Consumer complaint received 2022-06-18 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Fee problem
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: DE

Complaint narrative:
XXXX I received a letter from Chase telling me that the terms of my checking account were changing indicating that I would need to do something to avoid paying service fees. So I go to my Chase online banking to look at my checking account balance which was ~ {$1200.00} and it is not there, Chase has removed my checking account from my online banking and I have no access to it. I call customer service and they tell me it was removed due to inactivity. There was no warning, no letter, no email, no communication that this was going to happen. They tell me the only way to get my access back is to go to a branch and show identification. I explain I'd rather not due to XXXX plus I work and would need to take time of work to do so and that I could provide whatever identification they needed digitally but they said no, you must go to a branch. What happens to those that live XXXX or XXXX miles from a branch, do you make them take a day off of work and spend {$100.00} in gas to drive to a branch or make them fly in to get their money back? 

So I finally get to the branch on XX/XX/XXXX during the work day and spend 30+ minutes explaining what happened, they re-activate my account and I have now incurred two {$20.00} service fees which I had no opportunity to avoid since they took my ability to transfer money into the account away from me without warning. The branch manager waived one of the fees but said she didn't have the ability to waive the 2nd fee even if she wanted to, they only allow bankers one fee waiver. She gave me a number to call to get the 2nd fee waived. I spend another 30 minutes on phone explaining my story and they waive the 2nd fee. The day I got my access back, I transferred {$300.00} into my checking account per the bankers instructions to get my account balance above {$1500.00} to avoid future fees. I check my account online on XX/XX/XXXX and now have a new {$12.00} fee. I call and explain the story again, they understand and said they'll waive the fee. I check each day, no fee waived. I call on XX/XX/XXXX and spend another 30+ minutes explaining my story, he said my fee waiver request was denied because I needed an average daily balance of {$1500.00} throughout the cycle and I must have been a few pennies shy and there was nothing he or anyone at Chase could do to waive it and I had no choice but to pay it and there was no way to escalate this to anyone else, that he was the escalation and the end of the road.

This is insanity! When did Chase become this way? The last rep acted like they were doing me a favor waiving the first two fees when CHASE is the one who took MY MONEY from me without warning and then started charging me fees when I had no way to access my account! Is this criminal? Can they do this? I am now transferring my money out because when I asked to close my account he said I couldn't close because I needed to have a XXXX balance and I had nearly {$1500.00} in there. All of this over a {$12.00} fee that they refuse to refund.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief