Consumer complaint received 2022-12-11
Company: Chime Financial Inc
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Company closed your account

Complaint:
To whom this may concern : I have been having issues with " Chime '', backing by XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX. for over XXXX weeks now. As of XX/XX/XXXX, my checking account along with my credit card account was unexpectedly and not authorized to be closed. I immediately contacted " Chime '' support and I inquired about this issue. The only reason they were able to provide me was that my account was closed due to not complying with their terms and conditions of using the account. 

This was a major disbelief to me as I was a loyal member for over 2 years with direct deposit totaling XXXX  a month from my employer. I used the card very frequently every single day multiple times a day. Not once have I engaged in illicit, illegal, fraudulent, money laundering, or any mischievous acts at all! The most I would do is purchase a LOT of food through XXXX XXXX every single day multiple times a day coming from my own money. 

I have sent them multiple emails on XX/XX/XXXX and called in multiple times throughout that week, spoken to several managers, and requested my account get reviewed and escalated by a person as I strongly believe the account was closed due to an error on behalf of their computer algorithms and detected my account as a fraudulent account. I work in XXXX. ( XXXX XXXX ) for the past 23 years, including in XXXX XXXX and I understand that this is their practice. However, no one would take me serious and their attitude was just reading scripts, not being empathetic, or caring to my dear situation that left me running behind on bills because of this error of theirs. 

Below is the excerpt from their last email : " Hi, Thanks for reaching out to Chime Member Services. We have determined your account is not in compliance with your Deposit Account Agreement, as a result your account has been closed. For more information please review the section titled Amendment and Cancellation in the Chime Deposit Account Agreement : https : //www.chime.com/policies/ Due to the account restriction, I'm afraid we won't be able to issue any new Credit Builder cards to your place. On the other hand, we can help you to have prompt access to the remaining funds in your account. In order to proceed, could you please confirm if you have received your closure check? If not, we will issue a new one for you. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thanks, XXXX XXXX Chime Member Services '' I have read their terms and conditions on their website and I can confidently say that I have no violated ANY of their terms! See the link they asked me to review : https : //chime.com/policies/stride/deposit-account-agreement/ Go to Section C : " General Rules Governing Deposit Accounts '' Bullet # XXXX : " Account Holds, Suspensions, Restrictions and Closures '' It states the following : " Chime and/or Bank may suspend, freeze, restrict, or close your Account for any reason with or without notice. Such reasons include, but are not limited to : XXXX ) If we, at any time, believe a member is using the Checking Account and/or associated Chime Visa Debit Card for fraudulent or illegal purposes, or such member otherwise presents an undue risk to Chime and/or the Bank as determined, in our sole discretion. 

XXXX ) Your use conflicts with any federal, state or local law, rule or regulation, including federal foreign asset control and sanction rules and anti-money-laundering rules, or with our policies adopted to assure that we comply with those laws, rules or regulations. 

XXXX ) We receive a court order or other Legal Process request to suspend or close your account. 

XXXX ) Your non-fraudulent actions nonetheless violate any part of the Deposit Account Agreement. '' I know I have use my checking account in good faith to the best of my ability and in compliance with their terms and conditions. I know 100 % for a fact I have not used my account for any fraudulent or illegal activities, I know I have 100 % not used my account that would cause any issue at the federal, state, or local law, I know there is no legal processes against me, and I know I have not violated any other part of the agreement. 

Furthermore, below that policy states the following : " If our monitoring of the Checking Account detects any such activity, the Account funds will be subject to a hold pending review of the activity by the Bank and/or Chime. The Bank and/or Chime may require you and other parties to the activity to produce documents and/or other materials evidencing the validity of the activity. '' At no point did Chime contact me for any evidence or documentation or reviewed with me of any " suspicious '' activity and just went ahead to proceeding with closing my account. Moreover, their customer service have informed me that the account was closed automatically furthering proving my point that this was done in error by their computer algorithm and not ONCE was it ever reviewed by a human being DESPITE me pleading them to have the issue reviewed and provide evidence of such activities they believe to be suspicious. 

Lastly, myself and two other co-workers of mine has performed some online reviews of Chime from different sources and we all found a common issue : Chime members reporting their account erroneously closing their accounts. 

Here is one government website listing the issue XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX To quote an excerpt from that website : " The problem with bad customer service from financial institutions became glaringly evident in XXXX, particularly with online banks. Chime, one of the most popular online banks was pummeled in the press last year after reports surfaced that an XXXX  ALGORITHM it used had suddenly frozen some customers accounts after INCORRECTLY detecting fraudulent activity. '' As you can see above, I believe I am not the only member who were affected by their mis-programmed algorithm causing accounts to be automatically closed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation