Consumer complaint received 2019-06-18
Product: Debt collection — Credit card debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (NY)

Early in XXXX I became the XXXX XXXX of the US office of a XXXX company. The U.S. office of the company was incorporated in Delaware as a separate entity. There is a sole owner who also owned the XXXX based entity. 
Our bank was Chase, and XXXX XXXX our bank contact, based on a relationship with prior foreign company I had been running at the same location with the same infrastructure and bookkeeper. XXXX relationship with Mr. XXXX dated from from XXXX or XXXX. The Chase relationship dated from XXXX. 

In early XXXX of XXXX I asked XXXX XXXX about a small line of credit. The company produced TV commercial and in production oftentimes equipment and locations need to be paid in advance, or require deposits. In addition there is travel. I had been using my own ( personal ) credit card. Given XXXX was slow in paying us money owed, I was getting concerned. 

XXXX called me a few days later and said he had a better solution and put me in touch with XXXX XXXX, at the bank, to open a company credit card. He assured me it would be set up as a corporate card and I would have no liability. I reiterated I was doing this as I was using my own card and did not want any liability. 
The card application was made on-line during a phone call with XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX initiated the call.. After we spoke, he transferred me to XXXX XXXX. She guided me through the process. I specifically said to her I did not want the card if I would be liable if something happened with the company. I explained that I knew of instances where employee had cards in their names and were held liable. She clearly told me I was covered in the event of any kind of default. She told me the company was responsible and I was " protected '' ( her word ) On that same call XXXX guided me through the on-line application. I never signed anything. The official card date of issue is XX/XX/XXXX. 

I left XXXX at the end of XX/XX/XXXX and closed the office for them, although the company was kept open. The part time bookkeeper stayed on. The XXXX company declared insolvency in XXXX of XXXX. XXXX XXXX in the US has never actually closed. The owner stopped responding to anything in XXXX. The XXXX Chase Bank account remains open with a small balance. 

During the last week XXXX of XXXX, when I closed the physical office of XXXX XXXX in the US. Everything was given to the part time bookkeeper who was the one that handled all the financial affairs and bank business. She was known to XXXX XXXX and had interacted on a regular basis. She was given the checkbook and the card, and she had all current records. All further Chase business should be would be forwarded to her P.O. box. The monthly statements had always gone to the company address. 

The day I closed the office I went up to my Chase branch and spoke to my banking contact XXXX XXXX. I told him I had left and the physical office was closed. I explained that the bookkeeper was taking over. I informed him I was no longer a signatory on checks and she had the card in her possession. 
Some time in XXXX I contacted XXXX on a personal banking matter and when my leaving was referenced he claimed he had no idea and denied I ever came to see him. Not sure why. Perhaps he genuinely forgot. I asked him if the card needed to be closed. But he was rather argumentative. He said he would take care of it. He contacted XXXX XXXX. That resulted in the following email exchange that you will see below. 

XXXX, XXXX XXXX had left XXXX XXXX this past XXXX. Please advise on having him removed from these business accounts. Bill can be reached at XXXX. Thank you. 
Regards, XXXX XXXX At that point XXXX asked me for the book keeper 's phone number which I supplied to her. That was the extent of her correspondence. The card was kept open and the bank continued to do business with the corporate entity. I heard nothing back from that point on. There was nothing from her about any liability or action regarding the card. The bank never contacted me, or sent me bills or notices, ( despite their claim to the contrary in the attached XX/XX/XXXX letter to my attorney ). Nor was I informed if the account was closed or kept open, or closed. They had a home address for me, and a telephone number. XXXX XXXX did not contact me after that. As noted, she knew I was gone, and card was left open and the bank continued on doing business with the company, and payments were ongoing for a time after that. 

The monthly payments continued to be made by the company and were accepted by the bank. The last one was as of XX/XX/XXXX. At some point the XXXX based owner walked way from his obligations and it appears the card was rendered inactive. ( When I was able to retrieve all the records for the account there was nothing between that XXXX statement and one issued XX/XX/XXXX. ) However the company was never closed. And as of earlier this year there is still a bank account with a balance. However the account has been frozen. 

Most importantly that correspondence from XXXX XXXX was the last I heard from Chase or anyone about he account, until Saturday XX/XX/XXXX. This was over two years after leaving the company. I received the attached notice, mailed to my home, from XXXX XXXX. I had never received a bill or notice at my home address. 

I contacted XXXX XXXX by email about it. Her email response : I have looked into the credit card ending in XXXX This credit card is issued in the business name, with your self as personal guarantor. That is why I believe you are getting the communication from XXXX XXXX. The last transaction on the card ( purchase transaction ) is from XX/XX/XXXX, but there were payments made each month until XX/XX/XXXX at which time the payments stopped and a late fee has been charged plus the interested each month. 

( E-mails are attached ) I further asked her about any signature and a closing date. Her response : I am looking into a documentthere may not be one, as one wasnt needed in XXXX Opened XX/XX/XXXX, there is no closed date listedit is in charged off status She also told me statements were available on line. They were not. I called the bank 3 times and they promised statements within 10 days at my home address. They never came. I was finally able to get them printed at a branch. 

The notices continued with XXXX offering to reduce the amount of {$29000.00} to around {$11000.00} and a proposed payment plan. I hired legal representation. My attorney then contacted XXXX and said all correspondence should go to him. He explained our stance that I am not liable and this is corporate debt, and outlined the reasons. At that point XXXX returned the debt to Chase. Chase then responded to my lawyer in correspondence received XX/XX/XXXX. ( Attached ). A summation from my lawyer : Chase finally responded. They claim you are responsible personally because you applied in your name with your SSN. They attached a form showing the information. They also attached an Agreement that says, in its section headed Legal Responsibility that says that the person who applied for the account and gave his/her SSN is responsible. 
Chase closes by pointing out that they may close out the account if it is not paid and then report the debt as forgiven,,, the IRS will expect you to pay income taxes on the amount forgiven, {$29000.00} as of XX/XX/XXXX. 

They further claimed in the attached document that " We kept sending monthly statements to XXXX XXXX XXXX until the account charged off on or about XX/XX/XXXX. '' This is not true. 

In referencing my liability they used my home address in XXXX on XXXX. I never received a bill or notice there during the entire time the account was opened and closed. That address was only used by the collection agency. And my last communication was in XX/XX/XXXX with XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my attorney sent a letter to the XXXX owner notifying him of the debt. ( Attached ). He has not responded, On XX/XX/XXXX my lawyer called the bank at the number provided on the XX/XX/XXXX correspondence that was sent by the bank after XXXX XXXX returned the debt to the bank. He asked that the IRS debt forgiveness be assigned to XXXX and not me. And said if paid a small amount just to end this and so as not to keep paying him was that possible. They said no to both. They advised him to write to a chase address in Delaware. My Lawyer sent a letter to Chase at the Delaware Address ( attached ) on XX/XX/XXXX of XXXX. In early XXXX we had not heard from the Delaware office. They finally returned a call to my lawyer on XX/XX/XXXX. The person from Chase said they had not read the letter and further stated he had been told the XX/XX/XXXX letter was valid. My lawyer responded that the letter raised specific questions and we wanted answers to those questions. The representative said he would report back the comments. We have yet to hear back. 

In addition to the IRS, this has also been reported to the major credit bureaus. My credit record was excellent until this appeared.