Chase ATMs down?

Received this comment last evening:

I just spent the evening going to 3 different chase banks attempting to make a deposit.  However from about 12:30 est to now all their atms were down.  Anyone else have this problem?  same for my mother btw

FDIC won’t be a pushover with WaMu suits

I was hoping the FDIC wouldn’t let JPMorgan Chase walk all over it by accepting responsibility for the investor lawsuits filed against JPMorgan Chase for the failed WaMu CDO securities, and it looks like the FDIC actually grew some backbone and is claiming JPMorgan Chase is attempting to rewrite history, and that they never agreed to accept responsibility for such lawsuits.

It would be a shame of JPMorgan Chase was allowed to bully its way into reaping even more benefit from the WaMu acquisition, and it looks like they aren’t going to be able to without a fight.

Chase phone abuse

This complaint sounds like it stems from the decision of a mindless corporatocracy that decide that robo-calls that bombarding someone with 20 calls per day is appropriate because each one costs only $0.001 each.

If I’m so much as 24 hours late on a payment with these people they seem to think it’s ok to bombard my house with endless calls about payment. 20+ was the lower limit, as it seems like they call every 15 minutes! Any advice on getting them to back the !@#$ off?

Chase’s technology doesn’t always work

I wouldn’t recommend anyone rely on Chase’s technology for anything that is important, as this story, and many others clearly show.

I am set-up for Chase to e-mail me 7 days before a bill is due. I’ve been a customer for over 15 years without problems. Last month, they didn’t notify me and that caused me to pay late when I suddenly realized that I hadn’t paid a bill in 5-6 weeks. They assessed a finance charge of (based on a whopping 28% interest rate). They (agent and supervisor) are stubborn and refuse to reverse even part of the charge. I carefully searched my email and spam folder and there is nothing there so I know I am right and not just making excuses.

Here is the best suggestion someone had:

Best answer:

Answer by Steve D
You first need to check the terms of the e-mail notification. I would guess that the terms include a statement that non-receipt of a notification/alert does not alleviate you are the requirement that you make your payment on time nor does it imply any warranty on the part of Chase to ensure that you receive the alert.

Yes, of course Chase covered their butts in the fine print.  A bank whose customer service was actually based on maintaining relationships with the customers (i.e. NOT Chase) would probably have made an exception.

Given that Chase has had several failures of its online banking recently, you would think they’d tend to err on the side of it being their fault and let the customer slide.  But that isn’t how Chase works.

WaMu/Chase foreclosure because bank wasn’t diligent enough

Given some of the excessive harassment (which is illegal) that Chase has been accused of for some people in arrears on their loans, it is somewhat surprising that in this case they didn’t exhaustively attempt to get a response from the borrower for a loan months behind in payment.  But of course that is easily explained by the fact that Chase’s overall corporate demeanor seems to be split between being the bad buy and some serious ineptness.

Incidentally, despite the fact that this article starts out talking about Washington Mutual, the time frame puts the ownership solely in Chase’s hands, as this story began more than 8 months after Chase acquired WaMu.

Hans and Marina Oosterveen were in for a rude awakening the summer of 2009 when they arrived at one of the two houses they own in Haines City. Posted was a for sale sign, plus the locks had been changed. What they learned when the spoke to the real estate agent left them in shock. They had been foreclosed.

“There was a property manager who was supposed to pay the bills: utilities, insurance, taxes, mortgage, who decided to pocket the money,” said Stanz.

Yet the couple was says it was totally unaware anything was amiss. That was because they never received any notification from the mortgage holder, Washington Mutual, which was eventually seized by the federal government. Stanz placed the responsibility solely on Washington Mutual. Once monthly mortgage payments ceased being paid, it began sending notices to the Oosterveen. The problem was, the notices were going to the Haines City addresses, not the address in The Netherlands, which Stanz said the bank was fully aware was the permanent residence.

I had this happen with Countrywide Home Loans once. I had just switched to their electronic only bill service and expected it to work like paper bills, where you get an email telling you the bill is ready.  Countrywide however didn’t send such an email and expected you to download the bill on your own volition.  When I didn’t get notification of a bill and as a result didn’t make a mortgage payment, Countrywide called our rarely used home number over and over again for two weeks while we were on vacation, despite the fact that they had my cell phone number and email address.

When something as big as foreclosure is at stake, it is simply inexcusable that the bank didn’t exhaust all possible ways to communicate with the borrowers.  Of course the story goes on with Chase being the bad boy and making it really hard for the homeowners to rectify the situation.

“They told my clients they wanted $39,000 within five days, no ifs, ands or buts,” said Stanz, who challenged the deadline. He needed time to review the charges and fees. While there were legitimate fees, there were also “junk fees” that tacked on additional, costs, which he challenged and was successful in getting the majority removed.

He urged his client to err on the side of caution and recommended they overpay which the Oosterveens did to the tune of $41,000. But even doing that did not result in the account being brought current.

“I wrote four to five letters, a letter each week, asking for proof of reinstatement of the loan,” said Stanz. To no avail.

Banking should be about relationships.  Is this really the way you want to related to your bank?

Is Chase devious or inept?

Yet another example that makes us wonder if Chase could really be this inept or are they possibly up to something.  In this case, Chase has a lien on the property but apparently can’t find the loan.

My chapter 7 was discharged in jan 2010, my 1st mortgage (GMAC) & 2nd (WAMU/Chase), was also included. I tried to a loan mod for the past two years with GMAC but finaly they denied. Sadly I decided to do a short sale, I informed both banks about my decision, but chase says that I dont have a account with them. I spoke to about 5 people, all have the same answer. They say that they cant find my loan. Is this possible, they have a lein on the property. What are they upto?, I feel that they trying to do something to us. Anybody has any ideas.

I realize the potential for a Chapter 7 discharge to muddy the waters on a second mortgage, but hey, aren’t banks supposed to be good at all that numbers and legal stuff?  🙂  Perhaps the loan really was discharged and the remaining lien is just Chases way of giving the homeowner the middle finger for discharging the debt through bankruptcy.

WaMu shareholders allege fraud

Washington Mutual shareholders, set to get zero from the WaMu bankruptcy, have no gone as far as to allege fraud in the bankruptcy proceedings, as they claim the attorney representing the debtor (Washington Mutual) was also representing JPMorgan Chase.

Additionally, there has never been a complete listing of all of Washington Mutual’s assets.

Yea, all of that does seem kind of fishy.

Chase claims they don’t lose paperwork. Yea right.

In what may be the biggest fib yet by a Chase spokesman, as quoted in a Bloomberg Business Week Article (Modifications Aren’t Stopping Foreclosures) Chase claims:

JPMorgan is able to track paperwork because it scans every document as it’s received.

In truth, Chase is one of the worst offenders when it comes to paperwork lost during the loan modification process as evidenced by the many many stories on our site and in the press, and it is disappointing that Business Week didn’t take them more to task for this.

However, the article does outline the basics of the scam Chase and the other large banks are perpetrating on borrowers:

1. Borrower is granted a trial modification with lower payments.
2. Borrower makes all trial modification payments on time and in full.
3. Bank denies permanent modification and demands difference between trial modification payments and regular mortgage payments in one lump sum.
4. Borrower can’t pay this so bank forecloses.

If you are lucky enough, there are a couple of extra steps as evidenced by the Business Week article:

1. Major news media writes an article profiling the borrower.
2. Bank has a miraculous change of heart, reverses the foreclosure, and gives the borrower a permanent modification.