Consumer complaint received 2020-12-03
Company: Chime Financial Inc
State: WA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
My Chime bank account has been suspended and I have no access to my primary source of income, totaling ~ {$7200.00}. I have already defaulted on my car payment and will be in default of my student loan payment within the next day or so. This is my money and I have been a member of this bank since XXXX without incident and am being separated from my livelihood without clear or just cause. I am requesting access to my checking account funds immediately. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I rececieved a message from the email address XXXX stating, During a routine monitoring of your account, we identified some activity in need of verification. Please see below for details of what is needed from you : Please name your employer or source of income Please explain the source of the deposits totaling {$18000.00} sent to your account between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX. 

Being a member of Chime bank since XXXX and having never received an email from this email address I thought this could potentially be an attempt at phishing from a hacker. On XX/XX/XXXX I decided to call the phone number on the back of the Chime card, XXXX to investigate whether or not this was a legitimate email. I was told by the representative that it was indeed legitimate. In XX/XX/XXXX I answered the questions asked in the original email detailed above. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received another email stating Im afraid we have not yet received sufficient documentation to verify recent activity on your account and requesting even more personal information. Please provide : * If funds came from regular employment income, documents such as pay stubs, W2s, or 1040 personal tax returns may qualify and threatening If we are unable to verify the requested information, your account may be subject to suspension/closure. 

Given the personal nature of the information being requested via email and the fact that I had never before received an email from Chime like this or from that email address before, I was suspicious. So on the XX/XX/XXXX I asked them for exact details as to what they were asking for and why. In their response on XX/XX/XXXX, they indicated that they wanted the same information as they had in the previous email and gave this for rationale, Policy requires us to understand our members ' incomes. Since you recently deposited approximately {$18000.00} into your account between XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, we are requesting documentation to help us verify this activity. Our records appear to indicate that these deposits primarily came from XXXX XXXX and XXXX. 

Once again, finding this request for personal information sent through email disconcerting and suspicious I called the phone number on the back of my Chime card. This time when I spoke to the Chime representative I was told to ignore these emails and mark them as spam. Also on XX/XX/XXXX I sent a separate email to XXXX having found this email on their website, specifically asking, Hi Chime Support, I am getting emails from XXXX asking for W2s, paystubs, and other forms of verification due to routine monitoring of my account. Is this a legitimate email?. I received a confusing response that I interpreted as telling me to ignore these emails Note : If you do not recognize these emails, please avoid them, and also as a friendly reminder you can update your info to protect from them! 

On XX/XX/XXXX, my Chime bank account was suspended without clear explanation as to why they were suspending it. The only explanations were routine monitoring and policy. I have lost access to ~ {$7200.00} and have already defaulted on my car payment and am due to make a student loan payment in a day or so through direct debit which will likely default. 

As it stands now, I have been forced to send personal information over email in order to regain access to my funds. I have sent Chime pictures of bills with my address, paystubs, bank statements from other banks, a picture of my state license both front and back AND a picture of me holding my license. 

My account remains suspended with no clear timeline for IF or when I will regain access to my funds. 

This practice is confusing and unfair and having called Chime banks customer service number 4 times on XX/XX/XXXX alone, I left these conversations feeling the opposite of assured. Their representatives are not empowered by the company to help. I feel punished and helpless at the hands of Chime bank and have no recourse. 

Please help me regain access to my funds as soon as possible. 

Thank you, XXXX XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation