Consumer complaint received 2017-11-28
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX living in the XXXX XXXX, and back in XXXX of this year I paid {$1500.00} by client whose logo and menus I designed for his new restaurant. I deposited the check via my Chase banking mobile app and put the check into a pouch in my car. In XX/XX/XXXX my car was broken into while I attended a concert in XXXX XXXX. This happens a lot in the City. It has happened to me three times in two years, and most of my friends who live in XXXX laugh it off, because it happens to them so frequently. I filed police reports the last two times I was robbed, but nothing came of them. I asked if the police would like to inspect my car for fingerprints and I was essentially laughed at by the dispatcher. So this time, when I got to the car, I realized that while two of my windows were shattered, and my belongings were scattered around, nothing seemed to be missing except for a pocket knife which I had to leave in the car as I went to the concert. Given my past experiences with vehicle robberies, and seeing as how, at first glance nothing appeared to be missing, I did n't bother calling the police. It was n't until the middle of XXXX when I discovered that the thieves had indeed gotten their hands on something of mine. I tried to use my Chase debit card to charge my electric car and the card was declined. I assumed there was something wrong with the charger because I knew I had at least {$800.00} in that particular checking account. It was n't until later that day, when I was attempting to deposit another check with my mobile app, when I learned that my accounts had been frozen. The people who robbed me had taken a {$1500.00} check that I had signed and deposited in XXXX, and successfully managed to walk into a bank and cash the check. Chase bank then took those funds from my client. Which meant he had now been double charged for a total of {$3000.00}. In the meantime I have no access to my bank account, my auto-pay accounts are not getting paid and I can not deposit, debit or otherwise access any funds. I called Chase bank and was practically ridiculed by their agent, as though I were the one defrauding the bank. I angrily hung up and visited a Chase branch in person. The Chase customer service rep told me the best thing to do would be to call my client and tell him to pay me again. I could n't believe it. I said that none of this was my fault, the bank was at fault for allowing these people to cash a check that had already been deposited - and that me having to ask my client to re-pay me made me look bad. I ended up doing it and that 's when my client showed me his paperwork from the bank. Chase did indeed charge him twice, then they reversed one of the charges of {$1500.00} and they turned around and charged me that {$1500.00}. And the people who broke into my car walk with my {$1500.00} cash. My client showed me the printout of the transaction records from the bank and I lost my mind! The first scan of the check, in XX/XX/XXXX, was the deposit that I made through my phone. The second one was very low resolution and it appeared to be a copy of the check, with " Pay to the order of .... and some scribbled name '' on the back. So someone was allowed to walk into a bank, without me or my ID, write their name on my already deposited check and walk out with {$1500.00} cash. And I am the on responsible for it? My account was then over {$700.00} overdrawn, it eventually went up to $ -900+ -- - I repeatedly visited the bank, speaking with anyone I could and eventually sat down with the branch manager, who was very sympathetic to my situation and attempted to contact her superiors. Those people told her that this was all my fault for not destroying the check after I had made the deposit. I was frustrated. I felt helpless. I opened a new account at a local credit union just so that I could continue to pay my bills and I waited for an update from Chase. Eventually I received a call from XXXX in XXXX - She told me they were opening a case and that she could not guarantee they would get my money back. This was infuriating, I asked why she could n't guarantee it and she said " Well, it 's an investigation and we do n't know how it 's going to turn out. Why did n't you file a police report? '' I told her the police do nothing about car break ins and that before my account got shut down I had n't even realized a check had been stolen. She was so rude, I could n't believe it. I told her there was plenty of evidence that someone else had broken the law, I asked why they could n't just look at the video footage in the bank and see who did this. But she had no answers for me, she just asked me to be patient. So I waited. And Waited. In XX/XX/XXXX I received a bill from Chase. They are demanding that I pay them my outstanding funds to bring my $ XXXX balance up to XXXX in my closed account or I 'll be sent to collections and/or reported to some check agency. This whole thing is amazing. The system is stacked up against normal people and I am so happy to have heard through all the news stories lately about the CFPB. I really hope I am able to get this resolved. 

-XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation