Consumer complaint received 2023-03-08
Product: Checking or savings account — Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account — Problem making or receiving payments
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CO)

I just recently moved from living in XXXX XXXX for 10 years. While there myself and my wife had local bank accounts in XXXX. I moved back to the states sooner than the wife and while I was in the states and she was in XXXX we needed to wire transfer some of our money from XXXX to the states. 

Since I retired after XXXX yrs XXXX XXXX and then maintained working for the XXXX XXXX  the only bank accounts I had at the time were XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Neither of those 2 banks are part of what is called the " swift '' network ( easiest way to wire transfer internationally ). So I needed to find another bank so we could transfer money from our XXXX  bank accounts to our US bank accounts easily. 

I did some research and saw that Chase was a part of swift. So I went onto their website to see if/what account options they had. I looked at their 3 most common ( and the 3 they recommended to me ). Looking at the key differences they pointed out and the various fees they charges. ( see screenshot ). This was around XX/XX/2023. I then selected the account with the lowest fees since it would not be my primary banking institution. On the website when I used their comparison tool there was no mention about accounts that could NOT receive wire transfers. 

After opening the account I then logged into my newly created account to get the information that my wife would need to wire our funds from XXXX to the US. While logged into my account I searched for the account number, routing numbers, and also swift number. 

Keep in mind I am logged into MY account. I was able to locate all of the information needed. Even saw a note that said, if you are using the routing number for wire transfers use this number, NO separate notes saying only certain accounts can RECEIVE wire transfers ... ... .... Then while still logged into my account, I was able to find the SWIFT code needed. Even there, NO separate notes saying only certain accounts can RECEIVE wire transfers. So I shared the information with the wife. 

After about a week of waiting I called the customer service number and inquired about how much longer it would take until I saw my funds. She tried to tell me there was an error and the funds were returned. She was very uncertain of what she was saying and just made it more confusing. So the wife and I ( she just arrived ) decided to just go to a local branch and ask someone in person. 

Once we were finally able to talk to someone, that is when the gentleman said that my account ( and only my type of account ) was unable to receive international wire transfers. I said this is the first I am hearing about this. I then explained to him what I did, what chase.com showed me, how I was able to get the account number, routing number ( different one for wires ) and the swift number. and NOTHING while logged into my newly created account had a note of any kind saying, some accounts can not receive ... etc etc etc etc. 

He offered me no kind of assistance or way to fix this, just tried to talk me into opening up an account that had a higher monthly fee. I explained to him that because of their website being misleading that I was due to lose hundreds of dollars from transaction fees going in 2 directions and also conversion fees/ rates. 

As of writing this the wife and I are STILL waiting for the money to be returned from the middle man back into our Korean bank account. I tried to wait to see just how much we were going to lose but they say it could take 30-60 days.