Chase Business Checking Customer Service Issues
I thought I was done with all of this, I thought I was out of the woods with my new Chase Business checking account. The account I signed up for with the all time high $750 offer. Boy, was I wrong! My Chase Business Checking customer service issues have continued and even gotten into a Citi level of craziness.
Update 12/16/21
I promised I would update everyone when this was all wrapped up. I opened the account on October 20th and I finished my Amazon reloads on November 16th. The bonus finally posted on December 14th. Even though I had a ton of issues getting the account rolling the bonus posted without an issue. I am glad to have this in the rearview mirror. It was a pain but the payoff was pretty nice.
Quick Recap Of My Chase Business Checking Saga
If you remember, from a few weeks back, I had all kinds of issues setting up my Chase Business Checking account. It mainly stemmed from the NAICS code used for my industry and a form I needed to fill out to say my online business was not internet gaming. After several calls that didn’t do the trick I headed off to the Chase branch. I filled out the required form and the banker got everything squared away. Figuring that should do the trick I tried to transfer money into the account but ran into issues there and I was locked out of my online account. After a phone call into customer service I decided to deposit a check at the ATM instead. It didn’t sound like their fraud department was going to be able to handle me pulling money into the account from another bank.
After a few days the deposit settled, finally I was in the clear…or was I?
Chase Business Checking Issues Continued – Know Your Customer
I made a few purchases with the card to meet the requirements for the $750 new account bonus. A few days later I got a text saying I needed to call in or go to the branch by 11/4/21 or my account would be terminated. Uh what!?
It was a Friday evening and we had long drive to an event so I decided to call in to get it handled during the drive. After a 30 minute call back I spoke with a customer rep who told me that my account needed more paperwork. You know the stuff I filled out in the branch two weeks prior. The issue was that the Know Your Customer (KYC) department was so backed up that they had not reviewed it yet. The rep then informed me that the hold time for the KYC department was greater than 50 minutes…great! Come to find out, no matter what time of the day you call, it is always a 50 minute plus hold.
I waited on hold for an hour and 30 minutes while we drove to our destination and I never reached a rep. I wasn’t going to walk around the event on hold so I hung up and decided I would hit a branch up instead.
The Branch Offers No Help
A few days later I sat down with another business banker. She said it looked like everything on my account was in order but that they had not reviewed it yet to approve the account. The rep called into the customer service department and after 15 minutes they told her that we needed to get with Know Your Customer. She was informed that the hold would be greater than 50 minutes. She gave me the number to call to sit on hold and I left.
Calling In Again Gives Me Some Hope
I called into Chase once again to see if I could get anywhere. The first rep seemed very competent and said they could see all of the notes and that the form required was uploaded to my account. He said that I could wait on hold for Know Your Customer, at a greater than 50 minute hold, but that they should approve it once they got to my account. I asked if they would do it before the 4th, the date when they threatened to shut down my account, but he said he wasn’t sure. He suggested I give it a week to see if they catch up. I could then call in if there are more issues because of the hold times, and the fact that I had done everything I was supposed to.
Card Locked
So that is what I did and I went forward with trying to reach the debit card transaction requirement. That was going fine until every charge started getting declined. I have money in my checking account, am using a debit card to pay for it, but yet I couldn’t use it. No fraud email, no fraud text, just repeated denials.
Calling In Again & Getting Nowhere
I had some time this morning so I called in once again. The first rep told me it was the Know Your Customer department that froze my account and that they were the only ones that could do anything. She said she would get them on the phone and to just give her a few minutes. I am guessing that is when she heard about the 50 minute hold and hung up on me instead of facing the music.
My frustration level was very high at this point. I had filled out the paperwork, called and visited their branches numerous times but this mythical KYC department seems to be on an island that no one can reach. My thought was that a supervisor could get me around this, they have to be able to right?
I called back in and told the rep I needed to speak to a supervisor and gave the backstory. She informed me that she could transfer me to the supervisor but they had the same phone numbers she had. I said, so they don’t have back door access to Know Your Customer? She informed me that they do not. She then put me on hold for the department and warned me of a greater than a 50 minute wait…shocker!
Finally I Am Victorious, Or At Least I Hope
I must have been a lucky son of a gun today because the Know Your Customer department picked up after about 30 minutes. Maybe Monday morning is a good time to call?
The rep said that the NAISC code did still not seem to fit my account well. She changed it to internet broadcasting and a whole bunch of other stuff. This is the same thing I went over on the phone with a rep weeks ago and again in branch with a banker. But I guess both of them got it wrong, as well as myself when initially signing up.
She then asked me questions about money services, internet gaming and the adult film industry. After I answered no to all of the questions she unlocked my account and said I was good to go.
Chase Business Checking Customer Service Issues – Final Thoughts
Lessons learned from this experience:
- Sign up for a Chase business checking account in branch.
- A buddy did this and it took the banker like an hour to find the proper code.
- Unless your business is simple like construction or a restaurant etc. I would not attempt this online.
- If you have an issue with the Know Your Customer department they are the only ones that can help you.
- Bite the bullet and wait on hold. Bankers in the branch and other front line reps have no power with this area. They also have no way to get to a rep from the KYC any quicker than you.
- Know Your Customer is severely understaffed.
Hopefully after all of this I get my $750 bonus without needing to contact someone. If this were a credit card, or points bonus, I would probably ask for some compensation for all of this hassle. But, since it is a cash bonus I doubt anything would be offered.
Chase really failed me as a customer here. It appears everyone knows that if you get the Know Your Customer department alert that you are in for a world of hurt. Each rep quoted long hold times before transferring me, or doing anything, so it is a known issue. An issue I am assuming a ton of people are dealing with. I would have thought this was a minor department that rarely gets involved but it looks like that isn’t the case, at least for business checking accounts.
Hopefully I don’t have anymore Chase Business Checking customer service issues going forward. If you want to avoid them in the future, set up your account in branch. I can not stress this enough!
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Ticked Chase Business Customer. I opened my account online and it was closed before I could do my first deposit. Mind you that I have had the business since 2016 and it is registered legitimately with the state, and IRS, with an EIN, etc. Chase closed the account. I thought later I would finish and open it again and I spent the time and effort to do so and I talked with the banker for so long and explained everything I do and we got everything all set and I deposited over 2K that day. Then no card in the mail and then yesterday I had a call about the NAICS code and so I called the banker back and had an out of office number. Tried to call the number the banker provided which didn’t work, emailed the banker. The banker also said they would email me, received no such email from the banker. Then Today I couldn’t sign in to the bank. I’m sorry but I thought in the past that Chase was supposed to be a small business friendly bank and now I think I am done. I can legitimate business elsewhere. If the state and the IRS both have what they need why is Chase making it ridiculous. I am the sole owner of the LLC. Really, it shouldn’t be hard. I even file business taxes, Chase you got problems and may want to rethink how you are loosing legitimate business. I don’t even need an EIN to have a legitimate business by tax law chase.
I am a former employee of Chase and can 110% verify this happens everyday for business accounts. One of my customer had his business accounts frozen and closed because of a KYC issue. He had the account for well over 20 years and had come in to change his address. KYC said his NAICS was bad and after 6 attempts to get it resolved the accounts were closed with no option for him to reopen. It’s a huge part of the reason I left the company. Chase does not want to help it’s clients anymore.
That is sad to hear. Business accounts are such a huge revenue area, it doesn’t make sense.
[…] Chase’s Customer Service Has Failed Me, by Miles to Memories. Mark’s convoluted saga of opening a Chase business account (with a great $750 bonus) is […]
Yesterday I spent over three hours on the phone having to unlock my business checking account because of a $2k transfer. It was by far the most ridiculous chase experience I’ve ever had.
Highlights include waiting 2 hours to speak to rep#1, verifies me, then tells me he can’t help and I’d have to go back into the que for the right department. But don’t worry it’ll only be 25-30 min wait. Really, this is how we do things chase?
Second rep said I needed to get on a three way call to verify my bank, which didn’t make any sense because I had done trial deposits and requested the ACH from within chase transfer system.. Mind you my 1 year old is screaming in the background because my wife is working at this point and this was turning into an all day ordeal. Long story short she connects us to the wrong bank. Get put back on hold, finally get the right bank and now “I should be good to go” which isn’t a voice of confidence because she says it could happen again but that she’ll put a note on me account. Lovely.
If this happens again I’ll just close the checking account. This was worse than Citi ordeals of the past, and that’s saying something!
Sounds similar to my account getting locked for a transfer I verified online before doing it. Not sure what is going on with that but since their call centers are overrun any issues become a huge ordeal. It is sad
So helpful
Hopefully it saves people some time 🙂
The KYC/AML laws are no joke and the banks are petrified that they are going to run afoul of the laws or get the reputation hit from being sucked into a Madoff/Epstein kind of scandal. Or even if you just look like a nice normal American dude, you may unwittingly be aiding a third world dictator who is siphoning money from his country through some scheme where you just think you have a new business partner who gives you really good prices on cash equivalents. Since your business sounds non conventional compared to something they understand, like a restaurant, it makes sense that they would take this approach of blocking you and seeing if you just disappear. Most scams will give up when they hit a roadblock like this, so it may have even been a test to see if you were legit enough to be willing to sit on hold to sort it out. Glad it worked out in the end for you.
I can imagine it is a huge pain for them. I am surprised that the business cards are treated so differently but that isn’t really moving money around so that is probably why.
Ya a business checking account can be seasoned over time to increasingly larger funds transfers, whereas credit cards have limits. Wiring millions of dollars to foreign bank accounts could be very normal for many businesses, as well as shell businesses, so they have to be much more intense with the verifications.
>She then asked me questions about money services, internet gaming and the adult film industry. After I answered no to all of the questions
Shouldn’t lie to the bank Mark
Haha I wish I was that interesting.
I don’t know how you do it. I just don’t have the patience for it. Maybe it’s why my wife and I decided against kids…I have little to no patience unless I’m getting paid enough to overcome the frustration.
Stuff like this would have me swearing at a high decibel. I hope it works out for you. The bonus of $750 is decent but at what cost?
Time > Money
Yeah for sure but I felt like I was already pot committed lol. I will say if I couldn’t get through to the KYC team today I was just gonna go in an cancel the account.