Consumer complaint received 2016-08-11
Product: Consumer Loan — Vehicle lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (VT)

XX/XX/2014, I signed a lease agreement underwritten by Chase Auto Finance. My boyfriend ( let 's call him BF ) had committed to making the payments, and I paid the down payment and initial tax, title and fees. In XXXX, I logged in to Chase 's online payment portal for BF to authorize his bank account ( XXXX XXXX ) in order for Chase to pull automatic monthly payments from his XXXX XXXX account. The authorization process required BF to log in to his account and verify a small deposit made by Chase, which he did. In XX/XX/XXXX we separated amiably, and I asked BF if he intended to continue making payments, as promised, or if I needed to absorb that expense. On XXXX XXXX, BF responded by email, " as promised, I will continue to pay the car lease. '' And he did, for the next two months. Then, in XX/XX/XXXX, with no warning, and no discussion, no prior notice from Chase, I received an email confirming that they had processed the stop payment for XXXX 's installment and two months ' payments had been effectively reversed. I was speechless, stunned! I immediately contacted Chase and asked for documentation, an explanation, and for further review of how this was possible. I spent endless hours on the phone, seeking answers and options, trying to understand why on earth Chase returned two months ' payments without any authorization from me, their contracted customer. After many calls and callbacks I was told that the payments were returned because XXXX XXXX had received a dispute from BF claiming the charges were 'unauthorized '. I asked how, under the circumstances, when BF verified his bank account using their own secure portal and procedure, and payments had been made consistently via that same method for a total of 12 months, payments could just systematically be reversed so swiftly, with no further documentation required. They claimed they had no choice but to return the payments to XXXX XXXX. One week later, an additional payment was reversed. And the following week, on XXXX XXXX, two more payments. In the span of 20 days, six months of payments legitimately made and applied to my account were gone, and there was nothing I could do about it. My account went from current and in good standing to egregiously delinquent, in less than a month, through no action of mine. Despite every effort to explain, to plead, to understand, to resolve, a few short days later, when XX/XX/XXXX closed out in Chase 's accounting system, my auto lease automatically charged off and transferred to their Reclaim department. Again I explained, looked for solutions, asked for explanations, a deeper-level review, reconsideration. I was told my only option was to pay off the loan in full, all {$20000.00}. I asked how on earth I was expected to secure an auto loan with a charged off auto lease freshly on my credit report. Of course, I asked for Chase 's loan application and was told they would n't be able to help me. 
Exhausted of energy and options, I hired an attorney. My attorney wrote a letter to Chase asking them to name the dollar amount they would need me to pay in order for Chase to reinstate my lease in good standing. We also asked for my credit bureau records to be corrected to remedy the credit damages I had suffered. Chase 's response was that they were willing to do neither, that it was my debt and they had no responsibility for the status of my lease or the series of actions that caused my lease to be charged off. Ironically, I am the ONLY party who had no control over those actions, and I am the one who signed the lease. Although Chase wishes to hold me fully accountable, in truth a lease is an agreement that binds ALL parties to the terms, and Chase did not honor their contract with me, nor was there any fail-safe in their policies to ensure payment reversal could n't cause a charge-off or seriously compromise my financial stability.