Consumer complaint received 2025-04-21 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a company's investigation into an existing problem — Their investigation did not fix an error on your report
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
I contacted Chase credit card services regarding my XXXX XXXX card. I was going through a financial hardship and wanted to inquire about what options they have available to help, such as a hardship payment plan, since I can not afford to make the monthly payments on my credit card. XXXX of the representatives I spoke with around the end of XXXX seem to empathize and asked me to provide her with details about the type of financial hardship I was experiencing. I assume this was part of the process for them to determine if I qualify for a hardship payment plan. After I provided the representative with the details surrounding my situation, she advised me that payment plans wouldnt be made available until my account was past due. At the time, Id never been past due on my XXXX XXXX card. I responded to the rep and told her I was calling to prevent my account from going past due to avoid adverse credit reporting. She was adamant that Chase doesn't offer any payment plans to customers unless their account becomes past due. I thought it was strange that Chase had that policy because all the other large financial companies, such as XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX, immediately offered a payment plan to help me navigate my financial hardship. 

As the call went on, I even asked the agent to provide examples of payment plans that would typically become available when an account goes into the past due status. She was very specific and shared payment plan examples, including one that would require the closure of my account. I stated that Im not sure that is what I would want to happen because I know how a late payment could adversely affect my credit. The representative was adamant that there was nothing that she could do unless my account became past due. I told her Id have to think about that because the whole point of me calling in is to prevent my account from becoming past due. 

I scraped the funds to make my next payment because I did not want to go 30 days past due. However, as my financial situation became even more dire, I decided that I had no other option, but to allow my credit card to go past due since I could not afford to keep up with my monthly payments. And based on my conversation with Chases representative advising me that my account had to become past due, I knew that was the only option for me to get the help that I was needing from Chase. I was devastated because the 30 days past due reporting reduced my credit score by XXXX points. 

After the statement closing date following the 30 days past due status, I contacted Chase again to find out what financial hardship payment plans were available since my account had become past due. After speaking with the agent, I requested to speak with a supervisor to express my disgust with Chase that they forced me into a past due status before they would offer any hardship payment plans. The supervisor said that was not their policy. Customers do not have to go into a past-due status for Chase to offer payment plans. I explained that a Chase representative told me the account had to become past due, so I followed what they said. The supervisor said no, that wasnt the case. I was livid. 

A couple of days later, I called back in because I wanted a resolution to this issue and for them to reverse the 30-day past-due credit reporting since I only allowed my account to become past due based on what one of their representatives told me. Again, I have never been past due on my credit card. I was transferred to an account supervisor on the escalations team based in XXXX, XXXX. The name of that account supervisor is XXXX XXXX. I explained to her in detail what happened. I requested for them to investigate it and listen to the call so they could listen to how the representative led me to believe that I had to allow my account to go past due when I was in a desperate situation just trying to get some help to avoid the account to go into past due status. I also explained the resolution I am seeking : a reversal of that 30-day past-due status. XXXX told me she would pull the calls, investigate them, and get back to me with a resolution. 

A few days later, I received a voicemail from the account supervisor, so I called back and was routed to a different representative based in the United States. They saw the notes from that account supervisor stating that a bank error did not occur. She said the representative did not advise me that I needed to become past due for a financial payment plan to become available. I disagreed with that sham of an Investigation that XXXX conducted. The representative read out loud through the call transcript and can see where the representative I spoke with previously told me that no payment plans would be available unless I became past due. He put me on hold to read further through the call transcript because it was a long call. When that representative returned to the line, he was in disbelief because he could see where the representative led me to believe that my account had to become past due. So Im not sure why XXXX had the nerve to call me and say that no bank error was made and that the representative did not advise me that my account had to become past due. 

I am asking Chase Bank to make this right. Had it not been for your representative Misleading me and providing me with incorrect information about what status my account had to be in order for a payment plan to become available, I would not have allowed my account to become 30 days past due. This is not how you should treat customers who are going through a financial hardship.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation