Thanks friedice
DH is still getting the "two week" message - not expressed in days but rather "two weeks" like the famous line from THE MONEY PIT a.k.a. the house we own.
As a data point, I did think of one other difference between our applications. I had an existing BAEC number that I got two years ago in order to use their search feature. I applied for his BAEC number about four days before his Chase application, he got his welcome e-mail, and I did use the number on the application. I'm not sure why this would hold up his application, but obviously there are some very strange things happening.