Downers Grove mother says college student son had over $4K frozen in bank account for nearly 1 year

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (WLS) -- The I-Team is investigating a new case after a customer said their Chase Bank funds were wrongly flagged for fraud.

The mother of a college student described how her son desperately needed his money for his club hockey team.

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The west suburban mother and her son say they waited almost a year for more than $4,000.

The checks were deposited into a club hockey team account, but the money was marked as fraudulent and the funds locked.

Kelly Lyn Kelly of Downers Grove called after she saw recent I-Team reports on frozen bank accounts.

Three different Chase customers said their accounts were mistakenly flagged for fraud and locked. They all got their money released after the I-Team's inquiries.

Kelly's son, Brendan, is the treasurer of his club hockey team at Miami University. He's found himself in a similar situation for almost year, after depositing checks for his team.

The checks, totaling $4,250, were frozen after Brendan made the mobile deposit in May of 2025.

The account he put them in, which had $1,300, was also locked. That $1,300 did get released in June of 2025, but the check deposits remained restricted.

"They're legit; they've been cashed by Chase," Kelly said.

SEE ALSO: After Lombard man says Chase froze over $40K of his money, more come forward with similar issue

Chase says the university was not verifying the checks, but Kelly says she's tried to connect Chase representatives to university and hockey officials who could verify them, along with her son's position as the treasurer. An affidavit was also submitted.

The money, she said, was desperately needed for new team jerseys.

"They are operating on a shoe-string budget," Kelly said.

Chase told the I-Team, "After further review, and information provided by our customer, we validated the checks, returned the funds and regret the delay. To protect customers from fraud we regularly review checks and deposits to ensure they're valid. To avoid delays, it's important customers follow proper procedures for endorsing and depositing paper checks."

That $4,250 is now in the hands of Kelly and the hockey team.

"I just counted over 32 times of communication, either email or phone, to try to get this resolved. And you did it with one email or phone call. Literally the next day after our interview they called, and the following day after that they resolved it," Kelly said.

After the first investigation into frozen Chase accounts, the I-Team received an overwhelming response from people claiming they had the same issue.

In a previous report, Chase said that protecting accounts is its top priority. And like all banks, they occasionally act when they identify "concerning transactions" and take action to protect customers and their money.

This case with the checks was slightly different. But to avoid an account freeze, experts suggest notifying your bank before withdrawing or moving large sums of money.