Consumer complaint received 2024-09-24
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Closing an account — Funds not received from closed account
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (VA)

Update on this: 
I am now demanding my money from chase. You cannot indefinitely hold my funds as Federal Regulation will always supersede Chase policies. 

Please refer to the following Federal Regulations; According to Regulation CC (Expedited Funds Availability Act), banks are generally required to make funds from deposited checks available to customers within a specified timeframe. If a bank is unable to verify a third-party check through their own investigation, they are still obligated to follow the guidelines outlined in Regulation CC regarding funds availability. If a bank is unable to verify a third-party check but has no reason to suspect fraud, they may release the funds according to the standard funds availability schedule outlined in Regulation CC. The maximum number of days a bank can withhold funds is determined by federal regulations outlined in Regulation CC (Expedited Funds Availability Act).
Under Regulation CC, banks generally must make funds from deposited checks available to customers within specific timeframes. If a bank's investigation does not uncover any wrongdoing, they are generally expected to release the funds back to the consumer promptly. Failure to do so could potentially violate Regulation E and result in regulatory action.

This being said, I will be opening a lawsuit, and have contacted my state attorney general. 

Here is my original inquiry:

Hello, My name is XXXX XXXX. I had an opened case with Chase and the CFPB in regards to a XXXX check deposited into my account, that was not only improperly deposited by the branch manager, but also marked as fraudulent. It was a life insurance claim written over to me by my father, from my passing mother. In the response I received from Chase, I was told to open up an Estate account, after visiting a branch to do so, I was infomed by not only executive offices, but the fraud team that despite this being an option provided to me, neither could guarantee that my funds would be released to me. As my father isnt the one who is dead, but my mother is. The check is not made payable to my mother. I have also provided evidence that the phone number i have provided multiple times is by no mistake, registered to my father, Through the XXXX system. I have attached documentation and photos proving that. XXXX has been assigned my case and has not been helpful at all. It does not feel as if she even knows what should be done, or what the definitive answer is despite the response being told to my be Chase themselves. My case XXXX with XXXX  is XXXX as well as XXXX My Savings Account XXXX  ends in XXXX  My Checking Account XXXX ends in XXXX.

I have recently contacted XXXX  and her assistance has been abysmal. Not only was I interrupted multiple times, the lack of communication for the past month and lack of a proper solution has blown me. I was told they will be attempting sending back the funds despite closing both my checking and savings accounts, debiting from my direct deposit, and holding my money in suspension. The check has not even been properly deposited (lack of stamp) and i was not informed by ANYONE that all i needed to do was sign my name as well. for such a simple mistake, i shouldnt be waiting MONTHS for a solution, and refuse to.

Chase and the CFPB have closed my case again, stating the following: 

Thank you for expressing your concerns to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We appreciate you allowing us the opportunity to research this matter. We completed our review and the details of our response are below.  We appreciate you taking the time to tell us about our service. Your feedback helps us serve you better. Our goal is to provide you with exceptional service, and we are sorry if we fell short with your request to release funds from your third-party check deposit.  You may open an estate account as previously advised, a joint account with the third-party or the third-party may open an account with you as the Power of Attorney (POA). Estate and POA documents would need to be approved. All accounts are subject to secondary review through our new account screening process.  A new account does not guarantee the third-party deposit for XXXX being held form your closed account will be credited to a new account.  The condition still must be met for a verbal confirmation on a verified number that satisfies our internal risk tools to verify that you had permission to deposit the check into your account from the third-party.  We are not able to accept the documentation you provided showing ownership of the phone number for the third-party.  We provided the option to send the funds back to the maker; you declined to send the funds back.  The funds will remain on hold until the third-party authorization is resolved.  The agreement we have with each other is that we may remove funds from your account to hold them pending investigation. You can find this in the Deposit Account Agreement. You were provided a copy of the agreement when you opened the account. You can see the current agreement on chase.com.

Nowhere does chase state their official Deposit Agreement policies in regards to this that I must open an estate account to cash a third party check, nor does it list anywhere that its subject to secondary review. The words secondary review are not even listed a single time in the deposit account agreement. attached is that same agreement and a search of the same agreement to determine that. Chase has stated making an exception, yet i have not been informed of what this exception is. 

Misleading and deceptive business practices are occurring in the sense that in the very last response I received from chase I was given the option to open an Estate account, despite the funds not being written off to, or paid out to an estate. XXXX  is not dead, my Mother is. I was also given the option to open up a joint account, but why have I been told those are options to recieve my funds back then immediately be told afterwards that there is no guarantee that the money on hold will be credited to your account. why? this implies even the original payee that theyre trying so hard to verify cannot even use their own account with me to receive the funds from the check written out to them if we even got that far. So why offer it as an option? Option means we can use it as a means to get access to my money.

I have expressed concerns about being paired up with XXXX  in regards to my case, and immediately got assigned to her AGAIN when the case was reopened. I grew tired of working with XXXX, and requested to work with someone else, and got in contact with XXXX. XXXX, the alleged managerdid not assign my case to a new representative, and instead closed the case, providing the same misleading and bogus reasoning listed to me before. Previous statement is also attached.

On Chases Deposit account agreement, it lists 
XXXX. A power of attorney is a document you sign that authorizes someone else, called the agent, to act on your behalf. If you sign a power of attorney, the agent can sign on your behalf and do anything you could do regarding the account, including withdrawing or spending all of the money in the account. Do not sign a power of attorney unless you trust the agent to act in your best interest. If you choose to add an agent, you must provide a power of attorney form that we agree to accept. We may rely on a copy of an original power of attorney. We are not required to investigate the facts relating to any power of attorney provided to us on your behalf, including whether your signature on the power of attorney is authentic or whether the agent continues to have authority. We may follow or refuse to follow the agent's instructions at any time, including if we suspect fraud or abuse on your account, unless state law requires otherwise. We may also refuse an agent's request to become a joint owner or a beneficiary of an account, but we have no liability to anyone if we do so. We have no liability when we follow or refuse to follow any instructions from an agent, for example, if your agent misuses the authority you have given them. An agent's power of attorney on an account is terminated when the account owner dies.

In my XXXX  document, I have been given financial authority in all forms to the person the check was originally signed to, and according to Chases agreement, I should have been given right to deposit the check and access the funds written to me not only because I am power of attorney, but also because the check was written over to me. I do not need permission to manage funds or cash checks I am legally authorized to do so. If Chase would like to argue the contrary, I live in Virginia. I would love the law that lists otherwise to be stated to me. 

There is nothing in chases policies directly listed publicly in regard to that information that proves the contrary, and if there is, I would like to see EXACTLY where it is listed that I cannot do so. Links and all. Secondary Review is not publicly listed nor actively enforced when checks are deposited at the branch, nor online, and is only in prospects of potential fraud, which does not apply since the check has cleared. It has not bounced; and if the check was fraudulent at all, Chase would not attempt to verify the original payee at all, which equally makes no sense considering the maker of the check is not an individual, it is an insurance company. The XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is not the maker of the check. Pending investigation equally makes no sense considering Chase cannot even verify nor find an original point of contact for Hartford Group or Brian on their own. No investigation is occurring and I request innate detail and evidence of what investigations have occurred. 

The check would not have been written nor shipped to me if not proven and verified that I was power of Attorney. In my original complaint, I have attached how the check has been mailed out to me and provided to me because I am the power of Attorney, which is proven by my contacts with XXXX XXXX, the claims representative at XXXX. 

Chase Endorsement Policies are listed as follows:

2. Endorsements
An endorsement is a signature, stamp or other mark made on a check to transter the check to another person. If a check you deposited doesn't have your endorsement, we may endorse it for you or treat the check as if we had endorsed it. Either way, the effect will be as if you had endorsed the check. Also, any deposited check that appears to contain your stamped or facsimile endorsement will be treated as if you had actually endorsed it. We are not bound by any conditional or restrictive endorsements on a check you cash or deposit, or by any endorsement "without recourse."

I was told previously by chase executive offices, by I believe either XXXX  or XXXX, that I needed to sign the back of the check as well in order for it to not be placed on hold. So on top of the improper deposit of the check, Chase has stated it will treat any missing signatures as an endorsement on my behalf, meaning I did not need to sign the back of the check in order for it to also include my endorsement. Nowhere in the semantics of the policy does it state the contrary, or anything more needs to be required. The check should have deposited after the third party endorsement. 

The Endorsement requirements are as follows:

XXXX Endorsement requirements
To help ensure that checks you deposit or cash will be processed timely, your endorsement (and any other endorsement supplied by a co-payee) must be in the XXXX inch area that starts on the right side as viewed from the back. Payee or customer information must not be on any other part of the back of the check.
If you don't endorse your check properly and it causes us a loss, cost or expense, you have to pay that amount to us.

Attached is the original check. As well as the deposit receipt for it. The check cleared and the funds of XXXX have cleared into my savings and have equally been debited out of them as a XXXX charge. The deposit has not netted a loss for Chase at all. There was no Fraud, and Chase does not list anywhere in their policies that they can take from a verified deposit. Again, if the policies list the contrary, give me more information than you can find the account agreement on chase.com because the account agreement isnt on chase.com either, its at: XXXX

You actually have to dig for the policy in order to find it.

In Chases rights and responsibilities for deposits, it states: 

XXXX Our rights and responsibilities for deposits

If you deposit or cash a check, or we send one for collection, we act only on your behalf. Our only responsibility is to exercise reasonable care. If we lose a check, you agree to use reasonable efforts to help us locate or replace it.
We will not be liable for the lack of care of any bank or third party we use to collect checks, or for checks lost during shipping. We may send checks to any bank or to the entity on which the check was written in our customary manner. We may have agreements with other banks regarding times and methods for collecting or returning items.
We may refuse a deposit, or part of a deposit, at any time. We also may refuse a deposit after initially accepting it. We can reverse any amount we have added to your balance for a deposited check and send the check on a collection basis even after we have taken physical possession of the check. We will not be liable to you for refusing a deposit, even if it causes us to decline any transactions you have already made.
If we refuse a deposit, we may take a check on a "collection basis," which means we will not add funds to your balance until we have actually been paid for the check. If we process any check deposit on a "collection basis," we will not add funds to your balance until we have actually been paid for the check by the other bank.
If the other bank charges us a collections or processing fee for any item, we will deduct that from your account or the amount credited to you. These charges or fees will be assessed even if the other bank does not pay us for the check or the funds have already been deposited to your account.

Reasonable care is not elaborated upon. I request the CFPB investigate as well what Chase specifically means by that terminology. The deposit made was done improperly, and reasonable care was not enforced. At no point was the deposit refused. The funds have not been sent back to the maker. They were illegally debited from my account for fraud and pending investigation and neither has occurred, and if any has, I would have been unable to open another checking account with chase, which I have done. Chase would equally have attempted to do their research and have failed to each time. Because no fraud is occurring. 

Chases Policies for Overdrafts are listed as follows:

XXXX  Overdraft Fees
We will charge an Overdraft Fee during nightly processing for any paid transaction posted on a business day when your account is overdrawn. If we return a transaction, we will not charge a fee. We will charge an Overdraft Fee for a transaction that may have been previously returned unpaid if it is later paid against an overdrawn balance. Special rules for everyday debit card transactions are described in the Electronic Funds Transfer Service Terms.
Refer to your product information and Fee Schedule for information about what fees apply and how fees are calculated for your account. We may limit the number of Overdraft Fees we charge for a business day. For business accounts, we may charge interest on any amount you are overdrawn that you haven't repaid promptly.

4. Overdraft Protection
Overdraft Protection allows you to link one of your accounts as your backup account to your checking account to help pay an overdraft. If your checking account does not have enough money, we will use the available funds from your backup account to authorize or pay transactions.

None of this applies to pending ACH transfers, and after contacting my company, the ACH trace ID marked as: XXXX  was considered rejected by chase, but was never sent back to sender. Instead, Chase rescinded their rejection, took my direct deposit, debited my negative balance, and sent me back the remainder of my money. Despite their electronic transfer policy, which lists: 

XXXX Payments

A. General Terms Applicable to Payments
i. Your responsibilities: You authorize us to remove funds from your designated Pay From account for all Payments that *you initiate* and you agree to have sufficient available funds on the Send On date or Payment date for each such Payment you schedule.
Please note that if you have Chase Overdraft Protection for your Pay From account, available funds in the account that you use for overdraft protection are included in the determination of available funds for the Service. If there are insufficient available funds to cover a Current Day payment, we will not retry the payment and it will be immediately rejected. If sufficient funds are not in your account to cover a Current Day payment, we will not retry the transaction and the payment will be immediately rejected. In the case of Future Dated Payments, if sufficient funds are not in your account on the Send On or Payment date we may reject the request, or accept the request and process the payment for delivery (even if such payment processing causes you to exceed your credit limit or overdraw your account). In the alternative, if sufficient available credit or funds are not in your account on the Send On date or Payment date, we will automatically try to debit your account up to XXXX XXXX  more times on each of the XXXXXXXX XXXX succeeding Business Days. For these attempts, a status of "Funds Needed" will appear online. After the final attempt, the payment request will be Cancelled. A status of
"Funding Failed" will appear. We will send you a message advising you of each failed attempt to debit your Pay From account. You agree that we may, at our option, follow your Instructions to make payments to a Payee, even though a charge to or a debit from your Pay From account may cause you to exceed your credit limit, or bring about or increase an overdraft. In the event of an overdraft to your Pay From account, we may charge any other of your accounts for the amount of the overdraft. For questions about your preauthorized Payments, you may contact us at the telephone number on your account statement or the front of our deposit account agreement.
II. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CHARGES IMPOSED, OR ANY OTHER ACTION, BY A PAYEE RESULTING FROM A LATE PAYMENT, INCLUDING ANY APPLICABLE FINANCE CHARGES AND/OR LATE FEES UNLESS WE CAUSE PROCESSING DELAYS THAT CAUSE YOUR PAYMENT TO BE LATE.

My account was restricted, which meant I could not recieve any deposits. Chase cannot debit an amount they have no authority to recieve since I was not the one who initiated the transaction. My job was. Ironically enough, my account was maliciously closed immediately after they received my payment, despite this same policy stating they absolutely must notify me of that happening in my next statement. A statement I did not recieve, and equally was denied access to since my account was closed, and thus any access to my mobile banking. 

Another discrepancy is listed in the account agreement here:

b. Electronic transfers using your account number
You may authorize a third party to transfer funds to or from your account by providing your account number and your routing number or your debit card number. These transfers may use various payment networks and may take various forms, such as:
* ??Employer payroll, government benefits or other direct deposits;
* ??One-time or recurring charges to your account to pay bills or make a purchase;
* ??Transfers between external accounts and your Chase accounts; or
* ??A "check conversion" transfer, where a merchant or other payee creates an electronic transfer from your paper check. The merchant may keep your check or return it to you.

If that is the case, it also applies to a third party check, thus proving even more i am allowed to cash and use the funds made payable to me. Chase also provides a personal guide which me and the payee used when making sure the check was endorsed properly by third party means. 

The guide is listed here: XXXX  
The instructions have been followed to a T. They have been listed as: XXXX Determine the recipient
Assuming the check is written out to you, the recipient can be an individual, group of people or company. First, determine whether the recipient is willing to accept the signed-over check and exactly how the name should be written. XXXX Confirm the recipient's bank will accept the check
Before you start marking up the check, confirm that the financial institution (or other service) will accept a signed-over check. While many banks do, some do not, in order to manage risks.

The financial institution is chase. this is from YOUR website. 

XXXX  Sign the back of the check
The next step is signing (endorsing) your name on the back of the check in blue or black ink. On the back of the check, you'll see a signature line at the top where you sign your name as it appears in the payee field.

This has also been followed, and even if it wasnt, considering the vague language, any deposit would consider my depositing of the check as an endorsement alone if it was accepted by a branch. 

XXXX Include "pay to the order of" and write the recipient's name
This is the critical step that changes the payee written on the check from you to a new recipient.
In the check's current state, your name is in the payee field on the front of the check. In the endorsement area on the back of the check, at the top, use blue or black ink to write "Pay to the order of" followed by the new recipient's name.
This step tells the bank you are officially endorsing the transfer of funds to the new recipient. Your signature from the previous step serves as your authorization.

Your signature from the previous step serves as your authorization. Chase has asked me to read the policies on their site. Im reading it. The signing from Brian himself is an authorization.

XXXX Give the recipient the check to cash
Once the physical check is signed over, you can pass it to the recipient. If you have the opportunity, you can accompany the recipient to a branch location. This can offer everyone, including the financial institution, some extra assurance.
Otherwise, if their bank allows it, the new check recipient can use mobile deposit.

I equally followed this and was told by the Branch manager that as long as the address on the check as well as my account match, it will not be marked as fraudulent. Chase cannot continue to make up rules and arbitrations to hold their consumers money.

I am no longer asking, but demanding my funds be returned to me by check, not only due to Chases deceptive practices, lack of customer service, and mishandling of my checking and savings account for fraudulent activity that was never fraudulent nor suspicious. 

I am also asking for another XXXX from chase themselves to avoid turning this into a lawsuit.

Under the Homeland Security Act and Patriot Act, banks have authority and duty to investigate suspicious payments.However, they CANNOT keep the money in your account and if they choose to close the account they must return the money in the account to you unless it is proven to be proceeds of money laundering and it is turned over to Homeland Security.

No fraud has been proven in any capacity whatsoever. Because no Fraud has occurred. 

I want my money back in full.