Consumer complaint received 2019-02-04
Product: Checking or savings account — CD (Certificate of Deposit)
Issue: Managing an account — Problem with fees or penalties
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (NY)

Main Complaint : Chase Banker lied about CD penalty and withheld the last page of the printout ( which discloses the penalty for withdrawing money before the CD comes to term ). 

On XX/XX/2019, I walked into the Chase Bank on XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX to update my CD. I update my CD regularly so I am familiar with the procedure. However, on this occasion the banker behaved unethically, and possibly illegally. 

Everything was normal until she mentioned that CD interest rates had gone up. She started to try and get me to extend my CD term from 30 days to 9 months to take advantage of the new interest rates. I politely declined. I was used to bankers trying to get me to extend my term but she pushed further than most do. 

She stated that it was okay to take a longer term CD and that if I wanted to get my money earlier than the date of maturity, it wouldn't be a problem. She said that I can break my term and my money will be okay. She explained that the bank will only take money from the interest they would have payed out for a full term. She said that I would still keep any interest I made up until the time that I break the CD. She then explicitly said " There will be no penalty '' which struck me as odd. 

I'm not sure if Chase only takes a penalty from the interest they would have paid out, leaving the principle untouched, but the way she said " There will be no penalty '' was misleading. She was down playing the consequence to encourage me to extend and then break my CD. 

I kept politely declining and saying that I was fine with keeping the original length of my CD term. She finally ended with " the bank is making money off of you '' as a last attempt to change my mind. I replied that the bank making money off of me is fine just to get her to move on. 

Normally, once the CD is renewed, I get a print out with information confirming the new agreement. However, when this banker handed me the printout of my updated agreement, she left out the last page ( which outlines the penalties for early withdrawals ). Thankfully, the first page ended with the title of the disclosure in bold, so I knew what information was missing. 

I think this is unethical at best and illegal at worst. Customers should have access to full disclosures to be able to make well informed decisions. 

Sub-complaint : Chase Banker made irregular and incorrect transfers During the CD update, I asked for {$300.00} to be transferred from my savings, with {$100.00} put into my Checking and {$200.00} put into my CD. She repeated my request to me confirming the amounts going to each account and I said yes. 

I hadn't noticed that anything was wrong at the time because the paper with the new agreement had the right amount of {$200.00} added to the CD so I thought everything was okay. 

However, when I went to an atm later that week, I saw that my checking account was off. It had too much money. 

Today, I signed on to online banking to try and figure out the discrepancy. I saw that the banker had transferred different amounts than she had originally confirmed. She was supposed to take out {$300.00} from my savings but instead she took out {$500.00}. She did so by making two transfers : {$200.00} to the CD ( which was okay ), and {$300.00} to my checking ( which was more than I had asked for ). This {$500.00} withdrawal put my savings below the account balance minimum, opening me up to penalties. 

In addition to putting my savings below the minimum balance, she made two withdrawals from my savings knowing that I would be penalized if I made more than three withdrawals from my savings within a given period. Normally, bankers will make one withdrawal from my savings to my checking, and then take the amount from my checking to my CD, so that there is only one saving withdrawal on record. However, she made two savings withdrawals, and for the incorrect amount, opening me up to penalties. 

In conclusion, I believe all four of her actions are unethical : 1. saying there was no penalty for breaking my CD 2. withholding the full last page that disclosed the early withdrawal penalty 3. taking two savings withdrawals to push a penalty and 4. taking out the wrong amount of money to push a penalty I want to file a formal complaint because I don't want other customers to be hurt by these unethical practices. However, I am not mentioning the banker 's name in this report because I don't want her to get into trouble if she is getting pressure from her supervisors to behave in this manner. If there is an investigation, I want it to be into the wider institutional systems that encourage such unethical practices. 

I will go into the branch later and talk to the branch manager but I wanted to file a formal complaint as quickly as possible as I don't know if and when I would be able to speak to the manager without her being present.