Consumer complaint received 2023-03-19
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
I have been a customer of Chase Bank for 15 years. Things started going downhill during the pandemic when my husband and I lost our jobs in the XXXX  XXXX  and we're collecting unemployment. We couldn't keep up on bills, and Chase charged us over {$3000.00} in overdraft fees in a single year! At a time when our family needed support from our financial institution, Chase made sure to profit off blue collar misfortune. " We don't reverse more than 3 overdraft fees per year, but you can contact us early XX/XX/XXXX to address any outstanding fees we didn't reverse for you in XXXX, and we can see what we can do for you. '' What kind of business model is this? Ok just rob me for 9 months and we can talk about paying me back next year? Chase actually had a master plan to keep the overdraft profits rolling in. In fact they planned it all out from the second the government said " COVID stimulus deposits '' for every US citizen. Billions of dollars wired into millions of individual bank accounts called for some extra special project planning. So Chase sent out heartfelt letters to customers that read :. '' We want to make sure you get the entire amount of your stimulus, but you were overdrawn by ( ex : ) {$500.00}. We went ahead and credited your account the {$500.00} so that you have full access to your stimulus, and we will debit the amount back out of your account in 30 days ... '' What are we think happened 30 days later? Boom. More overdraft fees, as the debit coincided with monthly bills coming out the account. Chase contributed to family financial collapse by engineering robbery from us citizens; greatly increasing mental emotional and physical strain on our family, as well as millions of others. This last year we have experienced even more difficulties, with chase holding payroll checks for 15 days. We have had to go spend money to cash checks and then deposit cash because we can't count on Chase to release the funds so that we can pay our bills ... and then what happens? more overdrafts, bounced payments late fees and debts up to our eyeballs. We spend more money paying the bank back then we do paying our bills. What's more ironic is that if we're {$100.00} short on our rent they will bounce our rent payment but then allow all these other small bills to go through so that our rent isn't paid and now we're negative in the bank for other loans. Why pick and choose which bills to bounce why bounce the rent when you know that's the most important bill but allow the loan payments to go through? This is currently our third payroll check that's being put on hold for no good reason except they say they have no way to verify the availability of the funds from the payroll bank. Which just so happens to be a XXXX XXXX that is right up the street. So now one big Bank can't pick up the phone and verify with another big bank that the check is good. As a result we can't pay our utilities or our car payment or even catch up on rent. I'm writing this report because everyone should know that the big Banks are not trying to solve the current economic crisis, on the contrary they are compounding the crisis and reaping billions in profits off the little guy. But go ahead and make more grants to nonprofits to build economic resiliency in our local communities how about you give that money back to the millions of people that you're stealing it from and then we won't need social programs to teach us the public how to be economically self sufficient. Chase is a big problem.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation