Woman Fights Bank After She Says Money “Eaten” by ATM

A Corsicana woman denied a claim by her bank called NBC 5 Investigates’ Consumer Unit for help after she said an ATM malfunctioned and ate her cash.

Veronica Pena said she was in a hurry last month when she left work to make a deposit at her local Chase branch. Instead of going inside, she opted for the drive-thru ATM.

“It was busy at the bank,” Pena said. “So I decided to go to the ATM.”

Typically Pena doesn’t carry a lot of cash, but that day she had stack of bills totaling $1,160 from a family rental property.

That’s when she said something went wrong. Pena said the machine seemed to malfunction and the screen did as well.

“I put it all in at one time,” said Pena. “It spit out $30."

So Pena re-deposited the $30.

“I saw on the screen that it said total deposit $30,” Pena said.

She panicked, canceled the transaction and tried to get all her cash back. To make matters worse, she had no receipt after canceling the transaction.

“I’m freaking out. I’m hysterical,” she said.

Pena said $1,130 could mean the difference in her family’s ability to pay their mortgage. She said she tearfully went inside the bank to report the problem and spoke with bank representative.

“She said, ‘Everything is going to be fine. We’ll go ahead and call the claims department. We’ll file a claim.’ ”

Chase issued a temporary credit of $1,130 while it investigated what happened. In the meantime, Pena also filed a police report.

She thought her troubles were over, but her relief was short-lived. Within a month she got a letter from Chase concluding there was no problem with the transaction.

The letter said Chase completed the company's research into Pena’s transaction and determined the transaction was correct.

“As a result of our findings, we're removing from your account the temporary credit of $1,130.00 we gave you on 02/11/2015, as well as any fee refunds we provided while we conducted our research. The funds will be removed on 02/11/2015. You are welcome to view the research documents that support our decision,” the letter read.

Pena then called Chase asking for to view the research documents, but she said the bank refused. That’s when she called NBC 5 Investigates’ Consumer Unit.

Chase told NBC 5 it would not provide the research to our Consumer Unit either, explaining that the ATM’s ledger is the only documentation in the case and it contained sensitive information.

“We reviewed the security video but were unable to determine if the customer was holding anything in her hands,” said Greg Hassell, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase.

However, after NBC 5’s call, the bank seemed to have a change of heart.

“After a careful review of the ATM’s balances and transactions, we found no evidence of an error. However, Ms. Pena is a valued customer of longstanding and we have credited her account as a courtesy,” said Hassell.

“A Highly Unusual Circumstance”

Doug Johnson, senior vice president of payments and cyber security policy for the American Bankers Association, said ATM errors like this are rare.

“It’s a highly unusual circumstance,” said Johnson.

But if an error occurs, consumers can and should talk to their bank, and they can also file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Johnson also advises consumers to be careful how they use ATM’s, especially with large deposits.

“You should be inside the branch making that deposit. That would be my advice. You make yourself essentially vulnerable when you are at the ATM,” he said.

While Chase said its ATMs can accept up to 30 checks or 50 bills in a single stack, Johnson’s rule of thumb is if a consumer has more than one bill to deposit, he should go to a teller.

It’s a rule Pena said she will follow in the future. For now, she is glad she got her money back and said she has NBC 5 to thank.

“I would be negative in my account if it wasn’t for you. So I am grateful,” said Pena.