Yesterday someone tried to deposit money in my account and they were told my account was "closed". I logged into my account to see and everything looked normal, so I told them they probably had the number wrong and to try again. They went back the next day and got the same response. "Account is closed."<p>I called Chase today and was informed that my account was "locked". I asked why and how I could get it unlocked. They ended forwarding me multiple times and finally sent me to the Chase compliance department. They informed me again that the account was "locked" and said the account will be closed in a couple days. I asked why and they said your account has been flagged, they did a review and there is no way to reverse the decision. In addition, I am no longer allowed to open any new accounts. I asked what the reason was and they said "For compliance reasons we are not allowed to disclose the reason". They mentioned that the only way they could reverse the decision was to speak with a branch manager.<p>I immediately went to my local branch and spoke with my branch manager. After multiple phone calls by the manager to the Chase compliance department, she informed me there was no way to appeal and my account would be closed. In addition, my other checking and savings account will be closed in the next couple days and I won't be able to open any new accounts with Chase (new info). The bank manager said she has no power in this situation and doesn't even know the reason. If the compliance team decides something, the branch manager can't do anything.<p>I never even thought this was a possibility and I feel powerless. Anyone have any ideas of what I should do next? The crazy thing is that when they lock an account, it's frozen for 10-15 days and then when it's closed they send a check in the mail. My money is now being held hostage at Chase until they decide to send me a check.
This is 100% related to (suspected) fraud, anti money laundering, or other types of financial/political sanctions. You may be 100% innocent, but they will never disclose any information to you about their reasoning (and in fact it is illegal for them to do so). Sorry this has happened.
> Anyone have any ideas of what I should do next?<p>Contact the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Financial_Protection_Bureau" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Financial_Protection_...</a><p>Their homepage has a link on the top-right to submit a complaint.<p>It's possible your state government also has an institution for consumer protection in the finance sector. For example, there's the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Financial_Protection_and_Innovation" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Department_of_Finan...</a><p>Navbar at the top of their homepage has the link to file a complaint with them, if California is your state. If it's not, you can search "<your state> financial consumer protection" to find who's responsible for financial consumer protection in your jurisdiction.<p>I would try one of state or federal first, and not both at once, so they don't step on each other's toes. If one fails, I'd then consider reaching out to the other.
Chase is famous for this. Do a search. They have been closing accounts for political reasons for a long time. Not saying that is your issue but chase is known for just closing accounts for a huge array of non-financial reasons.<p>Don't bank with chase<p>US citizens have no rights to banking even as we the taxpayers (contray to the feds latest claims ) bear all the risk in insuring and bailing the banks out when they inevitably screw up<p>FDIC insurance should require banks to open accounts for citizens unless there is clear financial reasons to refuse ( ie fraud, or other criminal acts)<p>Until then the only thing you can do is<p>1. Use credit unions. They are member owned and are generally better but not always<p>2. Spread you money out. Even if you do not have a lot. Have more then 1 account at different place. Have a rent account. A groceries account etc. It sucks but better that then being locked out of all your money<p>3. Keep some cash on hand
You triggered a fraud/compliance issue. It is serious enough that they are closing all your accounts.<p>If <i>other banks</i> also start closing your accounts, it may be time to find a lawyer.
I see this account was created only to post this complaint about an account closure.<p>Stripe employees have commented on HN about this behavior as it occurs frequently. That behavior being an account with no history whining about how some big evil bank attacked them, a poor powerless innocent victim, for absolutely no reason. Almost always the account is closed due to fraud only after several rounds of correspondence and whining about it on HN is some last ditch effort to garner sympathy or shame the financial institution while the financial institution is legally prevented from public comment.
Have you expressed views which are outside of the current overton [1] window politically?<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window</a>
I suspect there’s a bunch of stuff that is going on, here, and is not being mentioned.<p>No bank would just refuse to accept money, without [in their eyes] a good reason.<p>Is the OP running any particular type of business that may be fraught with integrity issues? Is this one of those ever-shifting Amazon storefronts?<p>etc.
Automated KYC/AML rules/ai may flag an activity in err, but if you chased (no pun) the issue with an operator, your local branch and even their Compliance Dept, well then it's likely more serious.<p>> Anyone have any ideas of what I should do next?
I'd hire a chartered Accountant with some experience in AML, to quickly go through your transactions and see if there're any hints/suggestions as to what may've triggered it
“when they lock an account, it's frozen for 10-15 days and then when it's closed they send a check in the mail”<p>Sounds like their compliance team has concluded you’re in breach. Pretty sure that 10-15 days is there because it allows for the 7-14 days of forensic accounting / legal investigation to conclude whether you have committed a crime and will forfeit the money. You would know better than us why Chase might think this.
It’s also disgusting how no one in the organization has the spine to even address the problem, except the cornered branch manager. They are just playing the classic manager game of hot-potatoing the problem until it magically disappears.<p>One of my ex managers even told me in a 1-to-1 that it’s one of the best ways to handle problems. They were in a tech lead role in a tech company.<p>Any org like that is rotten and might be rotten more than what’s publicly known. I’d put my money in some smaller bank or with some broker that cares. Maybe spread it out over a few banks if I’d use fintech startups. Not financial advice, just thoughts.<p>Just to give an example of how this could be handled with a better bank: my bank sent me a letter a few years ago that they’d close my account because of crypto TXs. I went to their branch and asked them to close it there and then because I, too, wanted to bank somewhere where crypto is fine. We shook hands and moved on. No secrecy, no hot-potatoing, no freezes, no holding anyone’s money hostage.
My account was randomly locked once too, with no warning or explanation. I went out to eat, tried to pay, and my card was declined. Chase said that there was some system whereby the treasury can just flag/lock accounts, and that they didn’t know the reason. I still don’t understand what they mean, but that’s what they said and that’s all they would say.<p>I was never involved in any shady business, the only money went in from payroll at a reputable company, and I only ever made normal purchases.<p>I also learned that you have no right to any money in your bank account, the bank doesn’t owe you an explanation for denying access, nothing. They also don’t owe you any damages from denying access. I had a rent check bounce because this. It’s pretty crazy. After this experience, I learned it’s increasingly common.<p>Do not ever keep money in a single account, you may be denied access without reason at any time.<p>Luckily for me, after <i>two weeks</i>, they “unlocked” it. Again, with no notification or explanation.
Though this sounds a difficult situation, I do understand that the bank aren’t able to explain the reason as it would potentially be tipping off a fraudster or someone who is breaking sanctions.<p>Monzo in the UK had this issue and put out quite a convincing defence if I remember correctly, though I cannot find the statement right now.
<i>> "Yesterday someone tried to deposit money in my account"</i><p>How are these deposits sent? Do you receive them regularly? Is it business or personal?<p>Just trying to understand if this could have been the trigger.
> Yesterday someone tried to deposit money in my account<p>You opened your post with what is almost certainly the reason for this, especially if this is a frequent occurrence.<p>Banks are increasingly wary of people other than the account holder depositing into KYC accounts. You probably aren't laundering money, and the bank's compliance department probably doesn't think you are either, but they're still not going to risk having to explain your activity at a KYC audit.<p>Is it right? No. But this is almost certainly the reason. Chase is one of the more trigger-happy banks at this, but they all do it. If you need to be mad at someone, be mad at the government, not the banks that are required to comply with anti-privacy and anti-freedom regulations.
<a href="https://sneak.berlin/20191119/your-money-isnt-yours/" rel="nofollow">https://sneak.berlin/20191119/your-money-isnt-yours/</a><p>Banks fail closed without notice or recourse or any burden of proof.<p>Plan accordingly.
I do not know in USA, but in EU such action would normally led to a formal complain of private money theft and slander. In just few hours the local bank director would be called by fiscal police with such complaint asking him not so gently to quickly provide justification or risk a penal process with potential jails terms...<p>So well... Anything can potentially happen, but if you have the law on your side and you use it with fierce legal force anyone will both be kind and effective on you AND management learn the lesson: customers are not puppet and might bite.
This happened to me with Citi when I added a signatory to my account - it triggered some fraud algorithm. Apparently there are legal reasons they cannot explain the details which is super frustrating for the customer and the staff as nobody can say what is happening. They froze and closed my account and it took 90 days for the balance check to arrive. Someone with legal expertise may be able to explain the details but it’s a real thing that happens and not anything sinister, just a crappy algo.
you have provided a lot of details on what the bank did<p>you have provided absolutely zero details on what kind of transactions you are doing in this account
I wonder if this is happening to anyone else.<p>Speculation: Possibly a rolling bail in? I wonder what Chase's financials look like. Perhaps they are letting go of unprofitable customers while keeping their money on the books as some banks are having solvency issues; to hedge against the impacts to the credit market.
A couple of things. KYC and risk are big now. There's obviously something in your transaction history, credit file or other mysterious data that they really don't like (crypto? gambling? chargebacks/refunds? You're the only one that knows your history).<p>They do not need to tell you why. I know it sounds bad & counter-intuitive, but if they revealed lots of little parts of their risk model, fraudsters could use it to their advantage.<p>There are some really good articles about AML/KYC on the patio11 blog: <a href="https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/" rel="nofollow">https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/</a><p>Lastly, this is not a support forum. I don't like the whole "create a new HN account to post about an experience" thing, but that might just be me. Post on your main account.
For all we know, OP my be a sanctioned person by the US Government for ties to the upper echelons of the current Russian government.<p>Of course Chase will stop doing business with you.
i've been hearing ALOT about people's bank accounts being suddenly closed like this for the last couple of years, it's starting to sound like something fishy is going on and they're just looking for an excuse to limit withdrawals