Consumer complaint received 2020-07-18
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I am complaining about the unfair treatment I have received from Chase bank, and the extreme degree of negligence and incompetence that has led to this point. Note that I have been a Chase card customer for well over 15 years, with have impeccable credit and payment history. I have had 3 personal cards with Chase prior to this experience, so they know exactly who I am and have made tens of thousands of dollars from me over the years. There was nothing that ever warranted any KYC or AML concerns whatsoever ; however, I am being treated as if they don't know who I am and that I am a criminal who has committed fraud. 

Currently Chase has {$1400.00} of my money that they have unreasonably seized, and it wasn't until receiving a paper letter in the mail today XX/XX/XXXX ( 6 weeks later ) that I finally know what their concern is even about. To start from the beginning ... 

On XX/XX/XXXX I opened a business checking and savings account seemingly without any issues in the name of my new business, a freelance consulting practice I established in XXXX. The account was initially funded with {$50.00} from my personal XXXX XXXX account ( via personal debit card ). Chase required this in the account opening process. 

My account had a {$1500.00} minimum requirement to avoid paying monthly fees, so naturally the first thing I did was set up my personal bank account to transfer money in. I waited through the multi-day verification process and successfully verified my account from the 2 small deposits they placed in my personal account on XX/XX/XXXX & XXXX. 

Once my personal account was verified, I scheduled a {$1400.00} transfer into the new Chase account. CHASE ALLOWED THIS TRANSFER TO HAPPEN AND THEN IMMEDIATELY FROZE MY MONEY. The money left my XXXX XXXX personal account on XX/XX/XXXX. When I tried to log into my Chase account that day my entire account was FROZEN. I could not even log in. This made no sense. I received NO COMMUNICATION whatsoever from Chase. No phone call. No text. No email. No warning or reasons given. Chase took my money and locked me out of my own account. Why would you allow the transfer in the first place if you were simply going to freeze it? This was the first incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

I was very upset. The night of XX/XX/XXXX I called and sat on the phone with agent # 1 for a half hour, but the agent was unable to figure out why it was frozen nor were they able to give me instructions on how to unfreeze it. This was the second incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

The next day on XX/XX/XXXX I had heard nothing and my account was still frozen. I called Chase again. This time my call lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes. Agent # 2 kept putting me on hold over and over. He then said they needed to 3-way call with my other bank ( XXXX XXXX ) to  verify that I was the owner of the account and that the funds were available. This made no sense. I had already completed CHASE 'S  verification process prior to scheduling the transfer. This already confirmed that I was the owner of the account. And CHASE ALREADY HAD MY MONEY, so there was zero need to verify that the funds were available. At the end of the call the agent reassured me there was nothing else I had to do. This was the third incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

After this call, I was finally able to log back in and see my account. However, the {$1400.00} that Chase took from me was still being held. I assumed it would clear in a few days and everything would be ok. I did not transact on the account any further. The only thing I did was set the account up to receive consulting payment from one of my clients, as instructed by my accountant. No attempt was made by Chase to contact me directly. Still no explanation of why my money was being held. This was the fourth incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

On the evening of XX/XX/XXXX I received a message from a consulting client that a payment made to me had been returned from my Chase account. I logged into my account to see what was going on. My account was now showing a pending {$1500.00} transaction where Chase had debited all funds out of my account. The balance was now XXXX. This was the fifth incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

I was furious. After all the hours and hassle spent up to this point I could not believe my account issues were still not resolved. I immediately called that evening of XX/XX/XXXX to find out what was happening. Agent # 3 did not know. She said the transaction was in pending status so she couldn't tell me what it was or why it was made. I needed to call back when it was no longer pending. ( how long that would be, I did not know ) This was the sixth incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

I told agent # 3 I wanted to file a formal complaint. She claimed she would file it and that I would receive a callback soon, however she did not ask me for any details in order to fill out any complaint. I did not receive any calls and was not sure if the complaint had been filed. This was the seventh incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

XX/XX/XXXX and still no communication from Chase. I called Chase again. I asked what was going on with my checking account. Agent #  4 said she didn't see a checking account and she didn't have any answers. Then she said yes, she found a closed account and a CHECK BEING MAILED TO ME. But she did not have any other information. ( note : no check was ever mailed to me ) This was the eighth incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

I told Agent # 4 it needed to be escalated immediately. I waited for a callback from a supervisor, which I finally received the next day. Agent # 5, the supervisor, could not explain anything that was happening with my account but seemed apologetic. I asked for the second time for a formal complaint to be filed. This was the ninth incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

I finally received a mailed letter from Chase dated XX/XX/XXXX ( but received about 2 weeks later, after all these calls had taken place ). The letter said that my account was blocked and will close soon. Received AFTER THEY HAD ALREADY CLOSED MY ACCOUNT. This was the tenth incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

Over the next 2 weeks I received 2 separate calls from Agent # 6 and Agent # 7, members of Chase 's executive office that handles complaints. They did not have any information except to tell me the complaint was being reviewed. The still could not explain why my account had closed or why Chase still had my money locked up somewhere. This was the eleventh incident of Chase 's ineffective processes. 

After those calls I was not contacted again except for a letter I received today, XX/XX/XXXX, explaining to me that my money was still being held by Chase because I need to verify THAT I AM THE OWNER OF MY BUSINESS ( named after me ). And also to inform me that Chase did nothing wrong. It took Chase 6 weeks, several hours on 7 separate phone calls, and a written complaint for Chase to finally inform me that I needed to submit an additional document so that they could check some boxes in their system that I am exactly who I say I am and that sorry not sorry. We did nothing wrong. This was the twelfth and most epic incident of Chase 's ineffective  processes. 

I have worked in banking ( primarily risk management ) for my entire career. I don't say it lightly when I say this situation exposed NEGLIGENCE, RECKLESSNESS, a LACK OF EFFECTIVE CONTROLS, a LACK OF INTERNAL COMMUNICATION CAPABILITIES, POOR INTERNAL TRAINING, POLICIES THAT DON'T USE COMMON SENSE, PROCESSES THAT DON'T ALIGN WITH POLICIES, UNFAIR CUSTOMER TREATMENT, MISINFORMATION GIVEN TO CUSTOMERS, LACK OF EMPATHY OR CONSIDERATION FOR CUSTOMERS, and A COMPLETE AND UTTER LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY FROM AN INSTITUTION THAT SHOULD BE SETTING THE STANDARD FOR OTHERS. 

Oh, and on top of it all, Chase has informed me that they reported me to Early Warning Services. So now I have ANOTHER letter I have to write to get that cleared up. 

In this message alone, I've counted at least TWELVE breakdowns in processes that should not have had even one. The treatment I have received from Chase is completely unwarranted. If they needed an additional document from me, ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS CALL AND ASK FOR IT. Or send me an email. Or actually inform their front line agents so that when I inevitably call in the agents can do their job and give me the correct information. Instead they sent a secure message to an account I could not access and mailed a letter using a system that took over 2 weeks for the letter to arrive. 

The number of hours I have spent on phone calls and writing letters trying to resolve this is ridiculous. The number of hours Chase has spent not resolving this is ridiculous. And in the end everybody loses. I don't have a bank account for my new small business. I don't get the 15 hours of my time back that I could have spent with my family or working on my business. Chase has severed what would have been ( and has been thus far ) an extremely lucrative relationship. With not so much as a sincere apology, much less a token of compensation for my wasted time, enormous inconvenience, and stress. Chase has once again demonstrated why everyone in the world dislikes big bureaucratic banks. 

[ By the way, I have an extremely unique last name. Only a handful of people in the world have it. My business has the same name. There was no indication at any point in time that this was a situation of fraud. And let me say it one more time, I have 3 personal credit cards with Chase, one of which was opened in the early 2000s. A little common sense might have saved even the most ineffective procedures, but you couldn't even apply that. ] Well done, Chase.  WELL DONE!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation