Chase’s flakey debit network

We received this comment from a reader:

Hey! I just stumbled on this site and it’s really great. I have been banking with Chase for over 2 years now and I was wondering if you have ever or would ever consider reporting on their regular debit card system outages. I have tried calling and sending them messages again over and over again and I get so many inconsistent responses, I almost have whiplash.

At least once every 2 weeks, between the hours of midnight and 1 am my debit card does not work–at vendors or in online transactions. I’ve been embarrassed twice now trying to buy something small at 7/11 despite having hundreds of dollars in my checking account.

I’ve heard everything from routine maintenance (how often does maintenance stop an average bank customer from using a debit card? never) to “there must be problems with the merchant’s system.” No lady, there’s not. This is too consistent of a problem for it NOT to be your freaking fault.

I don’t know if it’s a local outage or what, but I live in Naperville, IL (a suburb of Chicago). I am getting frustrated enough to try another bank, though I haven’t chosen one yet. In all respects other than this, Chase has been really good to me. But this is a deal breaker. I can’t stand them having my money without getting 24/7 access to it.

Chase contractor breaks into home and steals posessions

In Florida, contractors working for Chase Bank used a screwdriver to enter Debra Fischer’s house in Punta Gorda and helped themselves to a laptop, an iPod, a cordless drill, six bottles of wine and a frosty beer, left half-empty on the counter, according to assertions in a lawsuit filed in August. Ms. Fisher was facing foreclosure, but Chase had not yet obtained a court order, her lawyer says. 

Read more …

Site stats reality check for Chase

The visits to our site continue to rise over time.  What do you make of that Chase?  Do people like you more or less?

Incidentally, that huge spike in September was Chase’s fiasco of a 72 hour outage.

We had about 100,000 visitors in the last year and about 1.2 million page views.

The number of stories that each visitor reads on average keeps growing too.

Is Chase the Grinch?

You just can’t make this stuff up!

Chase Bank’s decision to remove a donated Christmas tree from its Southlake branch has generated widespread national attention and threats from customers to pull their accounts from the bank.

More than 2,000 online comments have been posted on the Star-Telegram’s website, an unusually high number for any article, since the newspaper broke the story Dec. 2. Many were angry over what they saw as a war on Christmas.

Chase defended itself, saying only company-issued decorations, including Christmas trees, are allowed in the banks.

After the initial backlash, Chase decided to “apply common sense” and allow the tree’s owner to put the Southlake tree back up at the bank’s expense, said Greg Hassell, a JPMorgan Chase spokesman.

Antonio Morales, the tree’s owner, said he’s not interested and that he would put the tree up at his home or in another bank. He also will bank elsewhere.

Hassell declined to comment on whether customers were leaving the bank.

The donated tree was simply a gift. Morales, owner of Bellagio Day Spa in Southlake, assembled and decorated the 9-foot-tall tree in the lobby of the Chase Bank branch at 1700 E. Southlake Boulevard as a favor to the branch manager, who is one of his clients.

“Southlake is known for its beauty,” Morales said. “I wanted that bank to have a good-looking tree because they didn’t have anything.”

The white tree–covered with LED lights and white and silver ornaments and bows–remained in the lobby from the Monday before Thanksgiving until Nov. 30. Morales said his friend called him the next day telling him to pick up the decorations.

She later showed him an e-mail from JPMorgan Chase saying that the tree had to be removed because it violated company policy.

That policy prohibits customers from making gifts to the bank of any kind, Greg Hassell, a JPMorgan Chase spokesman.

“We appreciate the thoughtful gesture from Mr. Morales,” Hassell said.

Since the story first broke, it has remained the most-read story on the newspaper’s website even days later.

It’s also been picked up by area television stations and major news sites nationwide.

Other Chase banks have Christmas trees in their lobbies, including the location in south Fort Worth on Everman Road, but they are company-issued decorations.

JPMorgan Chase ensures that decorations are “something everyone is comfortable with, regardless of how they celebrate the season,” Hassell said.

“People wish their customers Merry Christmas when it’s appropriate,” he said.

Hassell said that the Southlake branch was supplied with stickers that resemble Christmas lights. Company-supplied decorations vary at other branches, he said.

“Normally they’re small, not intrusive. I’m not sure this [Morales’] Christmas tree was intrusive. That’s not really the issue here. It isn’t a company-supplied decoration.”

Hassell said the policy has been around for a few years, and that decorations change every year.

Morales said he believes Chase removed the tree because it offended customers who don’t celebrate Christmas.

“It wasn’t because it was a gift,” he said.

Other banks are taking advantage of Chase’s bad press.

The Providence Bank of Texas in Southlake, which displays Christmas trees and a nativity scene, has had an influx of new customers who are bailing from Chase, said Randy McCauley, president and chief executive officer.

Providence makes its decisions locally and the directors are Christians who embrace the positive message of the holiday season, McCauley said.

“We unapologetically put Christmas trees and Christmas decorations around our bank,” said Mark Lovvorn, the bank’s chairman.

Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for the American Family Association, called Chase’s decision absurd.

The non-profit, conservative Christian group is based in Mississippi. Allen Praytor, a Southlake Chase customer, said he will remain a customer but believes the bank waffled too much whether to leave the tree up or down.

“It’s too inconsistent and it’s emotionally driven,” Praytor said. “I don’t like emotionally based decisions. Are they going to make a decision on a whim?”

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/12/07/2686539/banks-christmas-tree-removal-sparks.html#ixzz18qtwO3k5

This is why Chase is evil and not stupid

We received this story from a reader today:

There is so much to say. We were on a 3 month trail agreement that went to 14 months I was calling, faxing, leaving messages. I always called the Loss Mitigation dept. They said just keep on making ur payments ok this past Aug 2010 We did a phone financial & I did fax all the infor. the same day too. Just keep on making ur payments if we need any thing we will call u. So I went into chase to make our Dec. 1 2010 modification payment they would not take it 🙁  it is SUSPENDED in FORECLOSURE!!!! What? I ask chase to call for me!! They told me that. WHAT the HELL chase did not call me fax me email fed ex me nothing. I was told Mr. Vahe said that Laurel Lindsey got my case after 14 months on this trial modification we were paying on time calling all the time, where is our permanent workout solution for our loan cause the trial has been completed + ? O This Laurel Lindsey only had our case for 5 DAYS, now there saying we have been 19 months past due What? we were on a mod. & b for that we had to FILE BANKRUPTCY for a modification we had to much debt. I will be back…… Please help me help

Chase misses point with loan modifications

Oh Chase, how long can you hope to continue to get away with such a twisted loan modification process before Congress slams you with new regulations?

Long story short, 19 months ago I filed for a loan modification after I lost my job. Chase has lied to me, missed countless deadlines, lost fax after fax with bank account and social security numbers, not returned phone calls and their credit dept. has harrassed the living shit out of me. I have written letters to the NYS Attorney General, Comptroller of Currency, local newspaper complaining of the unethical way which Chase has conducted their business. A few weeks ago they tell me I am approved and foolishly, I get excited about what should be good news after all of this BS.
Incredibly, they make an offer to me that is $83.00 more per month than when I started this fiasco. My pay has been reduced by almost $25k and somehow Chase offers me a higher mortgage to “help me out”.
And the icing on the cake is that they gave me a “temporary” loan mod over a year ago until this was settled. The money I was saving during this period ($650/mo.) was reported as a shortfall by Chase and reported to the credit agencies as such. They single-handedly dropped my credit rating by over 150 points so it is almost impossible to explore any other options.
CHASE HOME MORTGAGE SUCKS!!!!!!!!

I guess this customer should be lucky that Chase didn’t demand all the savings during the loan modification period in a lump sum like they have done with plenty other customers and foreclose if the customer didn’t pay.

Don’t try depositing a foreign check with Chase

A reader just sent this story to us.  Each time I hear a story like this I just keep thinking “aren’t banks supposed to be good at this stuff?”  I guess Chase doesn’t consider this to be a core competency.

My branch that I’ve banked at for over 3 1/2 years broke two federal regulations on foreign checks that I deposited. The assistant manager admitted that this was a “colossal failure” on the branch’s part. The VP of the branch was extremely mean to me and my wife and suggested that if I didn’t like Chase’s policies I should leave the bank.  He was even dumb enough to put this in writing.  For the record, I’m a university professor with a PhD and older than this branch manager.

The VP of the branch also said that my wife and I should be more understanding with his branch even though they broke two federal regulations. As he put it, “It’s not every day that we deal with foreign checks so you can’t expect us to get it right every time!”  (I’ve got this saved on a voice mail).

Because of my branch’s “colossal failure” my deposit of a Canadian check is now being sent to collections where it could remain for six weeks. After that, the funds will be returned to my account and I will be charged a $45 dollar fee for their mistake.

I talked to a competitor about this process and they said, “It should only take one week!”

For the record, the assistant manager told me and my wife that had the transaction been done correctly and the right paperwork been filed we would’ve received the funds in one week without a fee.

My last phone call with the VP ended with him saying, “I don’t want to discuss this anymore with you! Don’t call me again!”

Unbelievable!

NJ Supreme Court spanks Chase and other banks

Things are getting more difficult in the foreclosure arena and today’s announcement by the New Jersey Supreme Court isn’t helping Banks.  The Court has basically demanded that the banks prove their foreclosure process and documentation is correct and will not result in incorrect foreclosures.

Ouch! for the banks, good for the rest of us.

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