Consumer complaint received 2023-12-01
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: OR
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem when making payments
Sub-issue: Problem during payment process

Complaint:
I opened a credit card with XXXX XXXX XXXX  in XXXX of XXXX. I attempted to make a payment to my account electronically, and it was returned, even though there was far more money in the account than the payment I made. I checked the account numbers and tried again, and the payment did not go through. I changed the account it was drafting from and tried again and it did not go through. I called XXXX XXXX XXXX  and was told that their payments are handled by a clearinghouse, and they couldn't help me. 

I had a deadline coming up, so I mailed them a check. I wrote the check on XX/XX/XXXX, and mailed it XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. I mailed it to the address on my bank statement, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, TX, XXXX. The check was written out to XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX, in the amount of {$550.00}. 

The check did not clear by the payment due date of XX/XX/XXXX, so I had to pull money out of the meager savings I have to attempt to move. I called them and was able to make an electronic transfer over the phone, in the amount of {$35.00}. 

The check cleared my bank on Monday XX/XX/XXXX. I eagerly checked my XXXX XXXX XXXX  app, and saw that my balance had not gone down. I checked it again on Tuesday, and on Wednesday. By Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX or Thursday XX/XX/XXXX I called XXXX XXXX XXXX  to find out why it had not gone down. I was told it could take 7-10 days for the check to finish going through *their* system and be reflected in my balance. 

About 2 weeks later it still had not gone down and I checked my bank again. It had been endorsed by machine, by JPMORGANCHASE. I didn't realize that that was Chase Bank, I assumed it was XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX clearinghouse. So I called XXXX XXXX XXXX  to see what was up, only to be told that they handle transactions directly and they did not use a clearinghouse and she didn't even know what a clearinghouse was. So someone there is lying to me, for starters. She refused to help me in any way. 

I called my bank again now that I understood that the money had been stolen, and they repeated that there was nothing they could do about it. She emailed me a copy of the scans of my check, front and back, showing the endorsement. 

I finally understood the endorsement, and I called Chase Bank. I explained that they had cashed a large check made out to another banking institution, and that was a federal crime. I wanted to give them the strings of numbers printed on the back of my check so that they could do an internal audit, see who deposited it, and get me my money back. He claimed he could not help me because I did not have an account there. He refused to listen, even loudly speaking over me when I tried to read him the numbers, and also refused to tell me where I could send the image that my bank had provided me. Now that I also know that credit card companies have fraud departments, I notice that he also did not transfer me to their fraud department. 

I called XXXX XXXX XXXX AGAIN, and they opened an investigation. A few weeks later I got a letter saying I needed to fax them proof of the payment I claim I made that they didn't credit me with. I printed the scan of the check that my credit union had sent me and faxed it back to them. A few weeks after that ( XXXX by now! ), they sent me back a letter saying they didn't cash it, so they can't do anything to help me. They should be contacting Chase and getting it settled between them! 

Nobody is helping me, from any of the 3 banking institutions, and as a private citizen, I can not possibly go up against a bank, even if I could afford a lawyer, which I can not. I have filed a complaint with the Oregon DOJ, and am going to do so at the federal level as well. I am also going to contact the USPS investigator 's department, as it is almost certainly a postal worker who stole it, since my outgoing mailbox is locked and only USPS employees have keys, the apartment manager doesn't even have the key. I don't know what else to do. That money was from a XXXX XXXX XXXX to help get me a XXXX mobility aid. It was donated by my friends to help me with my XXXX. I feel so awful that THEIR money was stolen from me! PLEASE help me!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation