Consumer complaint received 2022-10-27
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (TX)

Summary : Chase Bank misappropriated our escrow funds to pay property taxes on a property that my husband and I do not own. Chase refuses to reimburse our escrow account until the tax assessor refunds the misappropriated funds to Chase. In the meantime, due to Chase 's negligence, our escrow account reflects a {$11000.00} deficit and our mortgage payments have risen substantially. Prior to Chase 's misappropriation of our escrow funds, in XX/XX/XXXX, our mortgage was {$2600.00}. Using erroneous information, Chase increased our mortgage to {$4300.00} in XX/XX/XXXX and will raise it to {$3500.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. We alerted Chase to its mistakes by telephone and in writing, but Chase refuses to correct the error until the tax assessor returns the funds that Chase misappropriated, a process that Chase admits may take 60 days or more. Below is a detailed accounting of our interactions with Chase followed by a timeline of events. 


Details : In a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, Chase Bank notified us that, on the same day, it paid {$11000.00} in overdue XXXX real estate property taxes and {$5200.00} in penalty and interest fees to the XXXX XXXX, Texas tax assessor on our behalf for parcel number XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Chase 's customer service line and a Chase representative confirmed Chase 's payment and our liability for it. After reviewing our closing documents and XXXX XXXX tax records, however, I discovered that Chase 's payment was a mistake. XXXX XXXX, located at XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, Texas, is a property owned by the trust of XXXX and XXXX XXXX. To contrast, my husband and I live at XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, which is parcel number XXXX. I notified Chase of its wrongful payment in an XX/XX/XXXX phone call to Chase, in an XX/XX/XXXX message from my online Chase account, and in an XX/XX/XXXX letter to Chase. In the XX/XX/XXXX letter, I also requested a new escrow analysis based on XXXX XXXX tax assessor 's updated property tax liability analysis for our property. On XX/XX/XXXX, Chase stated in a letter that there was an overpayment of {$11000.00} on our account for parcel XXXX. The letter said that when the overpayment was returned to Chase, Chase would credit the funds to our escrow balance. To date, Chase has not reimbursed the funds to our escrow account. Additionally, Chase continues to overcharge us based on their accounting errors. According to our amortization schedule, our mortgage, including escrow, should be {$2600.00}. Chase, however, charged us a {$4300.00} mortgage in XX/XX/XXXX and threatens to charge us {$3500.00} in XX/XX/XXXX. 


Additionally, in its XX/XX/XXXX letter to us, Chase intentionally misstated the facts about our escrow account and Chase 's culpability regarding its misappropriation of our escrow account funds. In the letter, Chase states " there was an overpayment on your account, '' using passive voice to hide the fact that Chase made the overpayment. Additionally, while Chase made the overpayment using our escrow funds, the overpayment was not made for the benefit of our account, as the letter indicates. In fact, Chase used our escrow funds to pay the taxes on a property we do not own. As of the writing of this complaint, Chase has not reimbursed our escrow funds nor paid our property taxes. Instead, Chase has raised our mortgage payments by thousands of dollars. 


Timeline ( all events occurred in XXXX ) : XX/XX/XXXX : Letter from Chase to XXXX notifying that it paid {$11000.00} in overdue XXXX real estate property taxes and {$5200.00} in penalty and interest fees to XXXX XXXX on the XXXX ' behalf for parcel number XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX call to Chase for follow up. Chase representative confirmed the information in the XX/XX/XXXX letter. Neither Chase nor the XXXX realized that the tax payment was a mistake. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Follow-up call from XXXX XXXX XXXX Chase. She spoke with Chase tax department representative XXXX XXXX. XXXX verbally alerted Chase that it used the XXXX ' escrow funds to pay the taxes for the wrong property. XXXX followed up the phone call with a message to Chase via her online account messaging system. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Response message to XXXX XXXX ' online account from Chase agreeing to defer mortgage payment increases for XXXX months. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Letter from XXXX XXXX to Chase alerting Chase to the escrow payment mistake in writing and requesting reimbursement within five business days along with a new escrow analysis based on updated tax information. Attached documents to the letter proved the mistake and included property tax and ownership information for parcels XXXX and XXXX. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Chase letter to XXXX stating their escrow payment will be refunded when XXXX XXXX refunds the erroneous tax payment to Chase. 
XX/XX/XXXX : Chase conducted new escrow analysis for XXXX ' mortgage. Chase lowered the XX/XX/XXXX mortgage amount to {$3500.00} due a reduction in taxes, but it did not account for escrow reimbursement. 
XX/XX/XXXX : XXXX XXXX call with Chase representative XXXX XXXX. XXXX confirmed that the XXXX XX/XX/XXXX mortgage bill was {$4300.00} and their XXXX mortgage bill would be {$3500.00}. While on the phone with XXXX, XXXX made a {$2600.00} mortgage payment and {$340.00} principal payment. XXXX made a request for Chase to accept the short mortgage payment for XX/XX/XXXX ( request case number : XXXX ). XXXX reported that Chase received XXXX request for an escrow refund due to the tax payment error ( request case number : XXXX ). XXXX told XXXX that escrow reimbursement could take more than 60 days.