Chase welcome page

The new Chase page to welcome WaMu customers, or, a study in how to say something without actually saying anything.

Worst overdraft policy

Chase is among the banks with the worst overdraft policy according to this USA Today article.

Knowingly breaking the law

Chuck is a software engineer that has worked for banks and claims that big banks routinely and knowingly break the law. He started a blog to discuss his dissatisfaction wth Chase. (blog)

Computer glitch gets blamed

Chase blames a large minimum payment requirement on a HELOC loan on a computer glitch. Another “transition isn’t going well” antecdotal story. (story)

Banks are pissed and not fun anymore

There is no question in my mind, banks are pissed at regulators and customers for throwing a wrench into their profit making machines, and they are taking it out on us. If you’ve seen the secret history of the credit card, you know that the banking and credit card industry engineered their profit machine by setting people up to fail with things like higher credit than they deserved, monthly payments that were far too low, racheting up interest rates for any (and often no) reason, and automatic overdraft protection that generates tons of overdraft fees. Now the government has tightened regulations through the Feds new rules and the Credit Card Reform Act of 2009 which outlaws many of these practices and they are further discussing the overdraft issue, and consumers are defaulting at record rates.

Banks are pissed as the era of easy money is quickly fading into history. I recently received a notice form Bank of America that my account was switching from a fixed rate of 9.9% fo a variable rate that is also currently 9.9%. Sounds the same but this is also a trick, as the prime rate the variable rate is based on is historically low at 3.25%, meaning that my rate will average much higher over the next decade. They are doing this to me, a good customer, with perfect credit, a perfect payment history, and I use my credit cards a lot. They claim they are doing this to all their accounts.

Perhaps it is time to start paying for things with cash again. Merchants will thank you, as it saves them 3%. For businesses like a grocery store, which has net margins of about 1%, this can make a HUGE difference.

Banks need to be taught a lesson, the time of easy money and abusing customers is gone. It is time they started behaving like the revered institutions they once were again.

Accidental $500 credit

What would you do if WaMu/Chase accidentally credited you $500? (story)

Another rough transition

Another customers is driven away by problems from the WaMu is becoming Chase transition. (story)

No help even after WaMu screws up

When your bank screws up, and you can’t get money as a result, you would expect them to bend over backwards to make things right? Not WaMu. Milissa’s nightmare began with someone elses check being drawn against her account, resulting in a bunch of overdrafts and no balance to withdraw. (story)