Consumer complaint received 2022-09-27
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Closing on a mortgage — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

I have been in a nightmare situation doing a refinance with Chase Mortgage Bank. If you are a small business owner I advise you to read this because the deck is stacked against you. 

I started the refinance process XX/XX/XXXX. I originally was working with a lender named XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I asked my business banking connect at Chase to introduce me to some one in the refinance division as I do all my personal and business banking through Chase. The process started as one would expect, I told Chase I was working with another company and provided them with the disclosure information related to the rate that was locked with the other company XXXX XXXX at par ( no point or additional fees ). 

My lending advisor at Chase was able to submit a request to match the rate that was approved and so Chase begun the application process. The advisor ensured me this would be a swift process given Chase has a very large underwriting team and we were working with the specialty department. 

The process was no such thing, it was painful and long and atrocious. XXXX was constantly requesting documents that didn't exist, incorrectly calculating DTI and Income and numerous other issues. I provide all documentation and answer to request within XXXXhrs of request from XXXX. XXXX would take XXXX business days to respond. Towards the end of XXXX beginning of XXXX I made the decision to cancel the XXXX  Loan and move forward with Chase as I was being told Chase was close to moving to the conditional approval. 

I paid for an appraisal with XXXX in the beginning of the process and had the home appraised around XX/XX/XXXX. The appraisal came in at ~ XXXX XXXXmln. That appraisal was given to Chase and my lending advisor informed me we would be able to receive an exception for the appraisal. Around this same time I received a call from a Chase appraiser requesting to set up an appointment which I did not do because I informed them we had already submitted the appraisal and received a wavier/exception. Again this was early XXXX. This is a key part and will come back to hurt my family and I down the road. 

After closing the loan with XXXX to clear a condition for Chase the nightmare continued. We went back and forth with underwriting for another full month. Again my wife an I providing all information required within XXXXhrs and XXXX  taking XXXX business days to review the file and for us to receive a response. 

At this point I was doing everything in my power to try and figure out how this was taking so long and why the XXXX department was so clueless about what documents, taxes, calculations they were making and why they were requesting things that didn't make sense or even exist. I had no transparency or communication from XXXX other then my lending advisor through this process. Things they were requesting that didn't exist, XXXX XXXX transcripts showing no filing has happened yet for XXXX even though they had the extension paper work. In correct usage of XXXX taxes, i.e. requesting a tax filing for an XXXX, which they had because the XXXX flows to my personal return and was filed in a schedule C. Truly just the most insane things from a department that should know how these things work and why they want them. 

Seemingly toward the end of XXXX, the exact date was XX/XX/XXXX, we had just cleared all/most of the conditional approval items and we were looking good for Clear to Close. I receive a call from my lending advisor stating the exception/wavier for the appraisal was never approved. My XXXX and I were in disbelief and distraught to say the least. It had been XXXX months and the market was rapidly declining. Chase forced us to do another appraisal and we scheduled as soon as we could for the next week with a rush order. Sure enough the Chase lead appraisal came back roughly {$300000.00} less than the appraisal XXXX months ago. This greatly impacted the XXXX and terms of the loan. Reducing our debt consolidation and cash back. We took it on the chin and continued to move forward with the adjusted loan amounts, because there's nothing we can do, if an appraiser things the market as move that much in XXXX months that's there prerogative. 

At this point the rate had expired and been relocked multiple times and we had no clue what was happening with the loan or cost or cash to close. This is an important point that will come back to hurt us in the end. 

The very next week we ran into another issue. The XXXX team so a credit card flex loan on a XXXX statement from early XXXX. Which they already should have known about and was being calculated in our DTI because it was on the credit report. The XXXX team decided to deduct that full loan amount from our reserve requirement putting us under the reserve threshold. Again I was in disbelief because this loan DIDN'T EVEN EXIST. Yes, correct it had been fully paid off and documentation was provided to XXXX showing the pay-off and they chose to continue to deduct it. Tell me, how is that mitigating there risk? This requirement is in place to protect lenders in the event there was a default or bankruptcy and the borrower had to pay back the loan. But that wouldn't matter in my case BECAUSE THE LOAN WAS CLOSED. 

At this point I am ready to throw in the flag. I didn't know what to do, I was calling every manager number and Chase Hotline I could find. No one could help it was always directed back to the lending advisor and everyone answered based on scripts and checkboxes for what they could say and do. No one at Chase cared. I was just another number to them, but yet they are the one losing money for the rate locks and all the time being exerted into this loan in an unnecessary manner. My only option was to look outside of the bank. I turned to the CFPB for questions and help, they directed me to the OCC ( Office of Comptroller of the Currency ) and the Attorney General of XXXX ( home 's state ). I couldn't help to think at this point there was someone in XXXX who wasn't this loan dead or is discriminating against myself or my wife. I use to work at a large publicly traded bank. CFPB informed me to file a complaint but when I learned about the process I couldn't believe that the complaints go directly back to Chase, literally the bank that is causing the issues gets the complaint and power over my situation. is there no government agencies in place to protect little retail consumers like my self? 

I turned to private litigation, looking for an attorney who specializes in Mortgage discrimination and wrong doings. Nearly impossible to find anyone and very expense. I spoke to XXXX  attorneys and either course of action would be more months of suffering and no solution to my lending issue. 

We continued to press on and figure out a way to get our reserve amounts up. I had to reverse three credit card payments to Chase cards to get the reserve amount above this new threshold. At this point my family is suffering financially. I can't move any of my money between accounts for three months. I couldn't pay debts that they would accept and I couldn't pay credit card bills because they were disallowing so much of my funds and only counting funding in Chase accounts mainly. I was hit with late fees and penalties because of this. I couldn't believe a company could get away with this level of negligence and absurdity when it is hurting retail customers financially. No one could help I was stuck waiting through the process. 

After hitting the reserve requirement, of course more conditions popped up to which we responded and met within XXXXhrs of request, to which XXXX  took XXXX days to respond and review. Finally, today, the day I am writing this we were marked clear to close and ready to schedule. 

When I reviewed the final loan terms. I noticed chase had included a {$12000.00} fee in " points '' on the loan. I was outraged. I immediately contact my advisor who incorrectly informed me this was due to multiple rate locks and a fee associated to it. I couldn't believe Chase had the audacity to charge me for the duration of this refinance when it was all on them and emails, calls, documentation will support that. Of course I immediately called the escalation team to look into it. There was nothing they could do and informed me they have to contact my lending advisor. 

My lending advisor called me back and informed me that the fee was actually due to the new appraisal amount. He said that because the appraisal came back so far below the estimate we used- which mind you the estimate we used was the appraisal I had done in the beginning of XXXX that they chose to not use after XXXX months have passed. That there would be this additional fee on top of the loan. 

So I write this today with no resolution and now stuck with a decision to move forward with this loan that was nothing what it should have been if the process was handled correctly by Chase. I don't know what to do and quite frankly, I don't want the loan with these unbelievable, ridiculous fee that Chase is tacking on. I still can't believe this is all legal and no regulators would want to look into this. 

I have until XX/XX/XXXX to make a decision. Everything in this story can be validated with emails, record phone calls, and any other evidence needed. I hope for small business owners reading this you make a better choice in a lending partner than I did.