A friend recently had his Chase.com account locked because of QuickPay and couldn’t log in. Since he was in China at the time, the situation became even more complicated. He eventually got it unlocked remotely, so here’s his experience and the lessons learned.

Background

My Chase account had been open for more than 3 years. I mostly used it to receive my paycheck, deposit some checks, and pay my credit cards. Since I knew Chase checking is pretty sensitive, I normally didn’t even dare deposit cash, so everything had been fine.

In April this year, I went back to China for some errands and planned to stay for about 3 months. In May, as usual, I logged in to my Chase account to pay my own credit card bills, and found that login required account verification. Fortunately, besides receiving a code by phone, there was also an option to send a verification code by email. After verifying, I logged in to my Chase account and paid all the bills without any issue. I figured that since I was now logging in from a China IP, Chase wanted to verify the account. I asked a friend, who said it would be better to log in using a US IP, so I borrowed a VPN and used it to log in to a series of credit card and checking accounts.

A few days ago, I had a friend use miles to book two business-class tickets back to the US for me, and I planned to send him $2000 via QuickPay. Without thinking much, I connected to the VPN, logged in to Chase, added his email, and sent the money. In the past, QuickPay transfers always arrived instantly, but this time I got a message saying it requires additioanal review.

I had always felt that my relationship with Chase was pretty good, so I thought the review would surely clear during US business hours. But after waiting a few hours and checking again, I found that my Chase.com account was no longer accessible. As soon as I tried to log in, I saw the screen below. My friend also still hadn’t received the $2000.

A Long and Twisting Phone Unlock Experience

First Call

I hadn’t enabled international roaming on my AT&T line before going back to China, so I thought of using Gmail’s calling feature to call Chase. It was around 5 PM Central Time.

I called 877-242-7372 (because I suspected the issue was caused by checking QuickPay), and kept pressing 0 to reach customer service. Since I had written down all my checking account numbers beforehand, I entered the account number before being transferred and successfully reached a representative. After verifying my name and address, the rep confirmed there was a hold on the checking account, which was why I couldn’t log in. Then he said I needed to provide the debit card number and the corresponding PIN in order to unlock it. Since I didn’t have the debit card with me, I asked whether there was any other way to unlock it. The rep checked and said his screen was locked too. He told me to get the debit card number ready and call again. First attempt failed.

Second Call

Luckily, to be safe, I had brought all the debit cards tied to accounts with money in them when I went back to China. Once I had everything ready, I called Chase again. It was around 7 PM Central Time.

This time, after entering the account number, I waited about 10 minutes before reaching a representative. After verifying my name, she told me she didn’t have the authority to handle it and needed to transfer me to a colleague. After more than 20 minutes of waiting, still no one answered. Since I had other things to deal with, I hung up.

Third Call

By the time of the third call, it was around 11 PM Central Time. When I asked to be transferred to a live representative, the system said there would be an extensive delay, without even giving an estimated wait time. Thankfully I was using Gmail to make the call, so I just let it stay connected. After more than 20 minutes, someone finally picked up. After a round of conversation with a rep who had a strong Indian accent, I was told I needed to be transferred to another colleague, so the long wait began again. After another 20-plus minutes, someone finally answered.

This time, the rep immediately asked whether I was using speakerphone, probably because there was a lot of background noise around me. So I had to carry my laptop around and find a quieter place to continue the call. She still seemed suspicious that I was on speakerphone. Since I was calling from my computer, there wasn’t really a way to make it sound otherwise, so I just told her I had switched off speaker. Because I had already entered my debit card number and PIN before reaching a live rep, she didn’t ask about that again. After confirming my SSN, date of birth, and address, she said she would send a text message with a verification code to my phone. But I was in China and couldn’t receive texts on my US phone, so I explained the situation and asked whether there was any other way to verify. She flatly said no: I had to receive the code on my phone to verify my identity. Otherwise, I would need to go in person to a Chase branch with ID for verification.

Since this was my primary checking account and I also had 7 Chase cards under this account, not being able to log in for 3 months would have been a huge headache. So I asked whether, if it stayed locked, I could still use the checking account by phone or pay my credit cards that way. The rep was already getting impatient and said she couldn’t see that either, and that I had to go to a branch to unlock it. At that point, I had no choice but to hang up.

Fourth Call

After thinking it over, I felt the rep on the third call had been suspicious of me from the very beginning—speakerphone, spotty call quality, not being able to hear me clearly—so she probably wasn’t inclined to help me easily. With nothing to lose, I called again the next day at around 9 AM US time.

After the call connected, the rep verified my name, said it was caused by the checking account, and then directly asked whether I was currently outside the US. I explained that I was in China and had used a VPN to log in to my Chase account, and also told him the VPN IP was in Los Angeles. He asked me to hold for 2 minutes while he looked into it. It seemed the third rep had left notes on my account, and I’m guessing this fourth call went directly to their fraud department. Two minutes later, he said he needed to verify my identity and briefly confirmed my date of birth, SSN, and address. Then he said he needed to use my public record for verification. He asked the following questions:

  • Where do you live now, and where did you live before?
  • What color is the Ford car? (I don’t have that car, so I answered that I didn’t have one.)
  • Where was the Chase account opened?

After I answered everything correctly, he said he could unlock the account. The reason it had been locked was that earlier QuickPay transfer, which had now been canceled. He also said that if you log in to your account using a VPN and then use QuickPay, Chase often can’t determine your location and may lock the account to verify your identity. He said logging in with a VPN is generally okay, but it’s best not to use QuickPay at the same time. Then he asked me to wait 2 minutes while he restored the account. The problem was finally solved.

Lessons Learned

  • Don’t use a VPN together with Chase QuickPay.
  • If your account gets locked, try calling during US daytime business hours. Wait times are shorter, the reps tend to be more professional, and their accents are easier to understand.
  • What gets locked is the online account. You can still initiate a credit card payment directly from the credit card side; I tested it and it did work.
  • Issues related to locked accounts are handled by a dedicated fraud department. Front-line customer service can only transfer you. Notes from each call are recorded.
  • If one call doesn’t solve it, call again. If needed, ask for a supervisor.
  • If you’ll be staying in China for a long time, consider enabling roaming on your US phone line. Or change the numbers tied to these accounts to a Google Voice number, since Google Voice can make calls and receive texts.
  • Chase really is very sensitive. You can refer to this thread, which has many examples of people getting locked out.

Thankfully, everything was resolved in the end. At the time, I was even thinking that if I couldn’t get it unlocked, I would transfer the money out through my spouse’s account instead (this checking account is a joint account for my spouse and me), because after I got locked out, she could still log in normally. If her account had also been locked, then the only option would have been to wait until I got back and handle it at a Chase branch.