Customer changes password, can’t login to pay auto loan

Is this a new way for Chase to get people to default on their loans?

Bobby changed his password for his Chase account for an auto loan and was subsequently unable to log in.  Each time he try’s to log in it asks him for his credit card number.  The problem is, he doesn’t have a credit card with Chase so is unable to provide a number.  He has been trying to solve the problem for two months.   He finally was able to make a payment:

I was able to call them and make a payment over the phone. The special fee charged to me associated with this highly unorthodox method of payment was only $14.00(US)

Yea, they charged him to make a payment by phone when he was unable to log into his account and they couldn’t solve the problem.

18+ months later, WaMu-Chase transition still not right

This formerly WaMu now Chase mortgage holder is reporting that nearly two years after WaMu was acquired by Chase, their mortgage payments are still routinely being misapplied, delayed, or otherwise unaccounted for by Chase.

Anyone else still having problems like this?

Hey Chase, what kind of credit card do I have?

This thread over at myFICO is very funny.  Basically, it is a bunch of former WaMu customers wondering what type of Chase credit card their former WaMu card was converted into.  Apparently, when logging into Chase online, there is no indication what type of card it is, and none of the customers received a notice of what kind of card they were being converted into.  One customer reports he WAS able to figure out what type of card he has but the type of card has been changed twice since the WaMu takeover.

Little help Chase?

Chase will start your trial loan mod even if you don’t say yes

A Chase mortgage holder goes through a long process of applying for a trial loan modification which takes forever (as expected) and involves sending and resending and calling and calling again, and is finally approved with a not so stellar loan modification.  But she decides to decline it as she has heard all the stories about people paying trial loan modification payments for a long time only to be denied in the end and then Chase demands a balloon payment of the cumulative difference between the trial and regular payments or they will foreclose, or they just foreclose anyways.

But even though Chase didn’t get the actual Ok from her, they went ahead and started the trial loan modification anyways.

Seriously, do they have a bunch of monkeys working in the back room?

Think banks know what they are doing? Think again!

Corliss Gittens took out a mortgage in 2000 on a home she purchased from her parents.  Her loan was quickly sold several times and ended up with a company that was then acquired by Washington Mutual, which was eventually acquired by Chase.  At some point, her loan records got lost and Chase was force to admit (by a judge)  that they couldn’t prove they owned her loan.

So Corliss’ loan was dismissed and her home was awarded to her fee and clear.

The growing headwinds against bad bank customer service

It’s one thing for people to complain amongst themselves.  It is another thing for people to complain on the internet where anyone can read it.  But when journalists start writing their columns around bad bank customer service, like this recent article in my local daily print only paper, it makes me wonder if the contempt of retail banking by the public is reaching the point where Congress will start to notice and propose even more legislation to keep them in line.  Chase is one of the chief culprits in the article.  Among the authors complaints:

• Being overly marketed to by bank employees
• Pathetically low interest rate on what Chase calls a “high yield” savings account (0.045%)
• Taking way too many people and way too many days to answer a simple question
• Fees that are “accidentally” and inappropriately applied

In the end the author concludes that banks have lost their fiduciary morality.  I would go as far to say that banks want our capital without the hassle of actually having us as customers anymore.  Perhaps banks simply see customers like a factory farm dairy sees cows, and we see how well that has worked out for the cows (not well).

What is the solution?  Well, for one, find yourself a bank that does actually want to be in retail banking.  You are most likely to find this at a smaller bank such as a credit union or community bank.  Second, when your bank does something ridiculous and inappropriate, hold them accountable, even for the smallest infraction.  If enough people did this, banks simply would find it unprofitable to try and cheat us in all the ways they do.

Chase’s email alerts (don’t work)

This blog posts tells us more of what we’ve heard before, that Chase’s email alerts simply don’t work properly and are inconsistent.  So far, we’ve only seen reports from people who got to Chase via WaMu, so it isn’t clear if the same problems exist with accounts that started out at Chase.

Former Chase execs target bank buying

Three former Chase executives have formed an investment entity to target the purchase of US based banks.  Encore Financial Partners Inc will “seek to acquire an manage banks with a focus on consumer lending and technology-driven, back-office functions because of its founders experience.”

Does anyone else find that incredibly funny?  Here at the front lines of Chase complaint central, it sure doesn’t look like Chase has their act together with handling the day-t0-day banking functions that should just work.