Consumer complaint received 2022-03-28
Company: Chime Financial Inc
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I used Chime 's pay friends feature to transfer {$1400.00} to my brothers phone number XXXX for our mortgage payment, His name is XXXX XXXX. For some reason, chime sent the payment to a chime member by the name of XXXX XXXX. I didn't realize that chime had made this error until XX/XX/XXXX when my brother called and asked what happened to the money I was supposed to send him for the mortgage. I immediately contacted Chime to dispute the transfer and return the XXXX cancel the pay friends transfer and return the money so I could make the mortgage payment. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I got an email from Chime stating that pay friends transactions could not reversed and that I needed to contact the Chime member directly to request that he return the funds that chime sent him by mistake. I followed their instructions and immediately sent in a direct request to the Chime member who received the funds funds and asked that they get returned. I sent in several requests in fact, but I never heard back from the chime member. 
Chime never issued me a temporary credit. They never attempted to contact the Chime member themselves, Instead on XX/XX/XXXX they sent an email stating that no error occurred on their end and therefore the funds would not be reversed and that they considered the matter closed. 
I immediately requested the documentation that Chime used in their decision, and found that the dispute team believed that I knowingly paid the wrong person based on their internal view of what the Chime app looks like from their perspective, not even acknowledging the fact that my view as a chime member of what the app looks like and who I was paying was and is completely different then theirs. 
Over the next 7 months I spent over 30 hours talking to dispute department managers and composing emails, and submitting rebuttal documents to the disputes team to reverse their decision. Every manager I spoke with agreed that the error was not my fault, but none of them could put me in contact with the dispute team handling my case. 
I sent in a step by step description, including screenshots of the phone number and name of the person that I intended to pay, but the disputes team said that I was not providing them with any new information and therefore would not reverse the transaction and give me back my money. 
I am attaching the screenshots that irrefutably proves that this error was Chime 's fault. Below please find the final letter that I sent Chime 's disputes department : ( I have received and reviewed the documents that Chime used in determining the outcome of the above referenced claim. Attached please find The documents that chime used entitled ChimeView and another document that Shows that the document used are not what I saw when I authorized and verified the pay to Friends transaction that Im disputing. 
The Chime document shows that I initiated and confirmed a transaction to chime member XXXX and no error was made and therefore chime could not reverse the transaction. 
I did not initiate a transaction to chime member XXXX XXXX Please see the first page of the attached document entitled chimecustomerview. At the top of the screen shot of the chime app on the first page it shows that I initiated a transaction to a phone number not to a chime member. Underneath the phone number, under the heading all contacts, it shows XXXX XXXX. That name popped up after I typed in the phone number of the person I wanted to pay. My brothers name is XXXX XXXX, he owns the phone number that I typed in, and he is the person that I intended to pay. 
The second page of the same document shows a screenshot of the Chime app after I chose XXXX XXXX as the person I wanted to pay. The screenshot shows that I am initiating a payment for one dollar, and the explanation under the payment amount shows that I am paying that dollar so I could show the Chime dispute team solid evidence That I typed in my brothers phone number, his name came up, and that I was initiating a payment to my brother, XXXX XXXX. 
The Screenshot on page 3 of the same document is what The app showed me after I hit the pay button shown in the screenshot on page 2 of this document. At the bottom of the screenshot theres a button that says pay XXXX {$1.00}. 
Please note at the top of both the 2nd and 3rd Screenshots from the chime app The name XXXX XXXX appears, not XXXX XXXX and at the bottom of the third screenshot the button says pay XXXX {$1.00}, and there is no mention of this XXXX 
The fourth and final screenshot on the fourth page of the same document is a screenshot of the chime app showing my recent transactions right after I hit the button pay XXXX {$1.00}. It shows a transfer of one dollar to XXXX XXXX 
I dont know XXXX XXXX and the phone number that I typed in to initiate the pay friends request does not belong to XXXX XXXX The phone number that I typed in to initiate the pay friends transfer located at the top of the screenshot on page 1 has belonged to XXXX XXXX for more than 20 years. 
I have been attempting to get this money put back in my account now for more than three months. I have been transferred to and spoken to three managers on the floor of the Chime dispute department. All three managers have told me that this is clearly an error in the chime system, and that This issue was not my fault. I have requested to speak directly with the dispute investigators, But I have been told that not even the dispute department managers Cant talk directly with dispute investigators, and the only way they could be reached is through email. If the dispute department managers can understand that this is a Chime error, why cant the investigators? 
Please reverse this pay to friends transaction immediately and return the {$1400.00} to my account. These funds were for our mortgage payment, and the fact that chime sent them to the wrong person, and has not returned them for over three months, has caused late payments and return item fees of over {$600.00} and over 30 hours of time waiting on hold, talking to chime representatives, and composing emails. 
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter, and I look forward to seeing the money back in my account very soon. ) Chime 's error has caused irreparable damage to my credit, hundreds of dollars in late fees, and ruined my relationship with my brother, the intended recipient of the funds they sent to the wrong person.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation