Consumer complaint received 2022-06-16
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: NY
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Deposits and withdrawals

Complaint:
On XXXX, XXXX I opened a Chase College Checking account. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I deposited 8 checks into the account. The total was {$6700.00}. 
Six of the checks were from XXXX XXXX XXXX, a XXXX   that I work at this year. One was from XXXX XXXX XXXX because I worked at their XXXX XXXX in the summer. One of the checks was from XXXX College because they were granted federal stimulus money which they distributed to their students. 

Sometime later I received a letter in the mail that was dates for XX/XX/XXXX stating that my account was being blocked. It also said If we close the account well confirm your final deposits and payments. If there is a remaining balance, well mail you a check. Right away, I called the phone number that I found at the top of the letter ( XXXX XXXX ) to find out what was going on. I was told by the representative that my account has been marked for closure because there was an issue with one of the checks that I deposited in the amount of {$1800.00}, she told me that since it is a new account, if anything goes wrong they close it right away and there is no way for me to keep the account. The representative was unable to explain to me what was wrong with the check. I asked her what I can do now and she told me that I have two options, either I can go to a Chase bank and withdraw all the funds or I can wait for the issue to be cleared and Chase will send me a check in the mail for the full amount that was in the account. Being that I did not have time and did not want to carry around so much money, I decided to wait for the check. 

A few days later I received a statement from Chase showing that all the checks that I deposited including the ones for {$1800.00} went through. I thought that because the statement showed that all the checks went through, the problem was solved and there was therefore no reason to close the account. I called Chase again to find out if I can keep my account open. I was told that once an account is marked for closure, it can not be reopened. The representative also said that in order for them to release the funds from the account, they would have to first verify all the checks by the maker to make sure they are legitimate. In the meantime, the funds were going to be on hold. This made no sense because apparently whatever the problem was that cased the account to be marked for closure was solved and there was no reason to close the account. Also, I never heard of having to do such a thing-to get confirmation from the issuer of the check before releasing it? 

On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I called again to find out what was going on with the account. I was on the phone with the Chase representative for 45 minutes while he was trying to receive verbal confirmation from the makers/issuers of the checks. He only managed to verify four out of eight of the checks. He told me that he was unable to get through to XXXX College, did not have a number for XXXX XXXX XXXX and was not able to get through to anyone at XXXX XXXX XXXX to confirm two of the checks that they issued me. The representative told me to call back another time with the missing information so the rest of the checks could be verified. I asked if I can get the funds from the checks that he was able to confirm but was told that I would have to wait until all the checks were verified for the funds to be released. 
The next week on Friday XX/XX/XXXX I called Chase again to finish verifying the checks. The representative started with the check from XXXX College. He asked me about the reason for the check and I explained that it was Covid stimulus money that I was granted form the college. XXXX was granted covid stimulus money from the government and they then distributed the money to their students. The representative than put me on hold while he called XXXX College. When he came back he said that they were unable to find me on the payroll at the college. Of course they did not find me on the payroll because it was not a paycheck, it was a covid stimulus checks that I got from the college. I was very frustrated and upset because I explained that to the representative before he called the College. The representative than told me that he cant help me anymore and I should call back at another time. Once again the representative was unable to get verification for the checks. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received another statement in the mail that was dated XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX. The statement showed that all the money that was in the account has been withdrawn and the ending balance was {$0.00}. Under description it said Debit DDA-Check Charge, I was not sure what that meant. I was especially confused because the last thing that I was told was that the funds were on hold and would be released as soon as they received confirmation of issuance for the checks that were deposited. 

On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX I called the bank to find out what was going on with my account. The representative told me that the account was closed on XX/XX/XXXX and all the funds were now in the possession of the bank. Once again I was told that in order to release the funds they would have to receive verbal confirmation from the maker of the check that they issued the checks to me. I explained to the representative that I have called Chase many times before and the representatives that I spoke to have tried to do just that but have all been unsuccessful. I asked him if there was any other way of getting verification for the checks but was told that the only way to verify the check was by getting verification from the maker. He said that this can be done in two ways either by a Chase representative calling the maker and getting the verbal confirmation over the phone or by having the maker of the check go into any chase branch and verifying the checks in person. This was ridiculous because a few different chase representatives already tried to get verbal confirmation over the phone and were unable to reach the makers. Also, it is not a reasonable request to ask of the issuer of a check to go down to a chase bank to give verbal confirmation for a check that they wrote. Who ever heard of having to do such a thing? 

I called Chase again on Friday XX/XX/XXXX. I was hoping that this would be the last time and they would finally be able to get the confirmation needed to release the funds. However this was not the case, the representative that I spoke to on that day was not very helpful. 

On Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to XXXX XXXX XXXX to find out how Chase can reach them to get the verification for the checks that they issued to me. They told me that Chase can call them at ( XXXX ) XXXX ex : XXXX and they would be happy to give the verbal verification for the checks. I then called Chase again to try to finally get the funds released. I told the representative about what XXXX XXXX XXXX said but she told me that she cant call them because there is no way of knowing if their number is a valid number. The representative said that the number has to be officially linked to the business and if they dont see that the number is linked to the business, then they cant use that number to verify the checks. This was also the number that was written on the top of the check, but for some reason they refused to use that phone number to get the needed verification. The representative said that there was the same problem with the check that I received from XXXX XXXX XXXX, they were unable to call the number that they had because they said there is no way to know that the number is valid. I opened an account with Chase, trusting that my money would be safe with them and thinking that Chase is a trustworthy bank. Chase then closed my account without giving me a good explanation why they did so, they then tell me that I dont have to worry because I would receive a check in the mail for the full amount that was in my account and I would then be able to open a new account. Then they changed their mind and decided that they will not release the funds without first getting verbal verification for all the checks that were deposited. I then try, many times, to get the verification but Chase refuses to call the people that would be able to give the verification. I asked the representative if there was any other way that we could get confirmation for the checks because it would be impossible to get verbal confirmation if Chase would not call the people that issued the checks. She told me that the only other option is to come down to a Chase bank with the person that issued the check and they could give confirmation for the check in person. Again, this makes no sense and would be impossible to do. None of the issuers of the checks were going to do that for me and they should not have to. Also, I took a bunch of online XXXX  at XXXX College which is located in XXXX, New York. How would I be able to go to a Chase bank with the person from the college that would be able to verify the checks? This was not a reasonable option and there was no way for me to do that. I explained this to the representative and she understood that it made no sense and was impossible however she said that this is the only option for me and there is nothing else she could do. So basically, there was no way for Chase to release the funds from my account that I entrusted with them. The most basic quality of a bank is that they should be trustworthy, how could this be considered trustworthy?! 

My father went to speak to a banker at the XXXX XXXX branch, where I opened my account. The banker told my father that he would look into it and see what he can do. My father gave him my phone number and he said that he would call me the next day. He never called. 

At this point I was advised to bring the case to a lawyer however ; I was hoping that I could resolve this on my own. On Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX I went to the Bank where I opened my account ( XXXX XXXX branch in XXXX ). I thought that it might help if I would go down to the bank where I opened the account and speak to the bankers there. I spoke to a man named XXXX. He understood my issue and tried to help. He was on the phone with someone from Chase. When he got off the phone he told me that they were able to confirm four of the checks. He told me that for the remaining four, I should get a letter from each school stating that they issued the check to me. He said it should include the check number, the check amount, the reason for the check and that it was issued to me. He said that as soon as I have the letters I should bring them in and he would send it to the main Chase center. It would then take 24-48 hours for them to review it and I would then be issued a check for the full amount that was in my account. He printed a copy of the four checks that still needed verification so I can know which checks to get the verification letters for. One check was from XXXX College, one check was from XXXX XXXX XXXX, and two checks were from XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

The next day, on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX I called all three schools and explained to each one that I needed a letter of verification to confirm the checks that they issued to me. That day I got a letter for the checks that still needed verification. 
On Friday XX/XX/XXXX I went back to the bank with the letters of verification. I wanted to speak to the same man that I spoke to on Wednesday but was told that he does not come in on Friday so instead I spoke to a different banker named XXXX XXXX. I explained to him the issue that I was having and that I was told on Wednesday that I should bring letters of verification for the remaining checks. He called someone from Chase and spoke on the phone for a few minutes. He then made a copy of the letters that I brought in and gave me back the originals. He told me that the letters would be reviewed and I could stop in to the bank on the following Monday or Tuesday to find out how we would take it from there. 

The following Wednesday, XX/XX/XXXX I went back to the Bank. I spoke to the same banker as the week before, XXXX XXXX. He called someone from Chase to find out if the letters were reviewed yet. When he got off the phone, he told me that Chase would not accept the letters of verification and therefore would not be able to release the money that is rightfully mine. He told me that the only thing left for me to do was to come into a Chase bank with the owner of the business that issued the checks. The owner would have to present his ID as well as documents proving his ownership of the business and would have to give verbal confirmation for the checks. This is RIDICULOUS, which owner of a business- or in my case a school- is going to go down to a bank with such documents just to give verbal confirmation for checks that were issued to one of their employees/ students??? I already got letters from the schools and was told by a Chase banker who was speaking to a Chase representative that if I bring in letters from each of the schools it would be good enough to verify the checks and they would be able to release the funds. Why was Chase not accepting the letters as a means of verification if I was told by Chase to provide the letters in order to confirm the checks? The banker also thought this was ridiculous and it made no sense, but told me that there was nothing else he could do. Realizing that I was getting nowhere, I thanked him and left the bank very upset and frustrated. 

How could this be a trustworthy bank if they could just close my account without giving me a good explanation as to why, then promise to send me a check for the amount that was in the account, then demand that they need verbal verification/confirmation for all the checks that were deposited into the account, then when I try to get the verification needed before they release the funds they refuse to call the people that would be able to give the confirmation, then they tell me to get letters of verification from the schools that issued the checks and that would work to verify the checks and then after I called up each school and received the letters and brought them to the bank, they tell me that they can not accept those letters that they asked for and said would be able to provide verification for the checks. How could they take back their word like that, wasnt this a bank and arent banks supposed to be trustworthy, why would anyone deposit their money in a bank account if the bank could just take away the money. 

My father called the banker that he was in touch with earlier to see if he was able to help us figure out what to do next. The banker advised my father that we should file a complaint with Chases complaint department. He filed a complaint and told my father that I would be receiving a call from someone from the complaint department within the next few days. A few days later on XXXX XXXX I received a call from phone number ( XXXX ) XXXX XXXX, the caller said he was a chase representative from the complaint department and he was calling regarding my complaint. He just wanted to know if there were any updates since we filled the complaint and I told him that there were none. He told me that he would see what he could do and would get back to me within the next few days. He called again two days later on Thursday XX/XX/XXXX. He said that he reached out to the verification people and there was nothing else that he can do. He told me that I can call the verification people myself and speak to them directly. I took down the number that he gave me thinking that he was giving me the number to people that would be able to help me. After hanging up with him, I called the number that he gave me. It turns out that it was the same number that Ive been calling the whole time to try to get the verification and they were not able to help me. 

I tried everything possible to resolve the issue with Chase but have not been successful and I have yet to see my money.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation