Consumer complaint received 2015-06-12
Product: Bank account or service — Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management — 
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (IL)

To whom it may concern, I recently opened an account with Chase bank and I had some unauthorized charges post on my account from XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX. As a courtesy Chase called me to verify the charges, which I of course said they were unauthorized, then Chase agreed to give me a refund in the meantime while they handled the dispute with the merchants and would send me a new debit card to ensure no further unauthorized charges. All while this is going on, I supposed the " back office '' of Chase reviewed my account and decided that they no longer would be doing business with me, and chose to close the account. I never received notice of this decision. When I received my new card in the mail, it did n't work and I called in to customer service and was informed of my account being closed. I was never given the reason why, but I told the representative that this would n't work because I had direct deposit coming from my employer that was too late to change. Either way, the closure was n't scheduled for another XXXX business days ( the XXXX business day was today ) so my direct deposit went through just fine. On XXXX XXXX, I went to a Chase branch to withdraw my remaining funds before my account closed and I found out that the Loss Prevention Department put a restriction on my account until the claim disputes I filed were finalized, I would not have access to over {$400.00} dollars until then. When I spoke to the Claims Department they have an estimated time of completion of XXXX XXXX ( the maximum of XXXX days mandated by XXXX ), and because there were restrictions set on my account the Claims department would thoroughly investigate the dispute up to the maximum date. Basically saying, they would hold my money until XXXX XXXX, even though I am able to submit proof that XXXX returned the payment. When I explained the inconvenience, and that I needed the money to pay bills and get to and from work, the representative just apologized, reiterated the policy, and I 'd have to wait until the claim was finalized. 

My issue is all this time Chase knew that they were closing my account but I was still doing transactions at the branches and the tellers/bankers there did not inform me of this decision. Had I not gone into the bank on XXXX XXXX to withdraw all my funds, I would have no idea the restrictions set and Chase 's intent to " freeze '' my account, in fact, XXXX representative told me I was sent a letter with all that information. 

My issue is that I find all of this to be very underhanded and shady, why would you send me a letter informing me that my account was closing and I would have restrictions on that account, when everything else with Chase is communicated via email and text? Also, the representatives have absolutely no compassion for my issue, or any sense of urgency when I call in and explain that I need my funds to get to work. And the XXXX departments ( Claims and Loss Prevention ), send me back and forth constantly and talk me in circles. If I call Claims, they tell me LP is the department that can help me, then I talk to LP and they try to transfer me back to claims.