Oh no, not again

Back in the start of the great recession, I was a Washington Mutual customer. I had such a bad experience with them, I started a website washingtonmutualsucks.org to tell everyone just how bad they were. But then, WaMu was taken over by Chase. It didn’t take long for me to experience just how bad Chase was and that motivated me to start chase-sucks.org to chronicle their bad deeds.

Well, time went by, I was no longer a Chase customer, and I kind-of lost interest in reporting on this website.

OH NO, here we go again!

Fast forward to 2023 and I found myself a happy customer of, gulp, First Republic Bank. I have nothing bad to say about First Republic, am well acquainted with most of my local branch staff, and have personal, business, and investment accounts with them.

Alas

So here we go again. I can only hope that Chase continues to allow First Republic to operate as a separate business unit and continue the great customer service they are known for. If not, I’ll probably be looking for another bank again.

If nothing else, I’ll have some new firsthand experiences to share here.

Local Creamery has beef with Chase Bank

You can’t make this stuff up.

After all these years, Chase still causing trouble

A reader writes:

I can’t even write out everything here, because it’s a story THREE YEARS LONG. Short version is that we went from a lease-to-own on our vehicle…and then Chase NEVER sent us the title (or, they claim they did? But it never arrived? For three years?).

I finally got someone at their “Executive Office” to give me a tracking number for the documents, which I only got after filing a CFPB complaint and demanding my money back for the vehicle. When I asked, “So there are no repercussions for your bank for making it impossible for me to register my vehicle for three years?” she replied, “Nope.”

I’ll get my title paperwork eventually (maybe), but in the meantime I’m moving forward and speaking with a class action suit attorney, as I have heard from a solid handful of folks across the U.S. that I’m not the only person with this problem.

Amazing. All these years and Chase still does stuff like this. We hope you are able to take them to task over this.

Chase still closes accounts for no good reason

From a reader:

Years later, they still do this! I opened a Business Account with a substantial deposit, provided all details about the business, and provided Articles of Incorporation and Operating Agreement.  Later, a Chase rep called me and said additional info was needed about my business (the purpose of the business).  I clarified it was for real property investments, and reminded her that this was disclosed when I opened the account and also described in the Articles/Operating Agreement provided.  When my offer was accepted on a real property investment, I needed to issue $1000 earnest money but was shocked to learn that my account was closed and my >$200K was in limbo, so I had to cut a check from my personal account to temporarily cover that.  A local branch officer apologized, but told me I still had to start over with a brand new account, which he opened (with all the same disclosures about the business) and detonated himself as primary contact for any other potential issues. I needed to close escrow yesterday, but learned that Chase “bounced” a valid wire transfer for another $77K due to “outstanding internal questions” that they never bothered to ask the branch officer or me, nor did they notify us of the rejected wire transfer.  I am now in jeopardy of losing the real estate deal, my $77K is in limbo, and no one from Chase executive offices bothered to resolve the case that was opened for this.  NO ONE’S MONEY IS SAFE WITH CHASE, AND THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED

From another reader:

I am one of those people where Chase Bank close my account with out notice. I had an SBA loan that was approved and deposited and then Chase said I need to show them more proof of my business. I am an independent contractor/gig worker and do not have the required documentation that they are asking for. They want documentation as if  am a big business. So, they are holding ALL of my money hostage which includes money that has nothing to do with the SBA loan. I have called Chase several times and I will now email the CEO. SBA says my loan is valid that it is on Chases end. If you have any suggestions for I would greatly appreciate them. I have read other people wanting to start a class action suite but I dont know how to do that. 
thank you so much for having and keeping this sit up. I’m glad that I found it.

We’re still here

It’s been a long while since our last post. We actively posted almost 1200 times from 2005 to 2015, to help bring to light the bad behavior of Washington Mutual Bank and then their successor Chase. A lot of really unsavory stuff. But at some point, as the recovery started to blossom and we received fewer stories of despair from readers, we got a little tired of blogging. But there were plenty of good reason to leave the site up.

And we’re glad we did, given the email we got this morning from reader Tim.

A foreign airline canceled my flights due to Covid-19 and said it would take a least four months to get a refund, which meant of course, never. Chase disputes department received a deceptive response to my dispute from the merchant. Chase then denied my claim despite my explaining in detail, with documentation, that the merchant was misleading them. But it was like trying to explain something to a door. Chase again denied my dispute and I thought that I had permanently lost a lot of money. It hurt.

I searched Google for a Chase ombudsman and another search string that I cannot recall. I eventually came across your website with the Chase executive office contact information. I called, they investigated and in the end I received a full credit because the disputes department investigator made a mistake. In reality he/she was too lazy and too lacking in reading comprehension and critical thinking skills to understand a simple concept.

So, were it not for your website, I would have been out a lot of money. The executive assistant that helped me was awesome. 

So a big thanks for putting this site together. It makes a difference.

We are glad we could help.

How Chase helps make people homeless

A reader writes:

So sorry to read all this. I have been a Chase customer for many years and even had my mortgage with them. We decided to buy another house and thought to go with Chase. They pre-approved us for the amount and we got the paper going. I live with my elderly parents, husband and a 11 month old baby. Everything went as planned and one of the condition was to sell our current resident. We had to sign the selling documents a day prior to signing the purchasing documents. We went and sold over our primary resident and getting ready the next morning to go to the Escrow to sign the purchase. Escrow calls the morning of and says we are unable to get hold of Chase and no documents are in. We call Chase and they have more conditions. They had us close our credit cards that had no balance except for miles and points. It was clear that they wanted us to close the rival banks. They never asked us to close their credit cards. We had no choice as we had sold our house and were going to become
homeless with our at that time 11-month old child. I was scared because I did not know where we I will keep them. After closing the cards, there were more conditions, one after another and closing dates got pushed out. First it was May 1st, then May 5th, and so on. On May 15th, my family became homeless. We lived in hotels one after another from town to town due to a concert and there were no space more than a week. My 11-month old and 67-year old parents were homeless with my husband and I. Chase never contacted us after that even though we contacted them hour after hour, crying and begging. Our wonderful real estate agent put us in touch with a God sent mortgage broker who got us approved and in the house in just 10-days as promised. I will never forgive Chase customer service people for treating us like this and for putting my family on the street for 2.5 weeks until we signed the papers with another bank. At least they should have the guts to say no we cannot do this loan. To
date no one from Chase called or wrote to us saying they cannot do this loan. We are living happily in the same house we wanted to buy with Chase after spending $1000’s in hotels and food to keep my family off of the street. Now I know how people end up homeless…

Chase getting more desperate for retail customers?

I received this mail from Chase recently

Chase mailer 1311

They previously offered just $150 for new customer accounts, are they getting more desperate?

Or perhaps just more discriminatory?  The small print on the back requires a minimum deposit of $15,000 and a minimum balance of $15,000 for 90 days, and the account must be open for 6 months.  Clearly they aren’t looking for low-end customers.

To put their offer in perspective, if I ONLY created a new account and left my $15,000 in there for 90 days to get the $200, and then closed my account after 6 months, I would be receiving about a 2.5% return.  Meh.  I can do better.

 

Chase limiting business customers cash activity and international wires

According to this post, Chase has been sending out letters to business customers limiting their cash activity (withdrawals + deposits) and refusing to accept anymore international wires.

Dear Business Customer,

Starting November 17, 2013:

– You will no longer be able to send international wire transfers. You will still be able to send domestic wires and receive both domestic and international wires. We’ll cancel any international wire transfers, including recurring ones, you scheduled to be sent after this date.

– Your cash activity limit for these accounts(s) will be $50,000 per statement cycle, per account. Cash activity is the combined total of cash deposits made at branches, night drops and ATMs and cash withdrawals made at branches (including purchases of money orders) and ATMs.

These changes will help us more effectively manage the risks involved with these types of transactions.

What are they up to?

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