Consumer complaint received 2017-06-08
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Closing your account — Can't close your account
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

Chase Bank refuses to cancel a line of credit that I have never used and have tried on several occasions to get them to close. They are insisting that it stay open and continue to rack up annual fees until I pay off the fees that they have been racking up for years, even though I have never used the account and have repeatedly requested they cancel the account for almost a decade.     Many years ago I applied and was approved for a business line of credit with Chase Bank , ( a t the time it was Washington Mutual I believe, but ca n't say for sure ). I never used it and after the first statement came in with a fee of {$150.00} I asked the account be closed because I did n't like the interest rate or the annual fee they were charging. I assumed it was taken care of.  <P/> Then a year later I received another annual statement with another {$150.00} fee, and several times after that. Bottom line is I have been trying to get them to close this account and stop racking up fees for years.  In 2013 they f inally waived the fees and, again, I assumed they had finally closed the account and I was done with it.  <P/> But no, the fees kept piling on even though I had NEVER used this line of credit and did n't want it.   Last month I received ANOTHER annual statement and the fees had now accumulated to {$750.00}! This time I went into the bank and hit the roof. The lady at the branch I do business with had me sign a document to close the account and was going to try again to have those fees waived.   Today, I got a call from the branch manager saying they can not close the account until I pay the {$750.00} in fees. In other words, If I do n't pay the fees for a line of credit I 've never used, the account will continue and I will be charged {$150.00} per year into infinity until I pay them off at some point, and then at that point they will close the account and stop the annual charges.   This smells like a scam, or at the very least, another unethical banking practice. Here 's why :  1.  Had I used the line of credit, say for {$100.00} charge, and failed to pay it, they would have closed my account immediately. In this case, they refuse to close my account unless I pay them off, saying the account will remain active and will continue accumulating fees until some day into the future when I decide to pay them whatever they 've racked up in charges. Interestingly, the statement show no " past due '' amount, yet they refuse to close the account unless I settle the past due amount.  <P/>  2.  When I applied for the LOC, I did not have to go into the bank to do it. But they refuse to close the account unless I come in and jump through hoops. So I did, and now they are saying they ca n't close it until I pay off their fees, so the fees will just keep accumulating. It 's a quagmire situation whereby the customer loses no matter what.  <P/>  3. T he annual statements they send me continues to accumulate fees and is now {$750.00}. I have never paid them anything. Interestingly though, it has never shown a due date or past due date, which I can only assume they do to prevent the account from being closed due to non-payment. This allows them to just continue accumulating fees with the apparent expectation that some day I 'll be forced to pay their " extortion '' money, since there is no mechanism to flag the account for closure and collection. Talk about a long-term financial incentive for Chase Bank to not close the dormant account.  <P/> I plan to make a big deal out of this because it reminds me of the many practices banks have been in trouble for in the past, and I do n't intend to let it go until they stop ripping off consumers.