Procrastinet

I Hate You, Chase Bank

filed under: Stuff to be pissed off about

So tell me: what is the purpose of having a credit card with a decently high credit limit and an impeccable payment history, if your credit card company FORBIDS you to actually use the damn thing?

Twice now in the last six months, I've attempted to put an outside-of-the-usual-budget purchase on my credit card, only to have it turned down. Not flagged, not a follow-up phone call - DECLINED. And THEN I get the follow-up phone call, requiring me to call THEM to get the damn thing turned back on again, after which I have to do the entire transaction over again.

I just spoke to a very polite and uselessly unhelpful young lady in India, who transferred me to "Steve," a security department dude at Chase, who was hilarious.

"Oh yeah," says Steve, "I hate that. Don't you?"

Yes, Steve. I do. That's why I'm calling.

"Yeah, that computer gets tight sometimes. That damn thing is tighter than my wife!" guffaws Steve.

...

"Anyway," Steve blusters on heartily, "it's all for yer protection but let me see if I can tweak a couple of settings here and get it to leave you alone."

Thank you, Steve.

This is all in the immediate aftermath of a kerfuffle with Chase Mortgage, which, for the record, BLOWS HAIRY CHUNKS OF GOAT. We had set up a recurring monthly payment, so as to not have to worry about our mortgage payment being late. Despite the fact that our bank accounts are with Chase, and our mortgage is with Chase, we could NOT simply click some button to say "hey, why don't you pay yourself out of our checking account and everybody will be happy." Instead, Lisa had to set up a manual "Bill Pay" thingamabob, which MAILS an electronically generated CHECK from Chase Bank to Chase Mortgage.

Fine.

So then our escrow goes up, to cover real estate taxes, by like $27/month. We don't notice this announcement on our mortgage bill (since it's paid automatically and we don't peruse it closely anymore), and the auto bill pay sends the old amount.

So there we are, having underpaid our mortgage - just the escrow, mind you, NOT the principal/interest - by 1.6% Surely, Chase will note this on our next bill and all will be well, yes?

No. Our ENTIRE PAYMENT for the month was listed as DELINQUENT. For the purposes of their records, and reporting to the credit agencies, they made believe we sent them NO PAYMENT AT ALL.

And the amount we did send? The amount which represented our full principal and interest payment plus all but $27 of our escrow? Oh, THAT? That was applied as an EXTRA PRINCIPAL PAYMENT. Every penny of it, gone, into an extra principal payment which, while a financially sound idea in general, we really couldn't afford to make. And our mortgage account was listed as 30 days delinquent when we received our next bill.

Can't. Breathe. Too. Angry.

So far, the fact that we get our checking/savings accounts free with direct deposit at work, plus the fact that there's no charge for using non-Chase atm's, plus our investment in the airline-miles-on-the-debit-card program, plus sheer sloth and lethargy have kept us at StinkyChase. But the threshhold is nearing, and nearing quickly. It would be a joy and a pleasure to take our accounts to Citi (which now has a free account through work as well) and, if properly provoked, refi our mortgage through the delightful Washington Mutual.

So, you know, just watch yourself, Chase.

Posted by rjt at November 8, 2005 03:18 PM