West Side Restaurateur Says He's Had Issues Accessing His Own Money From Bank Of America, And It's Interfering With His Business
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Jermaine Jordan serves hundreds of people every day of the week from his restaurant, and he said money to keep the place going wasn't a problem - until he started having issues accessing his own.
Jordan wears a few hats. He is head chef at Free Hot Meals Restaurant, a corner store he opened at 4100 W. Madison St. in the West Garfield Park neighborhood in order to help people who need it.
"We're here seven days a week feeding the community," Jordan said.
He also owns a car wash and a car dealership, with profits that - coupled with donations - help keep his kitchen stocked and the neighborhood fed.
It's something that's important to Jordan, since he knows what it's like to go without.
"I know what it is to share," he said.
But now, he's having money problems. The problems aren't with his vendors or the donations that keep the place going, but with his bank.
"Bank of America couldn't give me an explanation to why they just froze my account," Jordan said.
He said he gets food discounts with vendors when he pays in cash, so he needs to get cash out of his account often. But Jordan said recently, getting cash from his Bank of America account - also linked to their donations - has become an issue.
He said he has been denied cash, has dealt with a randomly frozen account, and has also dealt with what he calls intense security checks when he visits the bank.
At times, all that has prevented him from buying food for the restaurant.
"It put a financial hardship on it," Jordan said.
So he reached out to us. A spokesperson for Bank of America released the following statement:
"We have followed up directly with our client and he understands that his account remains open. We do not have a cash issue in our financial centers. In the interest of serving all our clients, we generally request people planning large cash withdrawals to arrange those in advance so we can have the cash ready in the requested bill denominations without inconveniencing other clients waiting to be served. This is particularly important before holiday weekends when visits to our financial centers may be higher than normal. Repeated withdrawals of large amounts of cash may trigger a routine account review, which is standard policy.
"I'll be sure someone follows up directly with Mr. Jordan and apologizes about his experience."
"Someone from Bank of America could reach out and give an apology," Jordan said.
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