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Is Chime Card Legitimate? They Closed My Account & Took My Money

Shawn Coomer
Shawn Coomer

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Chime Card Closed Account

Chime Card Closed Account

Update 12/2/2020: I (Danny) has a similar experience as Shawn regarding my Chime account. I filed a CFPB complaint after not being able to access my Chime account and not receiving any explanation why it was closed or how I could get my money back. After almost two months, Chime finally replied to the complaint.

After a complete review of your account, we determined that your account was inactive for a period of time, therefore we exercised our right to close the account registered to you in accordance with Section (I)(C)(11) of the Deposit Account Agreement titled Account Dormancy and Escheatment https://member.chimebank.com/account- agreement. On the same day, the remaining funds in the amount of $XXX.XX were moved to Escheatment. You will need to review the Unclaimed Funds process within the state of New York for additional details on how you can receive their funds.

This was an account that had received multiple referral bonuses. Accounts for other family members which had also not been used for years were not closed. So it seems like they are selectively enforcing their inactivity clause.

You can read the original article below.

I have admittedly never been a huge user of the Chime Card. I used to use it for various offers they had years ago, but hadn’t really used it in years. That is until I received the following email a few weeks back touting their new referral offer.

Chime Card Closed Account

A Decent Offer

Since this was an offer I thought was worth sharing with all of you due to the fairly easy $50 sign-up bonus, I made a single post on Miles to Memories sharing the deal. I didn’t post it elsewhere nor did I do anything other than share the offer as it was sent to me when Chime solicited me via email.

I’m not sure how many referrals I received, but I have emails confirming 3X $50 being awarded to me. I hadn’t thought much about it until last week when a reader said my link didn’t show the bonus. So I went to investigate and I found this.

They Closed My Account

Again I did nothing but receive an email from them and then share the deal as they wanted! The whole purpose of this promotion was for them to get new customers and it seemed to have worked. But they decided to shut down my account for some unknown reason. Naturally I thought it was a mistake, but Chime quickly confirmed that they had purposely shut down my account and taken the $150 plus any other potential referrals.

Chime Card Closed Account

Hiding Behind The Terms

So I dug into the terms and they don’t say anything other than Chime has the right to cancel customer accounts for any reason. That makes sense I suppose and I have no problem with them cancelling my account, but they took my money. Additionally I didn’t do anything that violated their referral terms. I simply posted the link on a website I own 100%. Alas a follow up email was not returned so I have no more info than what I am sharing with you.

Are Chime Card Referrals A Scam?

While I don’t think Chime Card’s referral program is a scam, I think the company has proven in my case that they are hiding behind their terms and they basically used me for free advertising. They clearly think I did something, but instead of investigating and trying to right a wrong, some low level employee at the company has decided to just copy and paste a response. They basically have told me they can do whatever they want whenever they want. Is that a company worth doing business with?

In my follow up I asked nicely for a supervisor or manager to contact me about my situation and to comment for this article, but there has been no response. I can only conclude that this company really has no care for getting things right nor the customer experience. Again, they contacted me with a referral offer and I shared it. That’s it.

In the end they took my $150 which I have emails saying was awarded. Is that illegal? I don’t know but I’m pretty sure they can’t just take money once it is paid. Is it worth it for me to fight them legally? Probably not, but at least by sharing what happened maybe I can help others steer clear of this very shady (in my personal opinion) company. There are so many debit card providers and banks so I don’t know why anyone would want to waste their time with a company like this given their actions and lack of a response.

Chime Card Closed Account – Bottom Line

Chime Card is a legitimate company and their referral program appears to be legitimate. With that said I was shutdown for no reason and my money was taken and the company won’t tell me why. I don’t think that is a company I would want to have my debit card with (I know a lot of people use them as their primary debit card) and because of that I think I’ll be recommending that friends, readers and everyone else stay FAR away from Chime Card. You just never know when they’ll close your account, take your money and then not tell you why. Shame on you Chime Card.

Need even more reason to avoid Chime? Check out some of the comments complaining about their products and customer services on our post from a couple of years ago. Have you ever had an issue with Chime Card? Have you had a good experience? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Shawn Coomer
Shawn Coomerhttps://milestomemories.com/
Shawn Coomer earns and burns millions of miles/points per year circling the globe with his family. An expert at accumulating travel rewards, he founded Miles to Memories to help others achieve their travel goals for pennies on the dollar. Shawn also runs a million dollar reselling business, knows Vegas better than most and loves to spend his time at the 12 Disney parks across the world.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

77 COMMENTS

  1. They’re still at it. Suspended my account for suspicious activity. I called and they told me I needed to verify a refund I had gotten from a company along with a copy of my ID. Now that I have called they want all of that and my social security card and verification of my direct deposit for my veterans disability. From what I gather, anyone that direct deposits any government money or work pay check that is a large sum gets they’re account closed or suspended and none of they’re money back after the account is closed.

  2. The 916 number does a c call rejected!!!!!
    Today I used this number 833-700-1869 then 0#. Ask for a supervisor, I’vee been on hold for more 20 mins waiting

  3. Chime stole my money yesterday they are ignoring my calls and saying different stuff but I’m calling the bbb on them in the morning !

  4. I was also a victim of the incident but my money was refund back after I called my lawyer and they gave me the number of the chime agency (9163126118) I was so happy

  6. So I contacted several consumer advocate attorneys here in California, a lawsuit is the best approach. They’ve alos been sued by the department of financial protection and innovation here in California. The lawsuit is about Chime bank ditching the word Bank because their system waa never to be used as a banking institution.

  7. Chime bank has taken $39,000 from me and have held my money since January 5th, I’ve lost my home, cars, wife, and whole life behind this bank I am absolutely devestated. Fair warning of a future attack on chime bank representatives.

      • I went into a coma due to malnutrition and being diabetic which is why I’m just responding but this bank just re-enabled my account yesterday after 1 year and 7 months later after I reached out to officials and they just closed it again today again for no reason. I’m filing my class action lawsuit against Chime incorporation now and I suggest everyone do the same.

    • They have about $10,000 and they don’t want to give it back they have my kids stimulus in their my income tax return they’re just giving me a lot of running around I’m trying to file for an arbitration any class action lawsuit for anything I can do to make this go viral even contacting the news they all need to know about this they are about this close to making me commit a criminal act so I can get ahold of the new so everyone can see what is going on cuz this is not right for me or every other person to go through this that is legitimate money and we need it back in especially at a time like this with this covid-19 because of dumb now I am in an even bigger hole than what I normally was everyone needs to get together and Sue chime

      • I am in the same situation, same thing i was saying to myself sitimulus checks of my children and tax refund! Chime is trash!

      • Chime also took my stimulus and unemployment money…..after 5mos. They sent me a fraudulent check…..I was told that I could go to jail trying to cash my check cause it is over 1000……I really could not believe this Bull crap

      • They did this to me also and I have called them so many times everybody there is so rude. I have a complaint open with bbb.

    • Hello I need you to get in contact with me as soon as possible so we can get chime for every bit that they’ve cost us they have close to $10,000 a mine and don’t want to give it back they are the worst reach out to me anytime

      • Jamie Gooch here I received 3 emails today notifying me that chime closed all three of my account stating I have violated their policy which is not true… I would happy to be part of the class action law suit I am currently on hold for a supervisor I will call the 916 number and file a complaint with CFPB. Let me know please! Gooch1970@gmail. Com.
        Jamie Gooch
        Los Angeles ca

  8. EVERYONE PLEASE HEAD TO https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-francisco/profile/banking-services/chime-1116-530173 AND FILE A COMPLAINT.

    CHIME IS UNDER A BBB ALERT AS THEY HAVE RECENTLY BEEN CLOSING ACCOUNT AFTER ANY LARGE DEPOSIT, PRIMARILY PAYROLL, TAXES, AND STIMULUS.

    PLEASE ALSO VISIT THE FBI WEBSITE AND FILE A REPORT.

    CHIME IS ABSOLUTELY COMITTING FRAUD RIGHT NOW.

    AFTER MY TAXES, PAYROLL, AND STIMULUS WERE ALL DEPOSITED WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD (OVER $6500) THEY CLOSED MY ACCOUNT AND REFUSE TO GIVE ME MY MONEY. IF YOU HAVE AN OPEN ACCOUNT, I SUGGEST TAKING YOUR FUNDS OUT ASAP!

      • It happened to me too….after 5mos.they emailed me and gave me a UPS tracking num.which just arrived today….went to cash check and yup….its a fraudulent check!!!!!!! I’m just sitting here in disbelief……

        • Same thing with me sent me a fraudulent check that I couldn’t cash ! They also sent another one. Saying it’s real

    • The same thing happened to me they have $10,000 of mines and don’t want to give it back I am also walking because they took all my funds to my stimulus check they have it and they also have my income tax return money in there they are liars and thieves and we all need to take action in this class action lawsuit they are saying and doing a lot of illegal things I believe they are selling our information to third-party people we all need to get together and file for a class action lawsuit because I’ve lost a lot and I’m sure everyone else has please get in contact with me if available we all need to come together even if I got a protest I contacted the news they’re also investigating as well

  9. My account just closed also.. there was a transfer that I did not do on my account and I filed a dispute plus filed a police report.. does anyone know if I can still use the credit card bc I have a lot of money on there

    • I had both the debit and credit card and I couldn’t use either once chime decided to just close my account. I had pending payments that were declined and now I have return check fees on my bills I want chime to compensate me for that as well as all my money back

  10. I was a Chime cutomer for a couple of years, and I got an $11,500 deposit, and a month later Chime locked my card and asked me to explain it. I provided every document they asked for and they just kept giving me the run around before they finally closed the account and kept my money. They said that the deposit was suspicious. It came from the SBA. I provided those documents and they still kept it. Chime is bogus, and they are thieves. If someone knows what can be done about this please let me know.

    • They JUST closed my fuckin account for no apparent reason..i cant call..i keep sending emails..fuck that i want a live person i was just scammed from a fake chimer through some app call pay friends for 2000..i got my money back and yall mfs wanna cancel me…i should have said fuck them..im pissed

      • Omg the same exact thing happened to me! What can I do since I can’t talk to anyone on the phone and emails are literally a dead end! How do I get my money back!!?!?!?!??

        • Man that sucks I have 10000 in there and close my account I can onlyimagine you with 40,000 in there and everyone is losing tons of money but don’t worry we cannot lose this money we have to get our money back but we need to do is file a report and a tip to the FBI also contact the OCC the controller of the currency tomorrow morning I’m going to the police station the theft detectives will be there and they will take a look at what’s going on I will not rest until they give me my money back and more because they put me through a lot of suffering for these past two months

    • Please let me know if you got that resolved cuz I’m having the same issue they are doing a lot of illegal things I believe selling our information to third-party people so they can get access to our account and take our money there’s definitely something going on with them we all need to get together I’ve been commenting on everybody’s post so we can all get together and Sue these f******

      • Your case. Looks familiar with mine until I contacted the organization and they refund my $20,000 to me I was so happy that why I just need to inform victim of chime to contact this number and explain everything to them
        9163126118

    • I’m currently trying to file for a class action lawsuit did you get in contact with the news Department

      • It has been 8 months I have been going through the same thing. I lost my apartment and I’m now staying with relatives. They took 7,600 from me. Did you get in touch with anyone who can help? So far I haven’t had any luck.

      • Hello same thing happened to me but my money was refund back immediately I call the chime agency +19163126118

  11. I just recieved a direct deposit from my company in my chime account. Less than 30 minutes later Chime closed my account with no explanation and they still have my money. My children and I depend on the money I make at work to survive as I am a single mom with one income. They will not respond to my emails and there is no way to talk to anyone on the phone! WHAT IS GOING ON!! This CANT be legal!!

  12. This just happend to me. This company is getting away with robbery. How is this not going viral. They stole 17,000 from me. How am i supposed to live. I have 5 kids and that was all the money we had…..someone please tell me what to do.

  13. My daughter is on ten no way to calm her down. Chime closed her account today while she was trying to pay for purchase online. All her money is on that card…we were going to do some Christmas shopping tomorrow. The card was used last night for dinner and earlier today. After contacting them and being told her account was closed due to being locked out Andy her $ will be sent via check in 30 days..WTH!!how does that happen. So she emailed them and haven’t gotten a response back.

    • If you get anywhere please let me know. All of my money also on a chime account and they closed my account so I cannot take care of my family. This is ridiculous

    • They JUST closed my fuckin account for no apparent reason..i cant call..i keep sending emails..fuck that i want a live person i was just scammed from a fake chimer through some app call pay friends for 2000..i got my money back and yall mfs wanna cancel me…i should have said fuck them..im pissed

  14. I too got the closure of account email. Anyone know the time they will close it? Will it be midnight of the 6th going into the 7th or midnight of the 7th going into the 8th? I have a deposit that was sent and need to pull the money when it hits. Thanks

  16. Tmobile now offers 4% on 3k and then 1% thereafter if you move in $200/mo.

    I emailed Chime, they are connected to Stride Bank who holds the money. Funds are not swept into the account. The bank is subject to FDIC rules and the CFPB.

  18. Darn, it’s so much harder to voluntarily close your account then. I had to send them my picture ID and copy of utility bill just so they would finally close mine.

  19. Hadn’t checked my Chime account in a long time, since they stopped their offers. Mine is still active with a $0 balance. But wife’s account got the following message “Sorry, you can’t reset your password because your account is currently closed or suspended.” She probably has received a couple of referral bonuses as well.

  21. The CFPB is useless now and directed by bank lobbyists good luck!

    Bank offer at least some protection. But once you are in arbitration and subject to judges pay and hired by the company. Good luck.

    • CFPB wasn’t that useless to me when Discover Savings recently screwed up an ACH transfer. I’m convinced they expedited this matter being rectified and also for Discover to acknowledge their error and pay back interest and what they termed “inconvenience” premium.

    • Did not do any good for me when my account was closed against terms of service. CFPB is a joke as bank is the one who responded to me and close my enquiry.

  22. Wow. That sucks. I signed up via Swagbucks and they did not post. Considering arbitration. Others have had issues via DoC. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chime-closing-some-accounts-no-reason-provided/
    I actually took another Bank/App to arbitration this year and they are dumb as shit. I honestly don’t think they know what arbitration is. I agree cfpb is a happy medium but you can certainly go to the mattresses. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/in9m7b/guide_to_arbitration/

  23. […] Bloggers will go out of their way to make any money by jumping on referral and affiliate offers. Often from new companies who may be suspect. I don’t bother potentially harming my readers to make a buck. Which, wait a minute, it may have a direct relation my blog makes so little, sad lol! For the record, I never liked Chime and never promoted it! Is Chime Card Legitimate? They Closed My Account & Took My Money. […]

  24. Well I for one will not be doing business with Chime after seeing how they treated you. Pretty simple looks like they picked the wrong person to screw over.

  25. I haven’t trusted them for years. I used a few offers (at places like Panera) and then there were none. I inquired, as I kept hearing others rave about deals they were receiving, and Chime just encouraged me to use the card so I would get more offers. I did, and no. Never. I wrote repeatedly asking if I’d done something wrong or if this was a scam. They just told me to be patient. It felt like the joke was on me. It’s been five years since I’ve used them (though my account is surprisingly still open).

  26. Contact CFPB on Chime. Let them have to respond to them. I am very concerned about how they operate and numerous limits. I moved money into a savings account because they are paying a good rate. After reading the terms, I called to verify and clarify the withdrawal limits if you initiate an ACH transfer from another bank. I got the wrong answer from one rep who instead of transferring me to another rep hung up on me. Then I called back only to get the wrong answer again. They transferred me to a supervisor then. The supervisor gave me the wrong answer again and when I asked the page in the terms and pointed out another paragraph the supervisor put me on hold. Only to return after a long hold period and tell me she was wrong and the terms I cited in the disclosures was the definitive answer. Poorly trained staff who don’t even know their product.

  28. Was there a restriction on sharing of the referral link? I’ve received postal mail from First Republic Bank on account opening bonuses which have specific language saying that information about the promotion should not be posted online. Even though there were only 3 referrals that may have raised red flags to them?

  29. Very interesting post and useful information to share. Sounds like a suitable case for CFPB to investigate, both for your specific account as well as content for the blog. If companies granted the privilege to operate in a regulated industry do not function in accordance with the current regulatory framework, there need be consequences from appropriate state and federal regulatory bodies to force them to do so and penalize them accordingly. Good luck.

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