a representative, who read the disclosure again. I asked several questions regarding the application of payments. I wanted to know if my payments would go towards the new balance, as I planned on continuing to use the card, or towards the transferred balance. The representative was not very clear, but he relayed to me that my payment would go first towards a minimum payment on the transferred balance, then to new purchases, and then to the remainder of the transferred balance. I clarified that this was the case, and then I transferred two balances to the card. 

When I got my XXXX statement, I discovered that I had been misled. I had made purchases in the amount of {$1600.00}. I had a previous balance of {$4600.00}. This balance consisted of my transferred balances and the balance transfer fees. I discovered that I had been charged interest at two different rates. I was being charged at 1.9 % for the balance transfer, which I had agreed to. I was also being charged at 9.99 % for my new purchases. This interest rate was applied to the amount of {$1300.00}. I have no idea where this figure came from.

I called the bank immediately as I assumed that the 9.99 % rate was an error. I was told that that rate applied to my new purchases, which were in the amount of {$890.00}. I explained what I was told about the application of payments, and I was told that my information was not correct, and that payments went entirely to the transferred balance until it had been paid off. Interest would accrue at my normal rate of 27.49 % on my new purchases. The 9.99 % rate was a promotional rate and temporary until XX/XX/23. I was astounded that the company would not only charge interest at this usurious rate, but that it would mislead me in an attempt to run up a balance so that it could charge this rate. I requested that the phone call when I placed the balance transfer be listened to and that my balance transfer fees, plus the interest on new purchases, be refunded to me. I was confident that this would happen. I was told to expect a response in 5 to 7 days.

After 9 days I had not heard from the bank. I called and asked to speak with someone about my complaint. I was told that a bank representative called and explained the situation to me. No one from Chase had called me, and I fear that my personal banking information was given to a total stranger. I asked for the results of the investigation into my being misled by the Chase representative. I was told that they determined that there was no bank error. I take this to mean that I was intentionally misled. If it was not an error to misrepresent how payments are applied, this must be an unofficial bank policy. I asked for a copy of the recording and was told that they would not give it to me.

I immediately paid off the entire balance. I am respectfully requesting that I be refunded my balance transfer fees of {$170.00}, as well as the interest on my new purchases in the amount of {$11.00}, for a total of {$180.00}. I am also requesting that Chase banks policies on disclosing information be investigated. It appears that they are intentionally misleading consumers in an attempt to charge them usurious interest rates.