Consumer complaint received 2016-07-29
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I am a current business customer with Chase bank. I opened my account in 2014. My account is currently FROZEN with NO access to my money. As a small business owner, I 've been building my client base and have conducted mostly smaller transactions. Four weeks ago, I received a very large wire deposit from a client. It was my company 's largest sale to date. After the funds cleared, I attempted to send payments as wire transfers to all my vendors, none of which went through. That is what alerted me to the issue. Chase did not contact me with any fraud alerts. I just stopped having access to the account. At first, Chase explained that they identified some fraudulent activity. They were concerned that my account had experienced a large spike in activity. I was asked, then verified all charges as legitimate. The Chase rep stated that my account would be cleared by next business day. Still no access by next business day. When I followed up, the Chase rep then stated that they were investigating the source of the large wire transfer and I had to provide all of my invoices and tax returns to prove that I was a legitimate business. They did not provide this information willingly, though. Chase stated that under the Patriot Act, they do not have to explain themselves. However, I provided all requested documents. To date, I had been in business for over 2 years. Chase then stated I had to wait 10 business days for the investigation to clear. I did and the account was still frozen. After doing some searching regarding people who have experienced similar situations with Chase, I found that Chase had an Executive Customer Service office dedicated to solving out-of-ordinary issues. I called them. The rep was very apologetic and stated that my account would be accessible next business day. Next day, the account was still frozen. The rep who was originally assisting me was not there, and another representative stated that reactivating the account " takes time '' and that they " ca n't just press a button to make it happen. '' The next day with no access to my account, the original rep then admitted that someone had made an error and the investigation had started all over again. UNBELIEVABLE! I was asked to submit all my proof once again. So, today, I submitted all the SAME documents from the original request. I actually forwarded the same email I sent two weeks ago. Chase stated that they needed these documents again because they no longer had them in their possession. Where did my documents go? I had to submit my tax returns. Essentially, they have admitted misplacing documents with sensitive personal information. Everytime XXXX call, I am on the phone for at least 30-60 minutes. In the meantime, the money which would pay my salary, is being withheld, limiting resources that would support my family. I waited for the " investigation '' to run it 's course, was told that everything was cleared, and, then NOTHING HAPPENED. They provided no explanation of how this could come to pass. Now, they want to start the process over again. There is no transparency in the process. In addition to submitting this complaint, I have asked our Congressman 's office for help. If I do not get a resolution shortly, I will be forced to take legal action and post this rather embarrassing situation on social media. This, apparently, is the only way to get the attention of banks like Chase.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation