Consumer complaint received 2016-01-12
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: NY
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low

Complaint:
I have been a Chase Bank customer for 8 years. Over that time, I have paid a high number of overdraft fees and monthly fees to the institution. I feel that these fees are unfair, unethical and a predatory practice by Chase bank. 

I have paid to chase in excess of {$150.00} in overdraft and monthly to chase fees in 2015 and much more over the course of my account being open. In the past 3 weeks, I have been charged over {$130.00} in overdraft fees on XXXX separate days where funds were unavailable in my account. In these XXXX cases, even though I transferred in money to cover the balance, Chase will not forgive the fees as Chase has refunded fees to me a total of 6 times in the past 2 months. Chase says that they have already refunded me {$200.00} in the past year, so they are entitled to any fees in the future, including this {$130.00} and any previous fees where chase only gave a partial refund. 

I do n't understand how a bank takes money from people who do n't have any to begin with. My account was overdrafted because I am struggling without money, not because of mismanagement. I even went to the branch and told them my story and how I was out of work and just started a new but Chase only relies on their computer systems and their system does not allow branch managers to refund a customer more than 6 times, even if the customer is showing financial progress, or if those charges came during a time of stress for the customer. Even though I turned overdraft protection off, Chase still charged me overdraft fees for ACH payments. 

I feel that this is unfair and unethical. This bank 's practices are specifically designed to be predatory and take advantage of people who are facing financial hardship. The excessive overdraft fees, charged multiple times a day are incredibly damaging for anybody who is trying to crawl out of financial distress. This is in addition to a $ 12 monthly fee that chase charges customers who have a balance below a certain amount. Chase bank 's goal is to keep these customers close to the brink, so that they can continue profiting off of these predatory fees in the future. For example, while my account had a balance of - @ XXXX, chase charged me another monthly fee of {$12.00}, resulting in a negative balance of {$15.00}. If I do not pay this - {$15.00}, which was caused by fees from chase, chase will charge me another {$35.00}, and then {$15.00}. This is disgusting. 

I lost my job in XXXX 2015 and found a new job in XXXX 2015, during that time I have had financial difficulty and hoped that my long relationship with Chase, in addition to the countless fees I have paid to the bank, would mean something to the company and that the company would support me in this time to stay afloat. Instead, there is not even a partial refund offered and the bank refuses to address the issue past their computer system. 

On top of that, as my account had a low balance, chase took an additional {$11.00}

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation