Consumer complaint received 2018-04-29
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: VA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Banking errors

Complaint:
My Chase Bank NA checking account does not incur a monthly fee if I make 5 debit card transactions during the monthly cycle/period. This is according to Chase Bank NA staff who indicated this in writing to me via a secure message on the Chase account website. However, in the month of XX/XX/XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX - XX/XX/XXXX ), although I made more than the 5 required debit transactions during this period, Chase changed the dates of all of these transactions, so that all but one of them were reported as having occurred several days, up to a week after the date of each transaction. As a result, this action permitted Chase Bank NA to charge a monthly fee. This shifting of transaction dates, as it pertains to the counting of transactions for the purpose of determining whether a fee ought to be charged was something that was not indicated at all by Chase Bank NA staff when I asked specifically how I can avoid a monthly fee. Rather, I followed their explicit instructions and made at least 5 debit card transactions " during '' the statement period. Chase bank NA staff DID NOT INDICATE that I was responsible for anticipating when various merchants would post their transactions, and this is something that is impossible for any Chase Bank NA customer to do on a reliable basis. Without any clarification on the part of Chase Bank NA staff that the date of transactions for calculation of a monthly would be the date the transactions were posted, it was entirely reasonable for me to assume that the this date would be the DATE DEBIT CARD TRANSACTIONS WERE MADE - which is the only factor that I, the Chase Bank NA customer, can control. If the actual date used were another date, this should have been made clear to me by Chase Bank NA staff when they instructed me on how to avoid a monthly fee. However, it is evident that the posting date is the date used, and thus Chase Bank NA staff provided false and misleading information regarding its checking account fee structure and policies. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Chase Bank NA by phone to inquire as to why a fee was charged and why the transaction dates were changed. The Chase Bank NA representative and his supervisor both told me something more disturbing, that my cycle ACTUALLY ended on the XXXX of the month, even though every statement I've received in the 5 or so years I've been a Chase Bank NA customer has indicated otherwise. I indicated that I have Chase checking account statements that SHOW that the cycle ends on or around the XX/XX/XXXXof each month, but the Chase Bank NA representative INSISTED that I was wrong - that the " RECORD '' of my account showed unequivocally that the cycle has always ended on the XX/XX/XXXX of the month. 

Thus, what Chase Bank NA has indicated to me today is that each and every bank statement it has issued since I opened this account has contained FALSE INFORMATION about the monthly statement cycle. I have not yet reported this to my home branch, but I was also misled by the staff at that branch, who did not disclose the ACTUAL cycle period dates. 

Rather, the debit transactions I made prior to the end of the statement cycle were re-assigned the date of XX/XX/XXXX. Chase change the dates of all of these transactions, and at least in 2 cases, I can furnish receipts to prove that the dates occurred within the statement cycle : XX/XX/XXXX - date assigned by Chase Bank NA ( 1 ) XXXX XXXX XXXX VA XX/XX/XXXX Debit card transaction {$2.00} ( 2 ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX VA XX/XX/XXXX Debit card transaction {$18.00} ( 3 ) XXXX # XXXX XXXX VA XX/XX/XXXX Debit card transaction {$11.00} ( 4 ) XXXX XXXX # XXXX XXXX XXXX VA XX/XX/XXXX Debit card transaction {$2.00} ( 5 ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX VA XX/XX/XXXX Debit card transaction {$15.00} ( 6 ) XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX VA XXXX VA XX/XX/XXXX Debit card transaction {$12.00}

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief