[Update] PSA: Don’t Use ACH for Chase Bank Account Fundings, Avoid Account Lockup

Update 11/22/20: Just a small update on this: Apparently, even ACH transfers long after the account is open trigger lockups with Chase on a regular basis – it’s not limited to the initial account funding. I just experienced this personally, and I see other readers in the comments reporting the same. In short, you probably don’t want to bank with Chase for your main hub bank account.

Original Post 1/18/19:

There are many recent reports of people who opened a new Chase checking or savings account and had their account locked up when attempting to fund it via ACH from an external bank.

Usually the fix is to have a 3-way call with Chase and the external bank and clear up your Chase account. Yet other times they require you to come in with 2 forms of ID or worse. Here are some of the reports of people who’ve bumped into this issue: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

From the comments of this post, it appears the issue affects:

• even transactions as little as $1,500 (and possibly less)
• both personal and business accounts
• even Chase accounts which are many years old (not specific to new Chase accounts). It has been suggested, though, that the first 30 days is more of an issue.
• whether you fund the Chase account with ACH-pull from an external bank or if you do an ACH-push from an external bank into your Chase account. Initially we wrote only to avoid ACH-pull from Chase’s end, but readers note that even pushing funders from an external bank to a Chase account might trigger the security alert.

It’s a big mistake in the system on Chase’s part because it’s normal for new accounts to transfer in large sums of money and it gives a bad taste to new customers.

A few recommended options:

• I’d recommend transferring large sums to fund your Chase account by depositing a check in-branch or via the mobile app.
• Alternatively, you can try doing smaller transactions which is obviously a pain.
• Zelle/Quickpay might be another option.
• While there have been reports of lock-up for ACH-pushes from another account, most reports are of ACH-pulls from Chase’s end, so it might be safer to try the external push method from the two options.
• A reader suggests that You Invest accounts might not have the same sensitivity as checking and savings accounts. (In the case of You Invest, it may not be possible/easy to deposit a check, so you may have to either ACH-pull or ACH-push. ACH-push is probably a bit safer.)

A lot of us open Chase checking and savings account for the bonuses they offer, especially the current $600 offer and Sapphire Banking offer which many of us are doing. During account opening, you can fund the initial $25-$50 deposit with a debit card, and small amounts should be okay via ACH, regardless. It’s just when your doing the full account funding to trigger the bonus (usually it requires $15,000 or $25,000) that you trip into their security system.

Here are a few current Chase deposit bonuses:

• Chase $600 Checking + Savings Bonus
• Chase Sapphire Banking 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards New/Upgrade Account Offer – Publicly Available
• Chase You Invest $200 Bonus with $25,000 Investment Account
• Chase Business $200 Savings Bonus – Deposit & Maintain $15,000 For 90 Days [In-Branch]
• [Targeted] Chase Private Clients: $750 for Opening Chase Business Checking Account