Apparently Chase Bank believes that phone numbers are better at verifying people’s identities than government-issued documentation, according to a Texas-based TikToker named Stefanie (@dahliathedyna) who says that the financial institution’s newly implemented third-party check policies are causing massive headaches for her and her customers.
Stefanie, who works in construction, says that she pulled all of her money out of Chase Bank and has vowed to never do business with the company ever again after being told that her customers would need to give their phone numbers to Chase in order for the bank to call them and verify that they are the person on the account they’re calling.
She poked several problems with this method of data verification, namely that people possess phone lines they don’t necessarily have their names on. There are also tons of ways that phone verification systems can be compromised, even with dual-factor authentication set ups thanks to SMS interception. Not to mention that there are tech focused outlets on the web, Lifehacker included, that state “phone numbers simply aren’t a secure form of identification,” highlighting how “bad actors can trick network carriers into transferring your phone number to their SIM card.”
Stefanie goes on to state that it’s not like the banking institution asked for ID’s and phone numbers as an additional form of security, ID-scrutiny, but that phone numbers were the only way they wanted to verify a check.
Folks would simply need to open a mobile phone line under a specific name, and as long as that name is associated with the phone number and the third-party check being deposited, Chase Bank will think it’s legitimate. As a result of this new practice, Stefanie says that her accounts with Chase were frozen, despite that she’s been a customer with the chain for 30 years.
@dahliathedyna #chasebank ♬ original sound – Stefanie
The TikToker begins her video by stating: “This morning I woke up to Chase bank freezing all of my accounts and after sitting in their branch for over three-and-a half hours I pulled all my money out and I will never bank with Chase again. Let me tell you why. So I’m in construction and what is very customary in construction is for clients to sign over checks to you. Third party checks, right? So they just sign their names on the back, and then you deposit it. Well apparently, Chase, has a rule against this now and now they have to verify the person that signed the check over to you. Do you want to know how they do that? Uhm, they freeze all your accounts until you have to actually call them, give them the phone numbers of your clients, so they can verify their identity with their phone numbers. Yeah, their phone numbers.”
She shared her disbelief with the new practice and how her clients weren’t allowed to show their ID cards to verify their identities, but that phone numbers were the new gold standard for sussing out whether or not a person is who they say they are at Chase bank. She said, “They won’t not allow my clients to come into the branch and show their government issued ID, but instead, wanted to verify it with a phone number and once my client’s numbers couldn’t be verified, with a phone number because not everybody has their names on their phone accounts, a lot of people share phone accounts, OK?”
As a result of this new verification standard and Stefanie’s immediate inability to abide by it, her accounts were frozen and she couldn’t access all of her funds. This frustrating experience ultimately led her to withdraw all of her money from the bank and never do business with Chase again. She said, “They refused to remove the freeze from my account so I could just access the cash I had in the bank, they would not even give me my own cash in my bank, debit card would not work nothing. So then I asked to speak to a supervisor because this is asinine and I asked there has to be another option, this phone number verification is [expletive]. They refused to provide any other option and said that the only way that they can verify someone’s identity is with their phone number now.”
Stefanie asked if anyone watching her video thought this was a strange practice, and wondered why the chain would refuse to accept government-issued IDs as a proper form of verification. “This cause any concern for anybody else?” she said. “They would not take a government issued ID from my client to verify that that was them and they gave me the check. Mind you up until this point, nobody had even asked me for an ID. I went to the teller window to just withdraw cash, put my debit card in with my code, right? And was told at that point that my accounts were frozen. I couldn’t even access my cash the money I had in my bank that had nothing to do with the check I deposited, I couldn’t even access that money. So y’all watch out because this smells very fishy.”
What’s more is that Stefanie says, oddly enough, when an employee for the bank ended up phoning the same service number that she did to verify her clients’ identities, that they “magically” managed to get the identities sussed out for her, which she appears to find suspicious. “After I tried to get my cash at the teller window after the whole phone call where they couldn’t verify my client’s identification with their phone number, I had to sit down with a manager who made the call, same number I called, for loss prevention, and somehow magically when he gave them my client’s phone numbers, now it could be verified,” she said.
“So now I’m just waiting because they have to call each home owner individually apparently, and verify that they gave me this funds an then, then my hold will be removed in about 48 to 72 hours apparently, and at that point then I can access my money,” she said. “But, doesn’t matter cause I withdrew everything today anyway so once the hold comes off that’s getting withdrawn too. I’m done with you Chase Bank, 30 years I’ve been banking with you and I am done. Won’t happen again,” she said to close out her clip.
One user on the app thought that Stefanie’s situation was indicative of the type of customer service that big banks such as Chase and Wells Fargo provide their customers and wondered aloud why anyone still does business with them. “Why do people still bank with Chase and Wells Fargo? These two banks have always been in the crosshairs of overcharging their customers,” wrote one user.
Another recommended that she place her money with a local credit union instead. “move to a credit union definitely change your bank,” wrote another user.
One TikToker’s comment seems to suggest that Chase just doesn’t trust the government. They wrote, “When my wife got a job – WITH THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA – chase froze our account for THIRTY DAYS because they “didn’t recognize the payer as safe.”
While someone else who claimed to be a former Chase employee also didn’t have very favorable things to say about the financial institution: “I am an ex banker and would NEVER bank at Chase.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Chase via email and Stefanie via TikTok comment for further information.