This all started when I accidentally went negative. Actually, I was not negative when I deposited $100. I had some transactions that were still pending. That is when I deposited my $100 thinking that I would be ok. But when looking at my account the next day, they posted 2 of those transactions 2 days in the past. This caused my account to go negative and for them to charge me $64 which again caused a negative. I immediately deposited a check for $200, but this was not fast enough because it took them 2 days to post my check and during that time 3 transactions were posted negative and again causing a rather large and excessive fee of $96. Before we were charged the $96 we withdrew money so that we could feed our kids and get gas for our car. We are now negative and will surely recieve some charges for staying negative until Thurday when my husband gets paid.
I talked with someone over the phone and they could not help me, but were more than willing to offer her suggestions of how to avoid this in the future. I then went to one bank and they could not help me because my account was assigned to another bank down the street. At this bank they were more than willing to talk to me like I was some dumb moron who couldn't keep track of her checking account. So I proceeded to the other bank and again they could not help me.
This lead me to emailing chase through their web site. What follows are the interactions between me and some people working at their Chase internet site.
I sent this on 11/28/08
I have talked with someone on the phone and I have seen two different banks and no one has been able to help me. I was charged a large fee for insufficient funds. This fee is rather large for being insufficient for one day and for a small amount. As you can see I deposited money as soon as possible. Now, because of your excessive fee I have gone insufficient again and again I deposited money as soon as possible. But I was told that I will be charged $97 more for being insufficient. This is a rather large and excessive fee for someone who is clearly trying to get the money in their account as soon as possible. With the economy being as it is don't you think you are doing a disservice to your customers who are clearly trying to keep their account current. I realize that I am not a large customer and probably do not make you money except for the excessive fees that are charged, but I am now reconsidering my banking with a business that has been so impersonal and unable to help me out. You will have taken $161 when all is said and done. For you this does not seem like a lot, but for someone who has a family to feed and Christmas present to buy for their kids on a very fixed income, it is a lot.
They responded 11/29/08
Thank you for contacting Chase. First of all I would like
to say that I am terribly sorry for the frustration you
have experienced with your account.
I know that it can look confusing to have an insufficient
funds fee post the same as your deposit. This is a common
question with our customers. When you overdraw your
account, if the end of day balance posts negative, then
whichever transactions posted that day to cause the
negative balance will receive an insufficient funds fee
but not until the following business day.in your case, on
11/26 your account had posted with an end of day
balance at $-44.14. The fees for these transactions were
not going to show until the next business day, which was
11/28. Therefore, in order to have avoided the $96.00
in insufficient funds, your deposit needed to be made by
the cut off on 11/26.
I sent this in response on 11/29/08
It is and was very clear to me how you do business. What I do not understand is how you can with a clear conscience take $160 away from a family that is clearly struggling to make ends meet. What I do not understand is how you can charge for every negative transaction instead of a single charge for being negative. What I do not understand is how your charge can make me go negative and therefore giving you the right to again charge me for every negative transaction. What I do not understand is the heartless way that banks work and do not see that a person is trying to get money in the bank as fast as possible to cover any negative transactions. What I do not understand is that the banks can not just give you a slap on the wrist, but a sock in the face and then start kicking them while they are still on the ground. These are the things I do not understand.
They responded to that on 11/29/08
I am sorry to hear about all of the frustration that these
fees are causing you.
As you have already been provided with a courtesy refund
in the last twelve months, I am unable to do anything for
you regarding the fees you have received recently.
As it has been explained to you, fees are charged for
every transaction that causes your account to become
overdrawn, however we will not charge you for more than 6
transactions in one day. My suggestion to you would be to
do as much of your shopping in one place as you possibly
can, and to get cash back for as much as you can. This
way you are only being assessed for one fee. I see that
you make several trips to Meijer a week and McDonalds and
other places in the same day. Again, if you have to
overdraw your account, my suggestion is to do as much of
this shopping in one trip as you can and get back as much
cash as you can in one trip and pay for all of the smaller
transactions (McDonald's, etc) with the cash you get back.
This way you are only assessed the one fee.
So I again responded
Wow! I never planned to be overdrawn. The second overdraw was because of you taking excessive amounts of money from me. I am now again overdrawn with no money to put into my account because you have sucked me dry. I will remain overdrawn until we get paid on Thursday and I am sure that this will add more fees that you can take from me. As for my many trips to different stores you truly do not understand what it takes to raise a family of 7. I thought that the reason that you, Chase, offer debit/credit cards is for the convenience of not having to carry cash around. I never thought I would be judged regarding my transactions and how I shop. I will now make sure to not use my Chase card for shopping.
As far as frustration, it is not frustration it is a family trying to put food on the table and at this time some gifts for my kids so I do not have to explain to them that Santa Clause doesn't have any money to get you gifts. I also had to tell my kids, who have given up so much without complaining, that we could not go bowling (a very special trip because we do not go out much as you can see on my transactions) because Chase took all our money. I understand your need for fees, but to the extent and amount that you take is excessive. And as you can see from my transactions I do not usually go negative and if I do like in September and also this month it is by accident and corrected as soon as possible. I do not abuse my checking account or the services that you give to me. I try hard to keep it balanced and in the black. What gets me is that you not only knock a person down you keep kicking.
And they sent another lovely email back
Thank you for contacting Chase, Ms. Cremer. Please except
my sincere apologies for any inconvenience you are
experiencing with the fees. I do understand your
frustration. I know that fees can cause concern for your
account when they are unexpected.
In response to your inquiry, because you are a valued
customer I have submitted a request to have the
insufficient fees absorb as a courtesy, unfortunately the
request was denied. I know this is disappointing news and
not what you wish to hear.
We are able to give a one-time courtesy refund every 12
months, and I do see where we gave you a refund on
September 4. You will be eligible for another
courtesy refund one year after that date.
And my final response today
As far as the future, I can assure you that if I can pay with cash I will. I will try my hardest to not to have to use my checking account. You have been nothing but frustrating to work with and most impersonal and down right heartless. I will be looking into transferring all my business to another bank and make sure to let everyone I know your complete inability to work with me. Not to mention your devious ways that you input all your transactions. When I deposited my $100 from my savings all transactions were still pending. Somehow you were able to predate some of these transactions so that they were before the deposit, therefore causing a negative account and of course a insufficient fee so astronomically large that you cause another negative and charge yet an even larger fee. How you get away with this is beyond me and I can assure you that I will be looking farther into this.
My biggest question is how do banks get away with this? I typed in all the banks that I could think of on this web site trying to find a bank that I could work with. There is not one out there that does not have some negative report regarding their fees toward customers. Why is no one doing something. We as customers should be banning together and saying that we will not accept this. I realize that they have us where they want us. We need them to pay our bills. We have to have a checking account in order to function. I know that I will be doing one thing different. I will go back to the day when we carried cash and paid for everything with cash. I will still have to use them to pay the bills. I'm not sure if this hurts them, but it will make me feel better.
Sorry so long, but this has been a long and painful process that has left me feeling helpless.
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