Consumer complaint received 2020-11-22
Product: Mortgage — Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Applying for a mortgage or refinancing an existing mortgage — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (FL)

In late XX/XX/2020, from my home in XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX I began the process of applying for a mortgage to buy a home in northern XX/XX/XXXX. I had a banking relationship with Chase and after some research on rates and costs decided to get prequalified with Chase before looking for properties and then working through the application process. Since I was between jobs having retired a year earlier from the XXXX XXXX XXXX  and about to return to work at the end of XX/XX/2020, the loan officer suggested using our assets as the basis for a loan rather than wait for verification of my reappointment as a XXXX XXXX XXXX. That seemed reasonable even though it was not fully explained how detailed the documentation process to verify our assets would be. Nonetheless we managed to comply with an endless stream of requests to help the underwriters verify our assets and provide the necessary documentation. After we verified the sales contract on our house in XX/XX/XXXX we set a closing date for XXXX XXXX, a month away, and had our realtor send a copy to the loan officer so that the mortgage could be approved and in place in time for the closing scheduled to take place in XX/XX/XXXX. We locked in the rate with the understanding from the loan officer that by moving more of our assets to Chase, we would qualify for discounts, bringing the rate from 3 % down to 2.6 % with no prepaid points. In order to qualify we went the through the process of moving assets to Chase with assurances that we would receive the lower rate and everything would be in place in time for the scheduled closing. When we departed for VA a few days prior to the closing we were assured by the Chase loan officers that everything needed for the scheduled closing was in place but when we arrived there we were asked to provide yet additional details about our assets. We were also confronted with some new requests that we pay off some of our credit card balances ( something we do every month anyway ) and not use our Chase branded credit cards until after the closing so as not to trigger any additional credit rating reports. We also learned upon arriving in VA that the settlement company had received nothing from Chase and that it was unlikely that the closing could take place on schedule as we had planned. Despite furtive attempts to contact Chase and get the information from the lender to the settlement company, we were unable to close on the property as planned and faced the likelihood of us defaulting on the sales contract. We were unable to get any response from Chase other than a phone message apologizing for delays with underwriting and a promise from a Chase loan supervisor to look into what happened. We subsequently withdrew funds that we had moved to Chase in order to qualify for the discounted loan and paid cash for the house, not what we had intended to do but forced into this situation by Chase failing to approve the loan in a timely manner and communicate properly with us. Ironically, we discovered upon our return to XX/XX/XXXX, Chase sent the documents approving the loan via US mail not at the promised discount interest rate, but at the original rate of 3.00 % which was not what we had been promised and which arrived to us after we had closed on the property. We feel that we have been badly misled by Chase about the process, victimized by a bait and switch in terms of the interest rate promised, and but in a very compromising position legally and financially by not being able to come through with the expected financing when it was required. I have been contacted by someone at Chase 's Executive Office two weeks ago and have been playing phone tag ever since. Its clear to us that the processing and communications at one the nation 's largest banks is terribly deficient, poorly supervised, and grossly irresponsible. We were warned by our realtor about the challenges of dealing with large banks and the benefits of working with local lenders. We had thought that our relationship with the Chase branch in XXXX XX/XX/XXXX would assure good customer service, advice and support. It seems that we were wrong.