Chase attempts to collect debt despite the law claiming it can’t

Different states have different laws regarding what happens to the remaining debt after a short-sale or foreclosure.  California (where this case hails from) has anti-deficiency statues that disallow a bank from trying to collect on this remaining debt.

Despite the law, Chase seems to have tried to do this anyway:

However, despite the California anti-deficiency statutes, which bar collection of a deficiency on purchase money mortgages after foreclosure, JP Morgan Chase attempted to collect nearly a $250,000 deficiency on the HELOC, and reported it negatively on the plaintiff’s consumer credit profile.

Chase lost the preliminary injunction hearing and the injunction was granted.  Chase is barred from providing derogatory information to the credit agencies for this statutorily collectible debt, pending the outcome of the case.  This case appears likely to provide an excellent legal precedent for others battling this same behavior.

Chase accused of failing to do basic due diligence when opening new account

My bank requires copious and thorough documentation upon the opening of a business bank account and I am certain they check my state’s public entity database to confirm basic information about a legal entity before they will open an account.

Chase on the other hand, appears to skip some crucial steps in the confirmation process as is claimed in this lawsuit.

“Chase Bank assisted Salzman and Weiss in opening these bank accounts at Chase Bank, account numbers *4054 and *5990, and, upon information and belief, without conducting any due diligence whatsoever – but, regardless, manifestly inadequate due diligence – therefore egregiously violating and recklessly disregarding the ‘know your customer rule.’ A simple review of the Partnership Agreement for Freed & Weiss LLC, and/or the filings that were made by Freed & Weiss LLC with the Illinois Secretary of State, that were publicly available online at that time, would have shown the falsity of the representations made by Saltzman and Weiss.”

Chase allows customer to access wrong safe-deposit box

How safe does this story make you feel about the contents of your Chase safe-deposit box?

A cache of counterfeit currency was discovered at a Chase bank branch when an elderly customer opened the wrong safety deposit box, the Daily News has learned.

The bizarre incident began innocently enough last Thursday when the longtime customer requested access to his box at the Huntington, L.I., bank branch, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Accompanied by an assistant manager, the customer was escorted to the bank vault, where he attempted to open Box No. 142 with his key, but it didn’t fit, say court papers.

The assistant manager noticed the key was marked for Box No. 304 and opened that box instead. It contained two large packages of what appeared to be funny money.

“(The customer) stated he was confused . . . and claimed he did not know how that much money got into his safety deposit box,” according to court papers.

The puzzled customer — described as an “elderly gentleman” — returned the next day with two keys to two boxes — No. 142 and No. 304 — and was accompanied this time by a pair of U.S. Secret Service agents whom JPMorgan Chase had contacted.

First the customer used the key marked No. 142 and found legal documents bearing his name and several thousand dollars in genuine currency. Box No. 304 contained $112,000 in fake Federal Reserve Notes.

The branch manager solved the mystery when he noticed the customer’s key for the box containing the stash of counterfeit money was enclosed in an envelope marked “Bank of New York.”

The Chase branch had previously been a Bank of New York, and the elderly customer apparently had closed out his safety deposit box No. 304 without returning the key.

JPMorgan Chase apparently did not change the boxes’ locks when it took over the branch and gave box No. 304 to a new customer — who has some explaining to do to the Secret Service .

The current safety deposit box holder, a Huntington resident, has not yet been charged.

A piece of tape wrapped around the counterfeit notes was marked with the current box holder’s initials, authorities said.

Blog for Seattle’s “Chase 5”

The Chase occupation in Seattle in November 2011 resulted in 5 arrests.  You can follow the plight of the 5 arrestees on their blog.

Apparently still up to no good, Chase is accused again of bad deeds

JPMorgan Chase Accused Of Fabricating Paperwork, Imposing Extra Costs On Borrowers

In a case that suggests the financial crisis far from marked the end of big bank misconduct, JPMorgan Chase is facing a potential class action lawsuit over claims that it manipulated thousands of mortgage documents in order to gain a financial advantage in bankruptcy cases.

The lawsuit, led by plaintiff Ernest Michael Bakenie, has yet to be recognized as an official class action filing in the California district court where it’s taking place, according to the blog Naked Capitalism. Still, the accusation is a major one: It alleges JPMorgan Chase increased profits by methodically fabricating paperwork in part to impose extra costs on borrowers over the course of thousands of bankruptcy cases dating back to 2009.

The charges are particularly serious given the national outcry over mortgage fraud and robo-signing in recent years, and a general atmosphere of increased scrutiny on mortgage activity since the housing crisis, which critics allege was caused in part by unethical mortgage practices on the part of big banks and lenders.

News of the case arrives amid what is already shaping up to be another season of setbacks for JPMorgan, with the bank’s profits falling by nearly a quarter in the past three months. In addition, the bank has halted its efforts to collect on consumer debts in multiple cities across the country.

The suit also comes just a few months after JPMorgan agreed to pay $153 million to settle another fraud case with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, this one based on accusations that JPMorgan was negligent in providing important details to investors about a mortgage transaction — claims that JPMorgan neither admitted nor denied.

It’s not yet clear whether something similar will happen with the California case, although the SEC settlement, reached in June 2011, wasn’t the first nor the last time that JPMorgan agreed to pay out a major sum in order to bring legal charges to a speedy conclusion.

JPMorgan isn’t the first big bank to be hit with a suit alleging mortgage misconduct in recent months. Firms including Bank of America, Allied Home Mortgage, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are either fielding legal accusations related to mortgage misconduct or in the process of reaching major settlements on the topic.

Read more …

Chase can’t read, post number 172

It is a known fact that Chase runs daily account holder debits and credits to maximize fee revenue.  Running larger checks first results in many more smaller bounces if an account becomes overdrawn.

Have they extended this practice to accepting post-dated checks before they are supposed to, or do they just now know how to read?

I have used bill pay for two years to pay the rent to a new yorker.  The check from my branch in virginia was dated Jan 5.2012. It was deposited into his account on Jan.3,2012.  So then it was marked insufficient funds and returned to my bank.  Why are checks dated.  They charged him funds for a returned check.  He in  turn  is trying to charge me funds for giving  him an electronic fund transfer to get the money back to him quickly.  Late fees of $100, 12.50 insufficient funds and $15.00 wire transfer when I already paid my bank $20 to transfer him the money.  Is this how chase makes its money.  I see why he banks there.   They are out to get whatever they can.

Chase doesn’t know how to sell houses

A reader submitted this story of trying to buy a Chase short-sale.

I found my dream home in July.  It was on the market for $85,000 and I jumped at the chance to own this beautiful property. The seller accepted my offer and the only hurdle left was Chase.  Chase was apparently still appraising the house when I looked at it and after I made my offer of $80,000 they came back and told me that the house was worth $146,000 according to their BFO.  At that point, I was ready to just move on but my realtor and the realtors that had initially listed the house didn’t feel right about the increase and wanted to stick it out for just a bit longer.  I REALLY wanted this house so I said ok.  September and October went by with barely any word despite my asking for updates or even just a “Hello no thanks” but then, the day before Thanksgiving, a Chase representative contacted the initial realtors and mine and told them that they would accept my offer BUT I had to close by December 31st.  PERFECT timing seeing as I need to be out of my apartment by then.

Since my offer had been accepted I figured I’d happily turn in my 30 days to my apartment and get packing.  3 days later, Chase decides that the initial BFO was far to old to still be valid so they should do another one, just to be safe.  Well, it’s now December 21st and on December 19th, they decided that their new BFO was about the same, they wouldn’t disclose the exact amount but they said it’s “close”.  So now, I am left potentially homeless.  I can’t impose on my family to take me in, my friends mostly live too far away and I can’t really afford a hotel until I find another house or apartment.  It’s really frustrating and I can’t understand how that’s even ok or legal but I guess since it was a verbal thing I’m totally screwed. I did send a few Chase representatives a smart alecky email but at this point I’m so frustrated and panicking about where I’m going to be in 10 days that I don’t know what else to do.  I will be looking for another house but there’s no way I’m going to be closed and moved in in that period of time and I really REALLY don’t want to make a decision based on a time crunch.  I know that there’s no legal recourse for me because them telling me my offer was accepted was entirely verbal but I just want to get my story out there so no one else ends up in my situation.

So it seems that Chase does short-sales just like they do loan modifications – with out any clue of what they are doing.

Chase’s mistake gives customer the run-around

A reader sent us this story, which has to be one of the most blatant examples of Chase having no clue what they are doing.

Chase is merely a group of putrid thieves. I’ll explain what happened at this ridiculous bank.. i want more people to know about what a sad deal they have going on there.

I didn’t know a single thing about chase last week. I saw a coupon for a bonus of 150 dollars for opening an account with them. I’m pretty young, just got my first job, knew i wanted to open up my first checking account.. so i did a tiny bit of research on them.. they seemed somewhat legitamite as a company.. not just one of those archaic internet scams with no information and no physical locations. But they still were a scam..

I open my account online, give my opening deposit, check the verifications for the deposits and every thing is seemingly dandy. This is about the 2nd day of dealing with chase.. what I expected so far.

So my account opens up that day after doing the verifications. They even text me and tell me how great it is that i will recieve text updates about my account. I think. oh.. they can’t be too shady.

Log on next morning to check on my account.. it says.. invalid. Please call this number. They gave their standard service number. I thought.. oh great. here we go.

I call the number.. ask them a seemingly extremely perplex question of.. “what’s the problem here? I am wondering why my account is invalid. I have not deposited nor taken any money from it. All I did was open my account 2 days ago.”

They reply.. “we’re sorry, we can not reveal this information to you. Please go to a chase branch near you and talk to a personal banker.”

Ugh.. that’s fine.. i’ll just go up there and they can verify it, hopefully quickly, but i doubt it. They didn’t tell me any thing about what it would require on the phone. they merely said.. “go to a branch, we won’t be revealing any thing to you”.

I prefer being safe than sorry, so I actually brought my original birth certificate from when I was born, my drivers license, and my social security card.. just to be sure I could have every thing they could possibly imagine to bother me with, to save me some trouble.

But oh.. guess what. That’s not enough. These bankers start saying that my state issued birth certificate from when i was born.. with all the seals and every thing.. and drivers license.. and social security card aren’t enough. I need some “letter of social security” to open a bank account. All that was not enough. Not once would they ever explain why. “We cannot reveal that information to our customers.”

I figure this is ridiculous, and my mom says it’s ridiculous. But.. I want to give them a chance, even though I offered them all that, i want to give them one more chance. I call the social security office.. even THEY told me “A what? a letter of social security? do you have your social security card? well that’s all you need. it has all the print needed to be verified. I’ve worked here for 20 years and i’ve never heard of a letter for it.”

Well that’s refreshing.. so i call and call until finally some one says “I’ve never heard of this either but if a letter is what you want i can write you a letter that says that number belongs to you.”

After hours and hours of waiting in line at the social security place, I finally get my letter for great ole chase bank that has me on a wild goose chase for they won’t even explain why. The lady even wrote on the letter.. if you have any more possible doubts about the identity of this person.. you can come to our office or give us a call and talk to us about it.

I go to another chase branch. I figure.. great.. what else are they going to try. Do I have to bring every one i’ve ever met in my entire existence to say “yeah, that’s him”. Or do I not exist. Seriously.

I go up there with the letter and every thing. They make their calls to their main office as usual.. and then they go and say.. we’re not going to be accepting this. It doesn’t have all the stamps we want on it. All the stamps? I tell them.. I need information about what you’re talking about and I need it now. No one I know has ever heard about doing all this to open up a simple, standard account.

Then they say one of their workers might have typed in the wrong social security number in their system, and some one has been banking under my social security number.

So I respond to them.. That’s great. Well what do they have to prove their identity? I’ve got all this to prove I am who I say I am.. what do they have?

“Well, we can’t reveal that information to you.” Seriously.. you guys don’t even know what you’re saying now. You’ve got me jumping through all these hoops for nothing. How about this.. how do I know this is chase bank? How do i know this doesn’t just look like chase bank and have all these forged documents on the walls? I want undeniable proof. I gave them so many chances, and after all this, I’m done with them.

And as for the opening deposit money.. they said they have frozen the account and will not transfer or provide any of my own money back to me until “I clear this up”. Clear what up?! It’s a problem with your system. You can go down to whatever offices you think you need to, you can pick you a number, and you can wait in line to get what you need to fix the problem in your system. I’m not the information system manager for chase bank, I don’t need to be traveling the globe to compensate for your problems.

To lock the account and not provide my own money back too is just thievery. That’s a great scam isn’t it? Snatch peoples money right out of their hands, put it in an account, freeze the account, and tell them they’ll never get it until they prove who they are and nothing is sufficient to prove who they are. I can’t even drive by that place any more, it disgusts me.