I have been banking at Chase for several years and never had any problems. I had a checking account and at one time a one yea certificate of deposit. I considered myself a decent customer, certainly not a problem customer.
Recently, I decided to close out the account. I let it sit inactive with about $8.00 left in the account. I changed the account associations of my gym membership, AuctionSniper, PayPal, and I-Go Car Sharing, because they were all associated with the account. I wasn't sure if there were any other accounts that were tied to the Chase account, so I tried to go online and view my accounts' past several months activity to see if I could spot any other regular payments I might have missed.
At work, suddenly I could not log into my bank account. I got some security run-around that Chase was worried about me using different computers to access the account. Supposedly, they were sending me a new code and I would enter it and then it would work. Well it didn't work.
Okay, so I move on, after all I was at work. A couple of days later I tried from my home computer, and got the same problem. So, now I have no access to my account from any computer because Chase's security is flawed. What do I care, I'm closing the account, right? Incidentally, I signed-up for Chase's paperless program, to help them save money, figuring I can always view my account online, so I don't keep old statements at the house that I could have dug through.
A week or so goes by and I try my ATM card in the machine and see I still have the same $8.00 in the account, so I figure, I'm all set. It has been several weeks, and no forgotten charges, checks, or accounts.
A week or so passes and I get a letter that the account is overdrawn by $16 and they've added fees making it $41. I stop into the branch to see what's going on. The Chase employee, Tim, has me type in my SS#, and he shows me the $24 charge was from my renters insurance policy. I tell him, yeah, darn I must have missed that, and I explain how Chases computer security was partly responsible. I offer to pay the $16 and ask him to please waive the penalty fee. This would have been the first time ever in several years of having the account that I was asking them to waive a fee.
He tells me that they won't waive the fee, I already admitted that the charge was legit and if I only deposit the $16, then fees will keep piling-up. I give him two choices, either take the $16 and write off the fee, or reverse the payment to the Renters Insurance company. Tim tells me that they will not do either of those things.
So, I tell him if it's not going to make any difference and they're not going to be reasonable then they can try and come after me for it, and I won't bother even depositing the $16. He says that they will come after me. I leave.
After a few days I cool down and decide, you know, I really should just pay what I was overdrawn, the $16. At least my conscience will be clear that I paid my debts. If they want to fight it out over fees, I'm willing to have the fight on those terms.
So, I go back and deposit the $16, this time having another long conversation with an employee who explains how the fees will keep piling-up and they will eventually report me as an unpaid debt on my credit report. Hmmm. This sounds suspiciously like extortion to me, and I tell him that if they put it on my credit report than I'll contest it and we can go back and forth, and the question comes down to how much time and money they want to spend trying to collect fees and why they would want to upset an otherwise good customer.
He gives me the card of his manager and says I can take it up with him. I decided to post about it here, instead.
Paulk
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
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