Consumer complaint received 2022-03-28
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
Hello, there. Im a recently retired university XXXX, who formerly taught XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at the University of XXXX  in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX, and who now lives abroad in XXXX XXXX, XXXX. I have had a checking account at what is now Chase Bank ( XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) since XXXX. When I moved over here to XXXX, I maintained this XXXX account, with some $ XXXX in it [ {$12000.00}, to be exact ], as an emergency stand-by fund ( and potential repository for my Social Security checks ) XXXX I have received monthly statements ever since, and never have I been given any indication that anything was amiss. Then, a few days ago ( XXXX XXXX. ), entirely unheralded and out of the blue, I received a certified letter from Chase Bank notifying me that my entire account balance was being confiscated by the Bank, allegedly for lack of account-activity. I was given just over one week [ viz, until XXXX XXXX ] to reclaim my account, allegedly by doing one of two things : a ) posting a letter of notification to the Chase central offices, or b ) writing a check on my account. 

After over two hours of long-distance telephone calls with both the XXXX XXXX XXXX Chase and the local XXXX branch XXXX which I can ill afford on my tiny pension, not to mention the fact that I had a XXXX XXXX weeks ago & am currently awaiting XXXX  XXXX, so I can also ill afford the stress ), I discovered that BOTH methods were essentially fraudulent. This, because a ) while, after much pleading and negotiating, I immediately e-mailed my signed reclamation form to the XXXX branch, who in turn faxed it immediately to their national office [ this, on the very same day as I received the Certified letter from Chase ], it nevertheless turns out that the processing time for my letter will exceed the deadline set for confiscation!!! Moreover, b ) I was told by the XXXX XXXX representative that, even if I were to follow their own letters instructions and write a check on my account ( to establish activity ), the check would bounce back, given that my account-status was currently labelled as dormant ( a fact that I had NEVER been made aware of, in any manner or fashion, at any time prior to this very moment! )!!! 

The bottom line : this is rather clearly a deliberate attempt by the bank to seize my small pension-reserve, engineered in such a way that NEITHER alleged avenue of reclamation was viable ( insofar as my notification was so late that any attempted response would be past my deadline for recovery!!! So far as I can tell, this is a deliberate, profoundly cynical, and fundamentally fraudulent scam to rob the relatively small savings-funds of elderly pensioners such as myself, hoping that they will lack the energy and/or persistence to resist. ( I scarcely imagine that I am the only victim of such disgraceful treatment. ) Im hoping, then, that you will initiate an investigation into this rather transparent criminality [ there is simply no justification for them holding off on my notification until it was already too late for me to respond, nor any reason, for that matter, why it shouldnt have been made EASY to reclaim my funds! ], hopefully so that I and others will be able to receive restitution from these thieves, and Chase will be forced to end this disgusting practice. I will be happy to provide further details, either by e-mail or via XXXX. XXXX, XXXX XXXX. For what its worth, the local bank XXXX with whom I dealt at some length was as helpful as she could be under the circumstances. Unfortunately, here hands were entirely tied by the rather clearly criminal intent of her bosses at national XXXX. Please, please look into this, and help bring this practice to a stop. ( If you think that this might also be of interest to the XXXX XXXX, you are welcome to pass on my e-mail. ) P.P.S. The following is verbatim from the letter I received from XXXX : " Here 's what you need to do : * Complete the enclosed Account Certification Form and return it to us by XX/XX/XXXX, or * Make a transaction on this account. For example, write a check or make a deposit or withdrawal by XX/XX/XXXX '' As I describe up above, however, BOTH avenues are in fact blocked by Chase itself, since a ) even though I returned the XXXX to Chase, via their XXXX XXXX XXXX, on the VERY DAY that I received their letter, I was told that the " processing time '' would likely carry past XX/XX/XXXX ( their deadline for receipt )! b ) I was further told that any check written on my account would bounce, since the account had been declared " dormant '' ( again, without ANY notification to me, in any manner at any time )!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation