Consumer complaint received 2017-08-31
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: UT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem caused by your funds being low
Sub-issue: Overdrafts and overdraft fees

Complaint:
On the morning of XX/XX/XXXX at approximately XXXX XXXX MST I logged into my account to see that there was a new pending charge made that I had not previously been aware of. In response, I immediately transferred {$50.00} into my account from XXXX to ensure that the account did not go over as that and XXXX other transactions were still listed as pending. Wanting to make sure that the transaction had gone through before any overdraft fee had been assigned I logged in the next day at approximately XXXX XXXX MST to check that everything had been covered in time. When I logged in, it showed transactions as still pending, my deposit, no overdraft fee, and a positive balance of {$27.00}. There were no messages stating that the system was undergoing maintenance and that the balance may be inaccurate or that fees from the previous day may have not yet been assigned. My bank does occasionally show such a notice on weekends, so I believed that what I was seeing was accurate as there was nothing to indicate to the contrary. Based on this information, I went about my day and made a purchase with my debit card. However, when I got home and logged into my bank account online at approximately XXXX XXXX MST, all the transactions that had been shown pending in the morning were now suddenly showing as having been completed the day prior and that an overdraft fee had also been assigned the day prior. As a result, the site now showed my balance going into the day as - {$7.00} with another pending transaction. I immediately transferred {$24.00} from my XXXX into the account to attempt to prevent what would now be two additional overdraft fees and called my bank. I at first spoke to a representative that was polite but explained that there was nothing she could do as I had maxed out my overdraft fee refunds with a previous request related to another issue that had been resolved earlier in the year ( as I recall, there had been a large transaction that slightly overdrafted, but they ran several smaller transactions after it that had been made prior to the charge, causing a cascading overdraft effect - had they ran these smaller transactions first, there still would have been a positive balance prior to the larger transaction that slightly overdrafted, apparently in the course of fixing this they locked me out of being taken care of on any other issues for the year ). I responded that I understood but in this particular situation I had been mislead and would not have spent any money had I been provided with the correct information about my account online and would like to speak to a manager. I explained the situation to the manager and that I was unsure of the time I had logged in in the morning to which he suggested XXXX XXXX or so, to which I responded that sounds right. He then informed me that the bank would post the pending deposit but would not show me any transactions that had finished the previous day as the system was in maintenance mode and would not have processed them that early in the morning and implied that it was my fault that I did not know that. The manager was very rude and dismissive in this response to which I said I found that very misleading as a consumer because there was nothing on the website to tell me that was the case. I communicated that if my account could have hidden fees that were n't showing, the website should indicate that to me so that I am not mislead into spending money that is n't there. He then apologized for his tone and began to tell me that I had actually logged in around XXXX XXXX in a very accusatory tone, which I took as him calling me a liar for not being 100 % sure about when I had logged in initially. He then did his best to conjure up a fake apology and inform me that there was still nothing he could do and that their system worked just fine as it is, again implying that I am at fault for not knowing the intricacies of their system 's processing methods - methods that are not described anywhere on their site that I could find. I then asked for information about their arbitration system so that I could deal with this myself as I believed my account was setup under an arbitration clause, to which he responded he did not know what that was or if I was under one. He made no effort to determine whether or not it was the case and only offered to provide me with deposit regulations. Their website also had no information on this as far as I could find. I let him know there was nothing else he could do for me and that I would try to resolve the issue myself. 
////////// In the end, my concern is that my bank provided me with information that I used to make financial decisions that then will likely cost me an additional {$68.00} in fees I must pay to them because of the unique way in which their system processes. I find that the way their website conveys information to consumers that use their system early in the morning - primarily those that have to work very early - deceives its users into spending additional money and thereby paying out additional overdraft fees. In other words, if it is possible that fees had been charged the previous day, I should be able to see them as soon as I see my deposits, or there should at the very least be a notice informing me of the possibility and need for me to check again during business hours. While I now understand how their system works in this respect due to information provided after the fact, I am certain that this targeting of lower income customers and those who choose to keep most of their funds in a separate savings and/or an online account such as XXXX is effecting more than just me. I can provide the call recording upon request. 
////////// The day after I originally wrote this up, the bank did the same thing, showing a positive balance in the morning, but changing it after a certain time - allowing me to attach images showing that there is no indication on the site anywhere to suggest that the balance it showed may be inaccurate. At best this is misleading the customer and at worst it is a planned attempt to lure lower income customers into racking up more overdraft fees. As a result of their deceptive practice I now have an additional {$68.00} in fees as previously mentioned as being a possibility.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief