Traveling and living overseas is a dream for many Americans (myself included). But most American Banks charge fees for using their services abroad, fees that can add up quickly.
If you had a Chase Bank account while you lived in the States, and are looking to close it without having to return, here are two easy ways to close your Chase Bank account from overseas: over the phone and through the Secure Message Center.
In this article, I’m also answering the following questions:
- Can You Close Your Chase Bank Account with a Negative Balance?
- Can You Reopen a Closed Chase Bank Account?
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How to Close your Chase Bank Account over the Phone
I would always recommend heading into your local Chase Bank branch in person before closing your account. Talking to a banker is the best way to understand all of your options.
If you’re closing your account because of unwanted fees, they may have a better account for you that doesn’t charge fees, and they may even be willing to refund those fees too.
If you’re already abroad, looking for a bank account in the new country you reside in, no worries — Chase doesn’t make it too hard to close your account over the phone.
Before you close your account, there are a couple of things you need to do.
First and foremost, it’s much easier to close an account with a zero balance than an account that still has funds in it.
If you already have another account set up overseas, or if you have another bank in America you still haven’t gotten rid of, transfer the funds over.
This will make your account closure a much smoother and easier process.
Once you transfer the funds, you’ll have to wait one to two business days for the transaction to leave a “pending” status and enter a “completed” status.
From there, Chase Bank’s customer service will be able to close your account over the phone.
Simply call (800) 935-9935 and a Chase representative will walk you through the process.
If you don’t want to zero out your account, or you don’t have any other accounts to transfer the funds to, Chase will still let you close your account.
Again, before you close your account, check the address you have on file.
When Chase closes an account with a balance, they will mail that balance to the address you gave them.
Seeing as it’s been some time since I worked for the big blue bank, I wasn’t sure if Chase was willing to send your balance in the form of a check overseas.
So, I did what any good writer would do and asked!
I gave Chase Bank’s customer service line a call to confirm, and yes, if you want they are more than capable of sending your check to an address overseas.
They did let me know that if you choose this option, it helps to update your address well in advance of your planned account closure. That way, Chase won’t think someone abroad is trying to scam them/you.
If the account you close still has an active balance it may take Chase up to ten business days to close it out.
From there, your check could take weeks to get to you overseas. Not exactly the quickest way to get paid.
If you do want to close your account over the phone you’ll need more than to zero out your balance.
The Chase employee you speak with will need some information from you to confirm you are who you say you are and that they’re closing the right account.
Before you call in, you’ll need to have your personal information ready. They may ask for your full account number, full debit card number (if you have one connected to your account), your legal name as it appears on your account, your current balance, and the address you have on file.
During my time at Chase Bank, whenever I’d have a customer call in inquiring about their account, I’d need to ask similar verification questions.
I mention this because we, as bankers, needed our customers to get at least two of these questions right and not more than one wrong.
If you answer any two of these questions incorrectly, the Chase customer service specialist may not be able to help you close your account.
Make sure you have all of your information in front of you, and that it’s current.
Your balance isn’t the only thing you should be mindful of.
Before closing any bank account, you should see if you still have any recurring or direct deposits going in or any automatic withdrawals or bill payments coming out.
Move those over to the new account you’re using. Chase Bank won’t allow any transactions to go through a closed account, so deposits may not arrive to you on time.
You could also incur fees from whoever wants to withdraw from your account, if they aren’t able to.
Lastly, I always like to mention what you’ll usually find online when looking up ways to go about your Chase account.
If you google “How to Close Your Chase Bank Account from Overseas”, many websites will direct you to this phone number: 1 (713) 262-3300. While that is a number for Chase Bank, it won’t help you close your account.
That number is specifically for digital fraud that occurs while you’re overseas, nothing to do with account closure.
How to Close your Chase Bank Account Online (Through the Secure Message Center)
If you’re unfamiliar, the secure message center is Chase Bank’s way of allowing you to message them without any risk of your messages being leaked.
Chase uses 128-bit encryption on all of their online platforms — the highest grade of cybersecurity on the market.
The secure message center can be used for a lot of things relating to your account, including closing it.
I’ll walk you through the nine simple steps that will allow you to close your Chase Account online while you’re overseas:
- Log into your account: Whether you go to Chase.com on your computer or use the Chase Bank Mobile App on your phone or tablet, the first step is to use the same username and password you’ve always used.
- Click on the side menu: Look for the three horizontal bars in the upper left hand corner. Click on it, and it will drop down a menu with more options.
- Click on “Secure Messages”: Within that handy menu you just clicked on will be a button titled “Secure Messages”. Can you guess where that will take you?
- “What is this about?”: Once you’re in the secure message center, it will ask you “What is this about?”. The drop down menu will give you a multitude of options to choose from: from simple travel notifications to questions about government stimulus payments. You don’t need to click on those though, if you want to close your account through the secure message center click the option titled “I have a question about one of my accounts”.
- “I have a question about one of my accounts”: Clicking this option from the drop down menu is the next step in the process towards closing your Chase Bank account online.
- Click on the account you want to close: This may be the most important step in the entire process. Make sure you’re closing the right account before moving forward.
- “Choose a topic”: Once you choose the right account, and have confirmed that it’s the right account, the drop down menu will ask what you’d like to do with this account. Again, there are a lot of options to choose from but the option you’ll be choosing is “account inquiry”
- “Account Inquiry”: Click on account inquiry. From there, the secure message center will generate a large, empty box of text for you to use.
- Create a detailed message: For the final step, you’ll be using the empty box of text I message to let Chase Bank’s customer service team know what you want to do. Be specific about it. Tell them that you’re looking to close your account — it doesn’t hurt if you enter in the exact account number you’re looking to close as well.
Once you’re finished typing your message go ahead and hit send. Chase will then take around 1-2 business days to get back to you, letting you know what your next steps are.
They won’t have to go through the same validation process as they would over the phone since you’re logged into your online banking.
If you left a balance in your account, it will also take Chase at least 10 business days to get the funds to you. As always, I recommend dropping your account down to a zero balance before closing it.
Can You Close Your Chase Account with a Negative Balance?
If your balance is in the negative and you want to stop any other transactions from going through, you may consider closing your account.
Unfortunately, Chase Bank doesn’t allow you to close your account while it’s in the negative.
The only time your account may be closed while in the negative is if Chase Bank recognizes that you are consistently incurring overdraft fees and haven’t paid them back. They will be the ones to close your account.
Once your account is closed in the negative, they will report to the credit bureaus that you’re not a customer who keeps their accounts in good standing. They will let you repay your debt though. Once you do, they’ll tell the credit bureaus it is repaid and your credit score should increase.
You will also be more likely to open another bank account after your previous one is paid off.
Can You Reopen a Closed Chase Bank Account?
Unfortunately no. Once your account is closed, it is closed for good.
If you ever want to close one of your accounts, make sure you’d never have a reason to use it again.
Even if you close your accounts, Chase still has the capabilities of printing documents relating to it for up to seven years in the branch.
If you need to go even further than that, you’ll have to contact Chase customer service.
So, Before You Close Your Chase Account from Overseas…
Chase Bank allows their customers to close their accounts no matter where they are — within the United States or overseas.
Before you close any bank account, you should always draw it to a zero balance and make sure you have no pending withdrawals or deposits.
You should also make sure you move over said withdrawals and deposits over to a new account, as Chase won’t let anyone transact on a closed account.
You can close your accounts by calling Chase’s customer service line at (800) 935-9935, by logging into the Chase Mobile App, or by logging into Chase.com and heading to the secure message center.
If you have a cosigner on your account and they’re still residing in the United States, they can head into a branch in person and get it closed out as well.
If this article was useful to you, check more written by me about banking with Chase:
- 3 Main Differences Between Chime and Chase
- 5 Ways to Transfer Money with Chase to Another Bank
- 6 Ways to Check Chase Card Balance(With and W/O The App)
- How Long Does It Take to Open an Account at Chase in Person?
- Will Chase Refund You If You Get Scammed? 4 Different Cases
