I Almost Contributed to Chase’s Billion Dollar Profits
By | Published: August 21, 2009
There was a segment on âThe Daily Showâ about bankâs raising their fees and profiting from overdraft fees. That reminded me of a story I have regarding my own bank, Chase.
A couple of months ago, we borrowed $2,000 from a family member (to pay off some bills) and put the check in the bank. Now, we chose to put the money in my account because we knew that TheMan’s bank would hold the check as they’ve done so in the past when we deposited that kind of money. The thing about TheMan’s bank is that they will tell you that they’re holding the check so that you don’t charge any money against it thereby avoiding overdraft penalties. The teller at Chase didn’t tell us that the check would be held and, in fact, said it would be available at the normal time (usually within 2 days). So, we wrote a big check against it and a couple of days later started using the money.
The online form told me that I had this money available to me and that the charges were "pending" against the money. There is nothing odd about that. So I didn’t see any problems. And then it happened. The bank took away $1900 from our "available funds" and started charging us insufficient funds fees for everything that was "pending previously". I was livid. But I had to get money in the bank to cover that big check. It was important and I didn’t want it to be returned. So, we borrowed more money to take care of the fees and the check and ran to Chase to put the money in. Altogether we put in over $600. We were told that everything was fine and that they would take of everything and blah blah blah. She said that the money was held because there wasn’t a history of such transactions in my account and they wanted to make sure the funds were available. Ok, why weren’t we informed of this? It’s our responsibility to know, she said. Fuck off, I thought.
The next day I went online to look at my account as I was going to call to have those charges cancelled and returned. There was yet another insufficient funds fee and a returned check fee. The check had come in, but my deposits had been listed as "pending" and so didn’t cover the check. What the fuck? The money I’d put in there the day before was deposited before 2pm and so should have posted to my account immediately. Instead, they waited and the check was returned. I was beyond livid at this point and was ready to beat the fuck out of someone. I chose to call the bank instead.
The idiot I talked to told me that it was my fault that we incurred the fees because it says right on the deposit slip that the money wouldn’t be available. She said they don’t have to tell us because it’s on the slip. I told her that the fucking print on the deposit slip was microscopic and that it said "Funds may not be available for immediate withdrawal" not "You’ve got to wait 10 flippin’ days for your money". I said we made a good faith effort to get money in the bank before that check came in and that it shouldn’t have been returned, that our deposit was made before 2pm and should have been available immediately. I asked her what her excuse was for that. She said that the check had been "pending" prior to our deposits and since it was in first they charged my account before they put the money in. Motherfuckers.
She then told me, I kid you not, that I should be glad they covered our debit transactions and we were saved the embarrassment of returned check fees. That’s when I lost my temper. I should be glad that they conned me out of over $600? That they saved me the embarrassment of returned check fees? I said to her:
"Can you see my account right now? Are your glasses foggy? Because I’m looking at a returned check right now. How dare you tell me that I should be glad of anything right now when it is your institution that is causing me this grief. How dare you tell me that you’ve saved me anything. I deposited $2,000 in your bank and you failed to tell me it wouldn’t be available for 2 fucking weeks. The money was there and you caused me more money in overdraft fees. And you tell me I should be glad?"
She tells me that it’s my fault there were fees and that there was nothing more she could do. Great customer service, huh? So I tell her I want the dispute resolution number. She says "Ma’am, there is no such number." I say she better find it, because I know that there is such a number in a corporation like Chase. She says the only number she has is the customer service numer and starts rattling it off. I hang up on her. I go online and visit my friend Google. Sure enough, I find the corporate executive services number at The Consumerist and I call it.
I talk to some nice lady named Heather and explain to her what happened. She pulls up my account and agrees that I made a good-faith effort to make sure that check was covered. She also agrees that the teller should have informed us of Chase’s 11-day hold policy of higher-funds checks. Then I tell her about my conversation with Lisa. Now, I was calmer at this point, but still irate that that heiffer had the fucking audacity to tell me I should be glad about anything that was happening. Heather says to me" "She really said that? Oh my god, that’s terrible." Then next thing I know Heather is cheerfully reversing all of the overdraft fees and the return check fee. Unfortunately, she couldn’t return the fee we incurred from the bank that sent the check back, but that was only $20, so whatever. I was glad to be done with it.
But a couple of days later (it’s already been about 5-6 days since we deposited the money) we get a letter from Chase. It’s an automated form letter. It says that our check was held because of the amount it was written for and that it would be released in 11 days. It also said that if we were to incur any insuffiencent funds or returned check fees because the check was held then Chase would gladly reverse the charges. Well, wasn’t that nice to get after everything was settled.
What happened next? Well, I wasn’t letting Lisa off the hook that easily. I took that check straight to her branch and asked her to please return the $20 the other bank charged us (I knew she couldn’t, of course, as I’d already talked about that with Heather). I said it was indeed embarrassing to have that check return, even though she so valiantly tried to save us from that embarrassment, but we still incurred the charges. I handed her the letter and then she opened my account.
"All the charges have already been reversed," She said to me. I’m pretty sure she was losing it, because she sounded like she was speaking through a straw. Her face was white and her hands were shaking. I was smiling because, well, I was glad to see that reaction. I told that I knew that because after I’d gotten off the phone with her I’d immediately called executive customer services and they fixed that. Now I wanted that other fixed. She said she couldn’t do that. I said "Seems like you can’t do a lot of things, huh? But they get done anyway." I told her to have a great day, took my letter from her and left. Yes, I was glad I ruined her morning.1
So that was my experience with overdraft fees that are making my bank rich. Thankfully I was able to get it taken care of, because I don’t have that kind of money shooting out of my asshole like some people. And I was terribly satisfied with rubbing it in Lisa’s face– and my husband’s because he thought I couldn’t get anything done. I do thank Heather, though, because she was pretty awesome and took quick care of my problem. And, no, I won’t be depositing anymore big money into their bank.
I Almost Contributed to Chase’s Billion Dollar Profits
There was a segment on âThe Daily Showâ about bankâs raising their fees and profiting from overdraft fees. That reminded me of a story I have regarding my own bank, Chase.
A couple of months ago, we borrowed $2,000 from a family member (to pay off some bills) and put the check in the bank. Now, we chose to put the money in my account because we knew that TheMan’s bank would hold the check as they’ve done so in the past when we deposited that kind of money. The thing about TheMan’s bank is that they will tell you that they’re holding the check so that you don’t charge any money against it thereby avoiding overdraft penalties. The teller at Chase didn’t tell us that the check would be held and, in fact, said it would be available at the normal time (usually within 2 days). So, we wrote a big check against it and a couple of days later started using the money.
The online form told me that I had this money available to me and that the charges were "pending" against the money. There is nothing odd about that. So I didn’t see any problems. And then it happened. The bank took away $1900 from our "available funds" and started charging us insufficient funds fees for everything that was "pending previously". I was livid. But I had to get money in the bank to cover that big check. It was important and I didn’t want it to be returned. So, we borrowed more money to take care of the fees and the check and ran to Chase to put the money in. Altogether we put in over $600. We were told that everything was fine and that they would take of everything and blah blah blah. She said that the money was held because there wasn’t a history of such transactions in my account and they wanted to make sure the funds were available. Ok, why weren’t we informed of this? It’s our responsibility to know, she said. Fuck off, I thought.
The next day I went online to look at my account as I was going to call to have those charges cancelled and returned. There was yet another insufficient funds fee and a returned check fee. The check had come in, but my deposits had been listed as "pending" and so didn’t cover the check. What the fuck? The money I’d put in there the day before was deposited before 2pm and so should have posted to my account immediately. Instead, they waited and the check was returned. I was beyond livid at this point and was ready to beat the fuck out of someone. I chose to call the bank instead.
The idiot I talked to told me that it was my fault that we incurred the fees because it says right on the deposit slip that the money wouldn’t be available. She said they don’t have to tell us because it’s on the slip. I told her that the fucking print on the deposit slip was microscopic and that it said "Funds may not be available for immediate withdrawal" not "You’ve got to wait 10 flippin’ days for your money". I said we made a good faith effort to get money in the bank before that check came in and that it shouldn’t have been returned, that our deposit was made before 2pm and should have been available immediately. I asked her what her excuse was for that. She said that the check had been "pending" prior to our deposits and since it was in first they charged my account before they put the money in. Motherfuckers.
She then told me, I kid you not, that I should be glad they covered our debit transactions and we were saved the embarrassment of returned check fees. That’s when I lost my temper. I should be glad that they conned me out of over $600? That they saved me the embarrassment of returned check fees? I said to her:
"Can you see my account right now? Are your glasses foggy? Because I’m looking at a returned check right now. How dare you tell me that I should be glad of anything right now when it is your institution that is causing me this grief. How dare you tell me that you’ve saved me anything. I deposited $2,000 in your bank and you failed to tell me it wouldn’t be available for 2 fucking weeks. The money was there and you caused me more money in overdraft fees. And you tell me I should be glad?"
She tells me that it’s my fault there were fees and that there was nothing more she could do. Great customer service, huh? So I tell her I want the dispute resolution number. She says "Ma’am, there is no such number." I say she better find it, because I know that there is such a number in a corporation like Chase. She says the only number she has is the customer service numer and starts rattling it off. I hang up on her. I go online and visit my friend Google. Sure enough, I find the corporate executive services number at The Consumerist and I call it.
I talk to some nice lady named Heather and explain to her what happened. She pulls up my account and agrees that I made a good-faith effort to make sure that check was covered. She also agrees that the teller should have informed us of Chase’s 11-day hold policy of higher-funds checks. Then I tell her about my conversation with Lisa. Now, I was calmer at this point, but still irate that that heiffer had the fucking audacity to tell me I should be glad about anything that was happening. Heather says to me" "She really said that? Oh my god, that’s terrible." Then next thing I know Heather is cheerfully reversing all of the overdraft fees and the return check fee. Unfortunately, she couldn’t return the fee we incurred from the bank that sent the check back, but that was only $20, so whatever. I was glad to be done with it.
But a couple of days later (it’s already been about 5-6 days since we deposited the money) we get a letter from Chase. It’s an automated form letter. It says that our check was held because of the amount it was written for and that it would be released in 11 days. It also said that if we were to incur any insuffiencent funds or returned check fees because the check was held then Chase would gladly reverse the charges. Well, wasn’t that nice to get after everything was settled.
What happened next? Well, I wasn’t letting Lisa off the hook that easily. I took that check straight to her branch and asked her to please return the $20 the other bank charged us (I knew she couldn’t, of course, as I’d already talked about that with Heather). I said it was indeed embarrassing to have that check return, even though she so valiantly tried to save us from that embarrassment, but we still incurred the charges. I handed her the letter and then she opened my account.
"All the charges have already been reversed," She said to me. I’m pretty sure she was losing it, because she sounded like she was speaking through a straw. Her face was white and her hands were shaking. I was smiling because, well, I was glad to see that reaction. I told that I knew that because after I’d gotten off the phone with her I’d immediately called executive customer services and they fixed that. Now I wanted that other fixed. She said she couldn’t do that. I said "Seems like you can’t do a lot of things, huh? But they get done anyway." I told her to have a great day, took my letter from her and left. Yes, I was glad I ruined her morning.1
So that was my experience with overdraft fees that are making my bank rich. Thankfully I was able to get it taken care of, because I don’t have that kind of money shooting out of my asshole like some people. And I was terribly satisfied with rubbing it in Lisa’s face– and my husband’s because he thought I couldn’t get anything done. I do thank Heather, though, because she was pretty awesome and took quick care of my problem. And, no, I won’t be depositing anymore big money into their bank.
Here’s the clip from "The Daily Show":
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