Consumer complaint received 2023-12-05
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: AZ
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
XXXXopened new business checking and savings acct in person XXXXdeposited check from my mom for {$30000.00} to help start our business. Was told funds would be available XXXX XXXXreceived email from Chase stating we have a new letter that can be found by logging into our account and further stated that our account had been restricted due to potential fraud and our account may be closed soon. The email said we can find the letter by logging into our Chase account ; however, since our account has been restricted, we can not login to our account. I called Chase to get more information and was told they had to speak with the check maker ( my mom ) to verify that she wrote the check. I provided her phone number, they called her, but the call was disconnected because she was driving and lost service.

XXXXcalled Chase to have them try calling my mom again and was told they are unable to call the number I provided because it isnt registered to her name based on the system/program Chase uses to verify phone numbers . They could only call the number that showed up under her name which was an old number she hadnt used in several years. She also said the wouldnt allow my mom to go to a Chase branch to verify issuance of the check. 
XXXXmy husband, XXXX XXXX, the other Member of the other LLC, went to a local Chase branch to get the restriction removed. He and the branch manager called the new account department and was told we cant access ANY of our money, including what was already in the account aside from the {$30000.00} check. He was told that my mom could put a stop payment on the check and get us a cashiers check. Unfortunately, it would take a couple days for her to be able to reissue the check after a stop payment was requested to ensure the payment didnt go through. 
XXXXmy mom called me and said the {$30000.00} check had cleared her account. I called Chase and they confirmed they had received the money and funds would be available on XXXX. Since the check was paid and not returned, they would credit our account and they no longer needed to speak with my mom to verify funds. All we needed to do was call Chase and have the restriction removed. 
XXXX-I called Chase to have the restriction removed and was told they had to speak with my mom to verify the check before they could do anything with the {$30000.00}. They wouldnt send the funds back to her or credit our account until they spoke to her. They said they could hold the funds for up to 2 years, and if this still wasnt resolved, they would have to escheat the funds to the state of XXXX. They said they could only verify it by calling my mom using the phone number in XXXX and there was no other way to verify her. They again told me she couldnt go to a Chase branch to verify the check. I explained that we are in a family plan which is probably why it doesnt show her name associated with that phone number. The representative told me that my mom would have to get a new phone number that was registered to her name and I told her that was absurd and asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold for an hour while the supervisor reviewed the notes in the file, she said my mom could go to her bank where the check was drawn, Chase could call the bank and verify my moms identity and confirm that she issued the check. 
XXXXmy mom went to her bank, I called Chase to let them know my mom was with her banker and was ready to verify the check, but was told I was misinformed and Chase cant verify the check through a 3rd party. I asked to speak with a supervisor and was told the same thing and that my mom would need to have her bank recall the funds and that there was no guarantee that Chase would send the funds back to my moms bank. They also told me that even though the check cleared and funds are in our account, we cant use ANY of our money since our account is restricted. They finally gave me the reason the check was flagged and it was because my mom couldnt fit the whole name of our LLC ( XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) on the payee line so LLC was written above the line. I told the supervisor that they are illegally holding our money hostage and I couldnt find any provisions in their deposit agreement where we agreed to this or that gave them the authority to hold ALL of our money. After I hung up, I called back to opt out of arbitration since their deposit agreement said we had 60 days from when the account was opened to do so. The person I spoke with said I couldnt opt out because our account is restricted. THAT MUST BE ILLEGAL! .My mom has a Chase account and her phone number that Chase refused to call her on is the same number associated with her Chase account. Me, my mom, and my husband met at a Chase branch and spoke to the branch manager. He contacted the new accounts department to help get the restriction removed from our account. After almost 2 hours of him being transferred to different supervisors, he was finally able to get someone to call my mom and verify the check. He was told that the restriction has been removed and it would take about an hour before we could log into our account. Its been over 7 hours and we still cant access our money. Chase is violating federal regulations by holding our funds and by not allowing us to opt out of arbitration. Chase cant hold funds longer than 9 days since a reasonable person would know this is not fraud.

This has costed us a lot of time to try and resolve the issue. We are losing business and it is affecting mine and my husbands relationship as it is causing a lot of emotional distress.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief