Chase getting desperate, obnoxious for overdraft sign-ups

It was bad enough when Chase was sending people repeated fear-based letters about signing up for the new opt-in overdraft protection (they must stop automatically enabling this fee maker for customers starting August 15th), but now they have representatives accosting people who come to the bank to use the ATM:

Anyway, so I was in a Chase branch near my apartment in [redacted] on Saturday morning around 10am, grabbing cash before hitting up the local farmer’s market. And in the area where the ATMs are, there was a Chase employee standing there, talking to a customer. The Chase employee kept saying, “It’ll only take 10 minutes,” and the customer kept saying no. I went to the ATM, took out my $40, and went to leave when the employee stopped me. I was a little surprised – usually most people just get their money and go, right? – when the employee asked me, “Excuse me, but I have a question. Have you made a decision about your debit card overdraft coverage?” I was pretty taken aback that they are now having employees directly ask customers who are just in the bank to use the ATMs. I told her simply “yes” and walked out the door.

Chase is either desperate to shore up their fee income or has just decided that the normal bounds of being obnixious to your customers no longer applies.  Perhaps both.

Chase pulls people out of teller line to upsell

This is simply a ridiculous practice.

[Chase] would like all of the new account reps to have someone at their desks at all times. They do this by having the banker walk up to someone in line, ask them what brings them in, and then tell them that they of course can help them with that and leads them to their desk. Here’s the thing: the banker doesn’t actually have a cash drawer or the ability to post transactions. While the customer is sitting at the desk, the banker will send someone else up to the teller line to post the transaction.

This process takes a lot more time than if the customer had just seen an actual teller. While the customer is now hostage at the banker’s desk, the banker suggests that they do a quick review of the customer’s information, to make sure that everything is up to date. This of course leads to product recommendations – in other words, a bait and switch to get the customer in front of a person that has been hard wired to sell, sell, sell.

What a waste of time.  You can read the rest of this story here.

Chase gets worst grade at the BBB

Congratulations Chase Home Finance, you’ve earned an F, yes, that’s an F, at the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau.

Happy August everyone.  Make August find a better bank month.