Consumer complaint received 2020-09-11
Product: Checking or savings account — Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (NY)

1. ) On XXXX I went to bank to deposit a {$100000.00} settlement check into my attorney trust ( I.O.L.A. ) account monitored by New York State. Check was payable to my old business " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' rather than me personally. Before I deposited the check, I asked the teller if it mattered that the payee was not me personally. The teller advised it was no problem. 
2. ) On Tuesday, XXXX I received a letter from JPMorgan Chase dated XXXX saying my trust account would be closed no later than XXXX, due to failure failure to provide requested information. Yet, I was never contacted prior to receipt of the letter - no phone call, letter, email or fax sent to me - and certainly no information was requested of me. 
3. ) On Wednesday, XXXX I went to JPMorgan Chase and spoke with banker Ms. XXXX XXXX --, to resolve whatever issues existed. She called someone else at Chase while I waited. She then advised that the problem was that the check I deposited on XX/XX/XXXX was not made out to me. She then advised that the matter could be cleared up and gave me several instructions. She told me ( in writing - the note is attached ) that what the bank required was a letter, written on letterhead of the payee, XXXX XXXX XXXX, signed by an officer and stating that I was an " authorizing rep ''. I therefore contacted the founding partner of XXXX XXXX XXXX, who drafted a letter on letterhead, in accordance with instructions, signed it, and overnighted it to me. 
4. ) On Friday, XXXX I brought the signed letter on XXXX XXXX XXXX letterhead back to the bank and submitted it to the banker, Ms. XXXX --. She called someone within the bank once again. After waiting for over 30 minutes, I was told that they needed someone more senior than whomever she had called. I was told it would take some time to " verify '' the document I'd brought in and that I might as well go home. 
5. ) At XXXX Ms. XXXX -- from JPMorgan Chase called - the bank now required me to provide a phone number for the firm and the founding partner. I gave them his home number, his cell phone number and his work email address -- XXXX. 
At XXXX the Ms. XXXX -- called and said that they verified that the telephone numbers were correct but had not yet managed to speak with the founding partner, and that the matter would be worked on again on Monday, as it was too late to do anything now ( at XXXX. ) 5. ) I do not understand why my I.O.L.A. attorney trust account is being closed. I deposited the check - I have not distributed the funds to my client, nor tried to make any withdrawals. Per NY law, an attorney must maintain a trust account, as a condition of having a license to practice law. My livelihood is being threatened. 
6. ) The bank has a ) untruthfully claimed i failed to provide information - something that was never even asked of me ; b ) keeps " moving the goalpost '' further away, requiring me to do more and more. Each time I comply, they require something new. 
7. ) My client was terribly injured. The suit arose from malpractice in XX/XX/XXXX, and resulted in my client becoming a XXXX  with serious XXXX  XXXX. The payment is on behalf of a bankrupt hospital, and the amount paid in settlement to my client was less than 1/10th what had been agreed upon before it entered into bankruptcy. When I contacted my client concerning the receipt of the check I promised to release funds to him within two weeks. My client now no longer trusts me and thinks I am absconding with funds. 
8. ) Obtaining a second check from the bankruptcy trustee will be difficult to impossible now. 
9. ) At a bare minimum, I would like to keep my account at least until this can be resolved. 
10. ) My complaint is not specifically with MsXXXX XXXX --. She is junior and clearly can not act without instructions from someone offsite. However, the constant putting up of new obstacles I must jump over ( a customer of many, many years ) is maddening and unnecessary.