Consumer complaint received 2022-09-02
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Opening an account — Unable to open an account
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (CA)

Chase closed my new account for no reason. I had already transferred {$1500.00} of my money to the account. Then they locked it and then closed it without providing a reason and without giving me a way to transfer my money out before they did that. 

Contacted chase again on XX/XX/2022 to ask why I can't withdraw my money from the ATM, was told by the first representative that it is restricted and going to be re-opened, given a second chance. Then they transferred me to a representative who said he couldn't unlock my online access, I said I need to pay my credit card which is due soon, they said it was not possible, asked to speak to a manager supervisor, manager supervisor put me on hold, told me they couldn't tell me why my account is closed, told me I could not get my XXXX $ from the branch. Representative was very unhelpful and claimed to be a manager/supervisor in the fraud department XXXX however an hour earlier I spoke to a very helpful representative from the fraud department who said my account would be re-opened. This 2nd manager supervisor said that the first agent gave me false information. At this point, I am beyond frustrated and confused as I have two representatives from their fraud department telling me completely conflicting information. The second agent refused to tell me why they are closing my account, I wanted to inquire why as I had not done anything wrong or fraudulent and literally put {$1500.00} of my own money into the account that I need access too. Money which is now restricted/frozen and I am unable to use which I need to survive and pay daily bills/rent/food/credit cards. Absolutely ridiculous. The second agent said they could mail a check which would take 7-10 business days, that is ridiculous in my opinion. If I hold money in a bank, like anyone, I excepted to be able to take it out in case I need it, not for it to be frozen/restricted, and held hostage, with the only way to retrieve it is by unsafe sending measures with USPS and having to wait what could be over two weeks or more with USPS delays along with the risk of having it stolen or lost in the mail. I spent over 90 minutes on the phone with them today, mostly on hold, getting completely conflicting information from different representatives. A few days ago, after I filed my CFPB complaint, an associate from the executive office called me and told me they received the complaint and are reviewing it, and left my his name and extension. I asked the 2nd fraud specialist who claimed they were a supervisor/manager to call them and put them on the line. They put me on hold, and then said that they were unable to answer the phone. After a while, of the fraud specialist manager refusing to answer any of my questions, and refusing to let me access my money, and take it out of the bank, if the account was so called closed ( as they claimed ) / ( However the first specialist said they were re-opening it. I was getting extremely frustrated and angry. Imagine if you had {$1500.00} budgeted for the week from your work paycheck, and suddenly someone takes it away and practically steals it from you, keeps it hostage. This should not be legal. If a customer has overdraft, or issues with their bank, a returned check, or they fall below balance, or they are late on credit card payments, they are assessed heavy fees by multimillion dollar banks against hard working low income people. However if the reverse is true, the banks are not held accountable at all, they can steal someone's {$1500.00} paycheck after they open an account with the bank, and restrict access to someone's money without providing a sufficient reason as to why. Why are they not assessed fines and penalties for doing that to consumers? Vice-Versa a consumer is assessed penalties for the simplest of actions, such as falling below a minimum balance. After the call, I attempted to call the executive office contact myself, however it was late in the day and I reached their voicemail. 

I called the executive office line and spoke to a nice representative who listened to me and understood my case and seemed to have sympathy for my concerns, he said he would relay the information to the contact who is handling the case, the initial XXXX representative who contacted me, and gave me a case number. I will try to reach the XXXX representative again tomorrow with my case number in hopes of getting some more information/resolving the issue, however having a full time job during the day and morning, this is an extremely frustrating and stressful situation to have to be spending so much of my time on. Ideally I would like to sort out why the fraud department wants to close my account and our thinks something with it is fraudulent when there is no actual fraudulent activity at all. Is it not a legal requirement to provide such information to a banking consumer whose money is being restricted access to? How can someone purse legal action over this. Ideally, it would be great if what the first representative mentioned, that they would re-open the account, as what he referred to as a second chance. However, I'm not entirely aware of the why I need a second chance in the first place. I really hope someone at the CFPB or FDIC can help me. I was hoping these organizations exist to help consumers from such actions. I can not even log in to my online bank to pay my credit card with XXXX which has no relation to this account.