Consumer complaint received 2018-12-01
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: IL
Product: Mortgage
Sub-product: Conventional home mortgage
Issue: Trouble during payment process

Complaint:
I am a long time customer of Chase both for my mortgage and several credit cards. I decided to pay off my mortgage at the end of XXXX and went into a Chase branch located at XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, IL on XX/XX/18 to obtain the pay off amount and write a check, which I did at approximately XXXX. I also enquirered about ensuring that they would not try to obtain the next payment of {$790.00} due on XX/XX/XXXX because I had previously closed the account where the recurring ACH was bring pulled. The representive at the branch told me that they would not attempt to debit my account since I was paying off the mortgage before the XXXX payment was due and that I would receive a refund for the balance of the escrow that remained in my account. 

On approximately XX/XX/18 I received a check from Chase in the amount of {$2000.00} which I believed to be the refund of my escrow balance. I did not deposit this check until XX/XX/18 into my XXXX checking account. On or about XX/XX/18 I received another check from Chase in the amount of {$1200.00}. I found this a bit unusual, so I figured after the XXXX XXXX I would enquirer as to why I had received two checks. 

Today, XX/XX/18 I sat down to pay bills, review my accounts and to call Chase regarding the second check. However, what I noticed was that my XXXX checking account balance showed the check from Chase which I deposited on XX/XX/18 had been rejected and that XXXX had charged me a rejected check fee of {$15.00}. I immediately called Chase to try to understand why the original check was rejected and why they sent me a second check. 

The representative I spoke with at Chase, XXXX, informed me that the first check that was sent to me in the amount of {$2000.00} included both the escrow owed to me in the amount of {$1200.00} and the amount of XXXX payment {$790.00}. Apparently, even though I paid off my mortgage on XX/XX/18, somehow Chase thought they should still be debiting my bank account for {$790.00} and even though the account was closed and they could not debit it, they made the decision to include that amount as part of my refund in the check they issued on XX/XX/18, which was 4 days after they tried to debit my bank account on XX/XX/18. 

I simply asked Chase to refund me the amount of the reject check fee that XXXX has charged me in the amount of {$15.00}. Chase is refusing to refund the {$15.00}, even though they should have never included the additional {$790.00} in the first check they sent me on XX/XX/18 because not only did I pay off the entire mortgage on XX/XX/18 but they also never received the {$790.00} from my bank when they attempted to ACH that amount on XX/XX/18, yet included it in the check. 

I should also add that I have never made a late payment to Chase or any other financial institution in my entire life. All I want is for Chase to cover the {$15.00} rejected check fee and to change their process going forward. I sincerely doubt I am the only person who has incurred this type of fee due to Chases flawed process. I also think they need to perform a look back to determine if other customers were harmed in the same fashion and remediate any other customers harmed by the process. 

Furthermore, Chase has both my cell phone number and my email which they have used to reach out to me on other occasions, yet in this situation they could have contacted me before XX/XX/18 when I actually deposited the first check to let me know of the error so that I could have avoided a rejected check fee but they chose not to cdebit tact me by phone or email. Clearly, they were aware something went wrong before XX/XX/18 since they sent me another check dated XX/XX/18 in the amount of {$1200.00} which did not include the {$790.00} XXXX mortgage payment. 

I firmly believe Chase should be responsible for the {$15.00} rejected check fee I have incurred and that Chase should be required to determine if other customers were also harmed by this process and refund those customers as well.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief