What is this site worth?

I had to laugh as I came upon the entry for our site on priceofweb.com.  What is our site worth?

chase-sucks.org estimated price worth is $1347

They’ve underestimated the traffic and grossly overestimated the revenue.  What they can’t calculate is how much this site is worth to JPMorgan Chase (or how much it costs them), which would be a much larger number, but probably much much smaller than all the money they make off of their poor treatment of customers.

The sad truth is that for JPMorgan Chase, bad customer service has so far been a winning strategy, financially at least, but they sure aren’t making any friends.  They only way to make the strategy of treating customers poorly, and charging them excessive fees, is for customers to raise a big stink whenever Chase behaves badly.  If enough people did this, it would no longer be profitable.

On hold with Chase for over 4 hours

This customer was decided to document via YouTube how long he had been on hold with Chase, 280 minutes!

The Chase no-fee checking account is a fee trap

How does Chase get away with providing so much misinformation to customers?  Stories like this keep piling up.  Are regulators and lawmakers not aware of them?  Perhaps it is time for people to write to their legislators about problems like this?

So against the recommendation of some of you wise folks on piggington, I went for a Chase checking account 6 months ago from a $100 new customer promotion. Why not, I thought since I needed a second account anyway. Chase opens a checking and saving account…

Plus the accounts would have no “fees” as long as you made 5 atm transactions per month or have direct deposit…or so I thought….

So I started out using it normally, with my 5 atm transactions per month. Stick of gum, ATM….Grocery ATM…Stamps at the post office ATM…No big deal….

About 3 months later, I get a note saying:
“Welcome to the Chase Visa ATM Rewards Program. You will be charged $5/month for being in this program…
WTF? You’re kidding right…So I call and talk to them about how this was suppose to be a no fees account…They say “sure, it’s no fees, the accounts are no fee. The ATM card you have however has a fee…..

At this point, I really want to close the chase account, but I recall there’s a “fee” for closing an account <6 months…So I’m arguing back and forth with the person, and finally, the 3rd supervisor says that “well, there’s another type of ATM card that isn’t part of the rewards program that doesn’t have a fee….Well switch you to that one..” Fine, I say.. Why they didn’t do this to begin with, well I guess they do this to try to wear you out, because obviously the first supervisors didn’t indicate there was this option….So at this point, I figure screw Chase. I’m not going to use the ATM. Instead, I setup direct deposit and deposit $1 each month…No fees…

Now it’s six months later, and I’m ready to close the account. I call the call center to tell them I’d like to close the account, and have a check cut from the checking and savings account sent to me….They tell me the savings account is $0…..What??? I had $15 in that account… Well, it turns out that 3 months ago, they started charging me a $5/month service fee for the savings account without telling me…I go back and forth with the agents and a few supervisors….

Me: “When I opened the checking account, you threw in a free savings account”…

Chase: “the savings account always had a $300 minimum deposit requirement, or a $5 service fee per month… ”

Me: “Bullshit…You changed the terms without telling me..I had this account for 6 months and only deposited $15 in this account from the beginning…If there was a minimum balance requirement since the first day , I would have had $0 3 months later, and -$15 now… 6 months later…”

Chase: “…Hold on a second please sir…Uh, we’ll credit you the $15 back on Tuesday, but just to let you know, starting next month, you need to maintain $300 or pay a $5/month fee…”

Me: “No problem: by tuesday, after I get my $15 back, I won’t be a customer anymore. BTW: can you give me the confirmation number for the $15 credit you just applied? “…

Chase: “Why?”

Me: “Because in case I need it …Confirmation number please…”

Chase: “Don’t trust me?”

Me: “No, I don’t..Would you, if you were in my shoes? Confirmation number please. And your name…”

Chase: “XXXXXXX, and my name is XXX”

Me: “Thank you…(click)”

Just to be extra sure, I called Chase back and asked a different agent if the confirmation number was valid….it was…fortunately….

… I know, I know… I think a few of you warned me about this…But I don’t like to listen to other people, even if it’s for my own good….

Ending your abusive relationship … WITH YOUR BANK!

Chase faces more pressure to stop all foreclosures

Chase has so far announced that it is temporarily halting 56,000 foreclosures in 23 states due to incorrect documentation procedures, but new developments are putting pressure on Chase to extend their foreclosure moratorium further.

In particular, Bank of America has announced it is halting all foreclosures in all states to investigate documentation irregularities and at least one title company has singled out Chase and announced it won’t be insuring the title for any purchases of homes foreclosed upon by Chase until the issues have been resolved.

Additionally, California is the latest of at least 9 states that have announced they are investigating the matter.

Update:  While Chase has not said it will widen its foreclosure moratorium past the current 23 states, it has stated (WSJ 10/9/10) but it claims to be “widening” its document review beyond those 23 states.

For people facing foreclosure, it may be a good time to request a review of all documentation related to the foreclosure.  In other words, make them show what they have and specifically challenge whether the people who claim to have reviewed the documents actually did.

Mysterious Chase ATM outage

One customer’s deposits were never recorded because of what a Chase employee called an ATM outage.  Gee, is this kind of thing common with Chase?

My iPhone: DING! DING! DING!!!

Half awake, I pick up the phone to find out my account is several hundred dollars in the negative via text message!! Odd as I had just deposited several hundred dollars THE DAY BEFORE!!And what little funds remained in my account, where had those gone? Lost in space!! I go to being half awake to full blown panic as I wipe the sleep from my eyes!! How can this be!?!?!

My iPhone: DING! DING! DING!!

Another text message indicating that my account is even further into the red! What the hell ladies and gents, what the hell!?!?!

I call Chase to find out that they have no record of my deposit. I say I have a receipt and pictures on the receipt of my checks to prove it!!! The Chase representative sees something that are, in fact, my deposits!!! As I am on the phone trying to get this sorted, I see that Chase not only lost my money but had the gall to blast me with THREE INSUFFICIENT FUNDS CHARGES TOTALING MORE THAN 100 DOLLARS!!! It’s as if Chaseknocked me to the ground, pissed on me, then held me down for a few moments more to defecate on me!!!

I’m sent to the claims department and told that there was an ATM outage that caused anyone who deposited their money via ATM to lose it. They assured me over the next several days, they will reimburse me for everything including the insufficient funds fees.

The companies motto on ads that I see on TV are “Chase what matters.” Chase I did; MY MONEY LOST AT YOUR BANK!!!!

WaMu sale to JPMorgan Chase still not closed

We reported a couple of months ago that the sale of Washington Mutual to JPMorgan Chase had not actually officially closed, leaving some speculation that the FDIC might have an opportunity to force JPMorgan Chase to pay more, given how the value of the assets has been proven more valuable than originally estimated.

Since then, JPMorgan Chase has actually turned the tables and asked the FDIC for money back, more than they actually paid for WaMu.

Well, the deal was supposed to be closed by September 30, and the close has been extended another 30 days.

Perhaps JPMorgan Chase requested money from the FDIC to cover lawsuits related to WaMu as a counter offensive against the FDIC asking for more money for the WaMu deal, hoping for a wash.

I realize none of the favorable outcomes we are speculating on are likely, but we can at least hope for justice, can’t we?

CA Democrats ask US Attorney General to investigage loan modifications

This is our 900’th post!

It looks like the big banks are starting to take some heat for making the loan modification process so (intentionally?) difficult.

California Democrats call for investigation into loan modification and foreclosure practices

October 5, 2010 |  3:42 pm

California’s Democratic congressional delegation has joined the call for investigations into delays and possible irregularities in the loan modification and foreclosure process.

In a letter Wednesday signed by the California representatives and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the delegation said that constituents who have requested loan modifications or a forbearance of foreclosure have reported lenders “routinely fail to respond in a timely manner, misplace requested documents, and send mixed signals about the requirements that need to be met to avoid foreclosures.”

The letter — which was addressed to U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and John Walsh, acting comptroller for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at the Treasury Department — asks the agencies to “investigate possible violations of law.”

The action follows several recent announcements by some of the nation’s biggest lenders that they were halting evictions and some foreclosure proceedings due to possible mistakes in their processes. But these freezes are taking place outside of California in so-called judicial foreclosure states, where courts have jurisdiction over the process.

Nevertheless, the California delegation cited the recent foreclosure pauses in their letter, saying the moves by the lenders “amplify our concerns that systematic problems exist in the ways many financial institutions have dealt with homeowners who are seeking to avoid foreclosures.”