We had three credit card accounts with Chase, and a virtually PERFECT credit record. Due to a new marriage last year and our finaggling of three houses in the process, we opened a 0% (12 mos) account with Chase to help us through the process. During our moving process, some of our mail was lost (both USPS and email). We did not receive several bills during this transition, and we began contacting our creditors about our account status. We were incredulous to find out on May 20 that we had accumulated numerous finance and late fee charges on our new Chase account (we ALWAYS pay on time). Because we had 3 Chase accounts it was not obvious to us what had happened until we went online and discovered it.
We immediately called Chase on May 21 to clear up the problem, and we were told that "we had requested no more paper statements" on ONE of our accounts! That was NOT TRUE, as we don't have that in place on ANY of our credit accounts of ANY kind. We can only surmise that during the process of changing our address with Chase, somehow the 'statement type' was changed on that one particular account.
In any case, we then offered to pay off that account IN FULL (several thousand dollars) if Chase would forgive us of the extra charges incurred because of the billing problems. Chase agreed, and we provided our bank account information (TVFCU) to their representative, who could barely speak English. We asked that Chase PLEASE CALL US BACK if there were ANY problems with this electronic transfer, and we were assured that everything would be taken care of immediately.
The next day we went online to check the account again and found that our payment transaction had NOT gone through! We were not been notified of this when it happened, even though the transaction date was critical. We then checked with our credit union (TVFCU) and found that the account transfer info we had provided to Chase was exactly right, and the only explanation was that the account number or routing number had been keyed in wrong by Chase. We called back to Chase, insisted on speaking to someone who could speak fluent English, and we initiated another transaction with our regular bank (First Tennessee) since we had made numerous successful transactions with Chase via that bank before. This time we kept calling back to ensure that this electronic transaction DID work, and this was finally verified on May 24.
We later went back online to find that, despite our agreement, Chase had charged us AGAIN for late fees and finance charges on May 23. We called to find out what was going on, and despite the botched transfer - but later success - of our $3,259.40 payment, we were told we STILL owed additional charges because we were LATE. We were passed around to various people who kept insisting that we still owed the various charges for various and sundry reasons, despite the FACT that Chase botched the transfer, which CAUSED us to be late in the first place! We became so exasperated with the run-around that we asked Chase to just close ALL of our accounts completely, because they are IMPOSSIBLE to deal with objectively.
After being transferred to the 'account closing department', we were treated very rudely and curtly by the Chase representative. We were offered 'nothing' for our accumulated 16,000 'rewards' points on this account, and we were treated almost like 'criminals'. We asked for a FINAL STATEMENT on EACH account so that we could COMPLETELY close out the accounts, and we were told that these statements WOULD BE SENT immediately. This was on June 1.
The next thing we received from Chase arrived over one month later, and it was a REFUND CHECK dated June 28, for $1.09. Neither this check nor the enclosed letter listed ANY account number. We later received more regular monthly statements' via USPS for our other two accounts, and once AGAIN found we were charged late fees and finance charges on June 21 for the other account!
We called Chase AGAIN on July 5 to ask what was going on, and we were informed that we would have to talk to the 'account closing department' again!
Unbelievable!
I called Chase again on July 5 indicating that it would certainly appear that this situation had been put into a 'vicious cycle' that would NEVER END until we simply 'buckled' and paid them the ridiculous charges they were demanding. The Chase representative told me, 'It's a small amount' why don't you just pay it off?'
I was incredulous, and immediately wrote Chase a paper letter outlining everything that had happened. I explained that the REASON I will not 'just pay it off' is because this was NOT the deal Chase agreed to, and this is the WORST customer service I have ever experienced with a bank, credit union, or credit card service in over 35 years!
ALL of the charges we supposedly "owe them" are LATE FEES and subsequent "finance charges" on the late fees!
The bottom line is, we acted in GOOD FAITH to pay Chase off COMPLETELY with over $3,250, ON TIME, on May 21. The mystery of the online-only statements' and the botched transfer on May 21 is responsible for this debacle, and Chase is completely responsible for BOTH of those issues.
Chase now continues to send us regular monthly bills with $29 service charges plus finance charges on this closed account. It's now up to about $170.
I have contacted all three Credit Reporting Agencies, and anyone who looks at our credit report (s) will quickly see that only ONE financial institution has ANY issue with us. Chase has certainly lived up to their name - they have CHASED US AWAY.
Chased-Away
Chattanooga, Tennessee
U.S.A.
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