I’ve seen several posts in the last year relating this same story. If you have an old debt with Chase, perhaps even from a decade or more ago, they will simply take it out of your present day account without any fanfare, warning, notification, or notice after the fact. Sounds only fair you say, you owe them money, right?
It’s not that simple. The present day Chase is made up of many other businesses that they have acquired over the last 20 year buying binge, including many companies that companies they have acquired have acquired. Make your head spin? It should. It means there are lots of companies that you might have done business with in the past that might have something on their books saying you owe them money, that are now part of Chase.
Let’s say for instance that you closed an account at WaMu years ago but for some reason in the split second between when all your money left the account and when it was officially closed, WaMu decided that your funds were too low and charged you a monthly fee for the privilege of having a checking account with them with a balance below the minimum. Don’t laugh, this kind of stuff happens all the time. So now WaMu has it on its books that you owe them $16.95. All of a sudden your Chase account shows a mystery debit of $16.95 plus 15 years of interest and charges … $1,132.17. See where I am going?
I’m pretty sure this behavior violates some part of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. But they obviously don’t care.
At least one couple is standing up to Chase for their parallel foreclosure tactics. This is how it works: Chase tells you that in order to qualify for a loan modification you must be delinquent on your loan, so they advise you to stop paying it. Then, through a long drawn out loan modification process, they start foreclosure proceedings without telling you and eventually foreclose on your home. Whether they are doing this maliciously or just out of incompetence (left hand not talking to right hand) is anyone’s guess.
Why didn’t Chase bother to verify a signature for a check this woman wrote to her son before declaring them fraudulent? That would have saved everyone so much time, trouble, and unnecessary fees. Ah, the fees, that’s why.
Another lawsuit alleges that WaMu, and then Chase knew of and did nothing about a certificate of deposit ponzi scheme that was operated with their knowledge and consent.
Some of the most interesting tidbits about how Chase does business often come from court cases, like this one. In summary, Chase had a deal with a refund finance company to provide funds to finance tax refunds. They apparently wanted to end the relationship so they not only said no to future business, but also refused to honor any checks that had already been written but not cashed. That’s just mean! Chase asked the court to deny the suit or alternately to move it to a more favorable venue. They were denied on both counts.
A few days ago we reported that Chase has increased its bonus for opening a personal checking account to $150, and theorized that perhaps they needed to do so to get new customers because of too many defections. Well, now they have apparently increased their bonus for opening a business checking account too, to $200.
This blog entry by a lawyer contacting Chase on behalf of a customer trying to negotiate a loan modification is funny, and very telling. Turns out even lawyers have difficulty getting somewhere with Chase. Some of the tactics Chase employees use to deflect responsibility: There is no manager in the branch (at 10:30 on a weekday?), transferring you to the managers voice mail box which is so full you can’t leave a message, and telling you the loan is in “review” and can’t be discussed. Basically, they just make up any old excuse.
Give years ago this customer had a lot of trouble with a Chase auto loan and getting the title straightened out with the DMV. It took Chase months to get it right. Looks like this inept behavior isn’t a new thing.
Bad bad Chase, Legal & regulatory | admin April 9, 2010 | 
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