Consumer complaint received 2022-04-17
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (OH)

I wrote a personal check dated XX/XX/22 for {$170.00} and placed it in a blue USPS mailbox at my local post office on XX/XX/22. A week or so later, my work discovered that one of their checks had been stolen and altered. I realized that I had mailed this work check out in a stack of letters that included the personal check I had written, meaning that my check likely had been stolen as well. My husband called our bank, Chase, on XX/XX/22 and told them that our check # XXXX had likely been stolen and asked for them to put a stop payment on that check. On XX/XX/22, my husband checked our account and saw that check # XXXX had cleared and that {$770.00} had been withdrawn from our account despite the fact that this was the check we had requested to be cancelled. There was an image of the check included on our account that very clearly showed someone had altered the check by writing a new name over top of the original payee name and had changed the " 1 '' to a " 7 '' to make the total amount much higher than originally written. We immediately called customer service and were told that because the person who stole and altered our check had deposited it with XXXX  XXXX XXXX instead of with Chase Bank that it would take 60-90 days after filing a claim for us to receive the {$770.00} back. My husband went to a Chase Bank the next morning and filled out all of the paperwork to file a claim. He also spoke to a customer service representative on the phone who confirmed that they had documentation of his call on XX/XX/22 to cancel check # XXXX. I then spent an hour and a half on the phone with Chase 's Claims and Customer Service departments where I was told by the first employee that there was nothing they can do for me. The third employee I spoke to agreed with me that this was unacceptable and that he did not understand why they had not stopped payment on the check we had requested to be cancelled. He then transferred me back to the Claims department and left me on hold for over 35 minutes, at which point I had to hang up because my phone battery was going to run out. A few days later, my husband called Chase Bank again and was told by multiple employees that we would have to wait 60-90 days to get our money back despite the fact that they confirmed we had made a request for them to cancel our check and that they hadn't done it. The only explanation that they could give him was they didn't cancel the check because the payee and dollar amount information that we originally wrote on check # XXXX didn't match the payee and dollar amount information that was on check # XXXX when the person that stole and altered it deposited it. Essentially, they told us that their policy is that if a check is stolen and altered, they will not cancel it. I am now out {$770.00} in a period of time where money is very tight for my family and Chase Bank refuses to give us our money back while we struggle to pay our bills for two or three months ( or longer ) because they have negligent policies that make fraud easy. 

I am at a complete loss for how a multi-billion dollar company can not give me back {$770.00} when it means nothing to them and an entire month 's mortgage payment for me. I am completely disgusted with Chase 's lack of action or help when they are supposed to protect my money, but are instead allowing it to be stolen from me due to their incompetence and then refusing to make it right despite admitting fault. As soon as my funds are recovered, I will be switching banks. I will never use Chase Bank services again and will encourage others to avoid them as well.