Category: Bad bad Chase

Chase attempts to collect debt despite the law claiming it can’t

Different states have different laws regarding what happens to the remaining debt after a short-sale or foreclosure.  California (where this case hails from) has anti-deficiency statues that disallow a bank from trying to collect on this remaining debt.

Despite the law, Chase seems to have tried to do this anyway:

However, despite the California anti-deficiency statutes, which bar collection of a deficiency on purchase money mortgages after foreclosure, JP Morgan Chase attempted to collect nearly a $250,000 deficiency on the HELOC, and reported it negatively on the plaintiff’s consumer credit profile.

Chase lost the preliminary injunction hearing and the injunction was granted.  Chase is barred from providing derogatory information to the credit agencies for this statutorily collectible debt, pending the outcome of the case.  This case appears likely to provide an excellent legal precedent for others battling this same behavior.

Apparently still up to no good, Chase is accused again of bad deeds

JPMorgan Chase Accused Of Fabricating Paperwork, Imposing Extra Costs On Borrowers

In a case that suggests the financial crisis far from marked the end of big bank misconduct, JPMorgan Chase is facing a potential class action lawsuit over claims that it manipulated thousands of mortgage documents in order to gain a financial advantage in bankruptcy cases.

The lawsuit, led by plaintiff Ernest Michael Bakenie, has yet to be recognized as an official class action filing in the California district court where it’s taking place, according to the blog Naked Capitalism. Still, the accusation is a major one: It alleges JPMorgan Chase increased profits by methodically fabricating paperwork in part to impose extra costs on borrowers over the course of thousands of bankruptcy cases dating back to 2009.

The charges are particularly serious given the national outcry over mortgage fraud and robo-signing in recent years, and a general atmosphere of increased scrutiny on mortgage activity since the housing crisis, which critics allege was caused in part by unethical mortgage practices on the part of big banks and lenders.

News of the case arrives amid what is already shaping up to be another season of setbacks for JPMorgan, with the bank’s profits falling by nearly a quarter in the past three months. In addition, the bank has halted its efforts to collect on consumer debts in multiple cities across the country.

The suit also comes just a few months after JPMorgan agreed to pay $153 million to settle another fraud case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, this one based on accusations that JPMorgan was negligent in providing important details to investors about a mortgage transaction — claims that JPMorgan neither admitted nor denied.

It’s not yet clear whether something similar will happen with the California case, although the SEC settlement, reached in June 2011, wasn’t the first nor the last time that JPMorgan agreed to pay out a major sum in order to bring legal charges to a speedy conclusion.

JPMorgan isn’t the first big bank to be hit with a suit alleging mortgage misconduct in recent months. Firms including Bank of America, Allied Home Mortgage, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are either fielding legal accusations related to mortgage misconduct or in the process of reaching major settlements on the topic.

Read more …

Chase can’t read, post number 172

It is a known fact that Chase runs daily account holder debits and credits to maximize fee revenue.  Running larger checks first results in many more smaller bounces if an account becomes overdrawn.

Have they extended this practice to accepting post-dated checks before they are supposed to, or do they just now know how to read?

I have used bill pay for two years to pay the rent to a new yorker.  The check from my branch in virginia was dated Jan 5.2012. It was deposited into his account on Jan.3,2012.  So then it was marked insufficient funds and returned to my bank.  Why are checks dated.  They charged him funds for a returned check.  He in  turn  is trying to charge me funds for giving  him an electronic fund transfer to get the money back to him quickly.  Late fees of $100, 12.50 insufficient funds and $15.00 wire transfer when I already paid my bank $20 to transfer him the money.  Is this how chase makes its money.  I see why he banks there.   They are out to get whatever they can.

Chase’s mistake gives customer the run-around

A reader sent us this story, which has to be one of the most blatant examples of Chase having no clue what they are doing.

Chase is merely a group of putrid thieves. I’ll explain what happened at this ridiculous bank.. i want more people to know about what a sad deal they have going on there.

I didn’t know a single thing about chase last week. I saw a coupon for a bonus of 150 dollars for opening an account with them. I’m pretty young, just got my first job, knew i wanted to open up my first checking account.. so i did a tiny bit of research on them.. they seemed somewhat legitamite as a company.. not just one of those archaic internet scams with no information and no physical locations. But they still were a scam..

I open my account online, give my opening deposit, check the verifications for the deposits and every thing is seemingly dandy. This is about the 2nd day of dealing with chase.. what I expected so far.

So my account opens up that day after doing the verifications. They even text me and tell me how great it is that i will recieve text updates about my account. I think. oh.. they can’t be too shady.

Log on next morning to check on my account.. it says.. invalid. Please call this number. They gave their standard service number. I thought.. oh great. here we go.

I call the number.. ask them a seemingly extremely perplex question of.. “what’s the problem here? I am wondering why my account is invalid. I have not deposited nor taken any money from it. All I did was open my account 2 days ago.”

They reply.. “we’re sorry, we can not reveal this information to you. Please go to a chase branch near you and talk to a personal banker.”

Ugh.. that’s fine.. i’ll just go up there and they can verify it, hopefully quickly, but i doubt it. They didn’t tell me any thing about what it would require on the phone. they merely said.. “go to a branch, we won’t be revealing any thing to you”.

I prefer being safe than sorry, so I actually brought my original birth certificate from when I was born, my drivers license, and my social security card.. just to be sure I could have every thing they could possibly imagine to bother me with, to save me some trouble.

But oh.. guess what. That’s not enough. These bankers start saying that my state issued birth certificate from when i was born.. with all the seals and every thing.. and drivers license.. and social security card aren’t enough. I need some “letter of social security” to open a bank account. All that was not enough. Not once would they ever explain why. “We cannot reveal that information to our customers.”

I figure this is ridiculous, and my mom says it’s ridiculous. But.. I want to give them a chance, even though I offered them all that, i want to give them one more chance. I call the social security office.. even THEY told me “A what? a letter of social security? do you have your social security card? well that’s all you need. it has all the print needed to be verified. I’ve worked here for 20 years and i’ve never heard of a letter for it.”

Well that’s refreshing.. so i call and call until finally some one says “I’ve never heard of this either but if a letter is what you want i can write you a letter that says that number belongs to you.”

After hours and hours of waiting in line at the social security place, I finally get my letter for great ole chase bank that has me on a wild goose chase for they won’t even explain why. The lady even wrote on the letter.. if you have any more possible doubts about the identity of this person.. you can come to our office or give us a call and talk to us about it.

I go to another chase branch. I figure.. great.. what else are they going to try. Do I have to bring every one i’ve ever met in my entire existence to say “yeah, that’s him”. Or do I not exist. Seriously.

I go up there with the letter and every thing. They make their calls to their main office as usual.. and then they go and say.. we’re not going to be accepting this. It doesn’t have all the stamps we want on it. All the stamps? I tell them.. I need information about what you’re talking about and I need it now. No one I know has ever heard about doing all this to open up a simple, standard account.

Then they say one of their workers might have typed in the wrong social security number in their system, and some one has been banking under my social security number.

So I respond to them.. That’s great. Well what do they have to prove their identity? I’ve got all this to prove I am who I say I am.. what do they have?

“Well, we can’t reveal that information to you.” Seriously.. you guys don’t even know what you’re saying now. You’ve got me jumping through all these hoops for nothing. How about this.. how do I know this is chase bank? How do i know this doesn’t just look like chase bank and have all these forged documents on the walls? I want undeniable proof. I gave them so many chances, and after all this, I’m done with them.

And as for the opening deposit money.. they said they have frozen the account and will not transfer or provide any of my own money back to me until “I clear this up”. Clear what up?! It’s a problem with your system. You can go down to whatever offices you think you need to, you can pick you a number, and you can wait in line to get what you need to fix the problem in your system. I’m not the information system manager for chase bank, I don’t need to be traveling the globe to compensate for your problems.

To lock the account and not provide my own money back too is just thievery. That’s a great scam isn’t it? Snatch peoples money right out of their hands, put it in an account, freeze the account, and tell them they’ll never get it until they prove who they are and nothing is sufficient to prove who they are. I can’t even drive by that place any more, it disgusts me.

Chase new account promotion bait & switch or inept banker?

It is unclear from this post over at complaintsboard.com whether this customer was hit with a real bait & switch by Chase bank or just an inept teller who didn’t give him all the information when he opened the new account to get the $125 promotion.

Was offered a promotion to open a new account in exchange for $125.00 account credit. Waited over 14 days for crecit. Called into call center was advised that it would take 10 days for credit, CREDIT WOULD BE IN ACCOUNT ON 11/28/11.. Waited the ten days as you can see above, no credit. Called into call ON THE 10 DAYS LATER 11/28/11 STILL NO CREDIT. Called call center spoke with a rep who said now you have to add Dirwect Deposit. Then I spoke with a supervisor who also said now as rep just said I advised have to activate a direct deposit? UNREAL…Defintely a BAIT AND SWITCH. I am an unsatified customer. Would close account but have not added this account to all my accounts for payment. THEY ARE FORCING ME TO HAVE A DIRECT DEPOSIT!!

JPMorgan Chase cuts employee raises & benefits

From a reader:

JPMorgan’s Treasure & Security Services division announced a 2012 raise suspension for all employees. There’s also discussion of bonuses being diminished or eliminated as well. This news arrives on the heels of the ill-received 2012 Healthcare Plan overhaul which has the potential for a significant financial impact on employees and their families, in the event of an illness or visits to other than Primary Care Physicians.

Chase settles Freedom card payment protection scheme case

I knew Chase was bad, but this is BAD.  Chase recently settled a class-action lawsuit related to the payment protection plan for its Chase Freedom Card.  Apparently it automatically enrolled people in this plan that came with a monthly charge, and then made it nearly impossible to get the benefits.

… the lawsuit alleges that Chase unilaterally enrolled cardholders in Payment Protection Products that suspend or cancel the balance due on the credit card under certain circumstances without adequately disclosing the terms of these products prior to enrolling a customer. The lawsuit further alleges that it was too difficult to obtain Payment Protection benefits for eligible claims, it was too difficult to disenroll from Payment Protection Products, and that those Products were improperly marketed and sold.

 

Daily Beast calls Chase America’s worset bank

Makes sense to me.

Jamie Dimon is “America’s least hated banker,” the financial writer Roger Lowenstein wrote in The New York Times Magazine at the end of 2010. But if JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the best of the bunch, then that speaks volumes about how horribly banks have acted in recent years.

Where to start?

There’s the $211 million fine JPMorgan paid in July to settle charges that it defrauded local governments in 31 states—along with the $130 million it returned to municipalities it was accused of duping.

There’s the $722 million in fines and restitution payments it made after JPMorgan confederates were caught paying off officials in Jefferson County, Alabama (home to Birmingham), to secure a municipal finance deal that nearly bankrupted the county.

There’s the fact the bank was in so great a rush to evict people from their homes that it admits that some of its people might have forged foreclosure documents—a problem so widespread that it felt compelled to suspend 56,000 foreclosures while it investigated its own behavior.

Or maybe the biggest sin is the central role JPMorgan has played—and continues to play—in the rise of what might be called the “poverty industry”: all those businesses that exploit the working poor, such as the payday-loan industry, where lenders charge 400 percent interest on short-term, small-denomination loans against a person’s next paycheck (or their Social Security or unemployment payments).

And don’t forget the Bernie Madoff connection. Perhaps it’s not fair to blame JPMorgan for Madoff’s sins just because the infamous fraudster used Chase to handle billions of dollars in investors’ cash. Nonetheless, Madoff trustee Irving Picard has pointed an accusing finger at the bank. He has sued the bank for $6 billion, claiming that not only should it have known about the fraud, it did know.  In June 2007, 18 months before Madoff’s fraud was exposed, an officer in the bank wrote an email to colleagues reporting that another bank executive “just told me that there is a well-known cloud over the head of Madoff and that his returns are speculated to be part of a Ponzi scheme.” The bank, the suit contends, had withdrawn all but $35 million of the $276 million it had invested in Madoff-linked hedge funds by the time the fraud was revealed. A JPMorgan spokesman “vigorously” denied Picard’s charges—and Picard has responded by tripling damages to $19 billion.

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