Consumer complaint received 2018-06-16 00:00:00
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Getting a credit card — Application denied
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
I believe I am a victim of a credit discrimination by Chase bank. 
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act ( The ECOA ( 15 U.S.C. 1691 and following ) and Regulation B ( 12 C.F.R. 1002 and following ), which implements the ECOA, makes it illegal for a creditor to discriminate in any aspect of credit transaction based on certain characteristics or impose different terms or conditions. Creditors should make decisions based on your credit history, debt levels and income. In my case ( Fico score XXXX ) is exceptional and I have high employment income ( {$270.00} with no debt ) but even with this perfect numbers Chase rejected my application because " there is not enough debt to income ratio '' this is a ridiculous reason since Fico score factor that aspect in the score calculation and I have over 30 years of history showing at least 4 mortgages and 2 home equity loans paid. Chase ignored the facts and in order to justify the rejection invented a fake reason. The real hidden reason is known as Chase 5/24 secret and undisclosed/unpublished rule. ( see below explanation ). As long there is no federal or state law that limit the number of credit cards a person can have Chase bank can not impose artificial rules. 
On XX/XX/XXXX Chase send me, on my name, at my home address a personal invitation and also send me by email a link to apply for a new Freedom Visa signature credit card .I was personally selected and invited and encouraged to apply for this chase credit card but when they realized my exceptional Fico score and income showing responsible financial pattern, they decided to deny my application based on their 5/24 secret rule, but I was not given a reason why or told how to find out why. Since Chase can not reject my application without a credible reason they used a " wear down " strategy by asking me to send redundant unnecessary personal info by fax only ( no email accepted ) .I went to the local branch and submitted the requested doc. only to be rejected a week later. I spoke with my Chase advisor who submitted the fax and he was also puzzled why I was asked for this redundant documentation. It was offending for me to be personally invited to apply then asked redundant documents and at the end reject them for no legal reason. Why Chase select customers to apply for a credit card then play games with documents they already have, only to reject applications if they don't meet their " profit milking '' criteria or secret 5/24 discriminatory rules? 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called indicated number ( XXXX ) from the rejection letter and spoke with the manager that assured me if I apply again I will be approved. I did applied again but I was rejected again for no reason. 
I was asked to provide proof date of birth, proof of current address ( utility bills ) Driving license and SS card, even I was already a current Chase bank customer when I applied for a new credit card with saving/checking bank account and 3 different Chase credit cards and they already have all this personal info on file from my recent opening of a Chase bank account. I even paid $ 10-15 for each credit report agency to temporary unfreeze my credit reports but Chase did not even bother to ask for any credit reports ( as I can see from my online statements for XXXX/XXXX   ) and In my case Credit discrimination is hidden, ( 5/24 secret rule ) but intentionally programmed in the automatic Chase credit card approval system that is set to reject customers with very high Fico score, since they are very responsible financial and more likely to regularly pay all balance in full and less likely to make late payments and generate any fee or interest for the bank. This is called disparate treatment the law prohibits disparate impact. Thats when protected groups get a worse deal than others as a result of company policies that are not discriminatory on their surface. 
Chase secretly selects and prefer credit card applicants based on likeness to default on their credit card payments and intentionally target /encourage irresponsible financial behavior in order to generate more profits. Also Chase target for credit rejection older consumers that are statistically more responsible and less likely to default than their younger counterparts, therefore less likely to be charged fees. That is age based discrimination. 
Credit discriminatory practice of Chase bank in my case is not an isolated case of credit discrimination -that is a common practice for Chase bank to use a discriminatory practice in order to boost profits. It is not the first time this type of Chase discriminatory practice was reported -see ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) in the middle of XX/XX/XXXX, applicants with excellent credit who applied for Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards suddenly found themselves being declined. The reason for the denials was the applicant opened too many new accounts in the last 24 months.In order to be approved for any Chase card subject to 5/24, you can not have opened five or more personal credit cards across all banks in the last 24 months. This means you actually need to be under 5/24 in order to be approved. The 5/24 rule only applies to getting approved for cards issued by Chase, but your 5/24 count includes your cards from all banks. That is an arbitrary discriminatory rule. 
Chase has a long public history of consumer discrimination -see lawsuit against J.P. Morgan Chase by attorney for the XXXX District of XXXX XXXX , XXXX XXXX alleging that the bank had engaged in discriminatory mortgage practices from XXXX through XXXX.The bank had agreed to pay {$55.00} million to settle the claim just hours after the lawsuit was filed. The Center for Investigative Reportings Reveal found also that in XXXX and XXXX, the bank denied conventional home loans to XXXX and XXXX in the D.C. region more often than to XXXX with similar incomes. The CFPB, working with the OCC, ordered JPMorgan Chase and Chase Bank to refund an estimated {$300.00} million to approximately 2.1 million consumers and pay a {$20.00} million civil penalty. The CFPB found the Chase banks engaged in unfair billing practices for certain credit card add-on products by charging consumers for credit monitoring services that they did not receive.

I am hopping my complains with Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and The Federal Trade Commission, XXXX Attorney Generals office will help stop Chase bank from this illegal practice.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation