My morning started with a jolt when I went to the mailbox and found a letter from Chase bank. Chase took over the 2 credit card accounts I had with Washington Mutual when the latter went bankrupt last year and the taxpayers gave Chase bailout money so they could buy WaMu lock, stock, and barrel. I had thought perhaps they had finally acquiesced to my request to consolidate the accounts, which irrationally had different terms (one had a 10% higher interest rate and a lower limit, despite the fact that both cards were in my name, and last I looked, I didn’t have two different credit ratings).
Instead, my jaw nearly hit the floor when Chase politely informed me that since
“In reviewing your account, we noticed that your account has been inactive for an extended period of time. We believe that this may indicate that the account no longer meets your financial needs. With this in mind, the account has been closed.”
How polite of them to decide for me what my needs were. Apparently, my needs were to close the lower-interest-rate / higher-credit-limit account, and leave open the one which had only a low limit and a 27% interest rate. Now, keep in mind, my credit rating is far higher than it was when the accounts were opened, primarily due to my very diligent efforts to pay down the balances, which were at or near the credit limits for several years, a practice which I was advised was keeping my credit rating lower than it could be.
So, I did the right thing, paid the cards down, and when Chase took the accounts over in the aftermath of last year’s collapse, I asked them why there was a discrepancy between the terms on the two cards, since I was, last I checked, the same person whether I was using one card or the other. I was told that they could not put the terms of both cards in sync, nor could they consolidate the total credit they were extending to me under the card with better terms, but they could migrate all but $500 of credit to the lower-interest-rate card.
This was done at my request early in 2009, and since I’ve continued to be diligent about finances, I haven’t had to use either card since.
I called Chase. 10 minute wait for customer service, service that is depicted in television commercials as so caring and assertive that they’ll call people who are mountain-climbing to tell them they are in danger of an overdraft. Hmmm, but they couldn’t be bothered to call me to tell me that if I don’t use the credit card, they would arbitrarily and unilaterally choose to close the card with better terms and leave me the shitty one. When I finally got customer service, and explained that I did not want this account closed, I was told that there was nothing that could be done. When I explained that by closing the account and not designating it “at customer request”, Chase was negatively impacting my credit score, the customer service person literally started reciting the terms of the agreement, and when I interrupted her to object that she wasn’t addressing my concern, she HUNG UP ON ME.
Second call, another 10 minute wait from those conscientious Chase Bank customer service reps. I asked for the highest-level supervisor I could talk to, and was transferred to “Wynna”, who asked how she could help me, but the ensuing conversation revealed that she really didn’t mean it. I recounted the previous call to her and asked her if she thought it was appropriate for a customer service rep to hang up on a customer, and she apologized without answering the question.
When I then recounted why I was angry with Chase for closing an account without any rationale, and without consulting me at all or considering the impact on my credit score, she AGAIN STARTED TO RECITE THE TERMS OF THE CREDIT AGREEMENT. At that point, I asked her if it was Chase’s policy to alienate customers by damaging their credit score, and also why they would close only ONE account — coincidentally, I”m sure, closing the account with much better terms, since BOTH ACCOUNTS had been inactive for the same amount of time. I was treated to another recital of terms of the agreement.
I then asked if she could look up the remaining account and review its terms, since the overall reduction in available credit should make me eligible for improved terms on the remaining account, something approximating the better terms that were on the other account which they had so conscientiously closed for me. Since in order to provide her with that account number, I would need to go locate the card, which was stored away, I asked if she could wait for me to go retrieve it AND SHE HAD THE NERVE TO TELL ME SHE COULD ONLY WAIT 2 MINUTES, after they had made me wait 10 to talk to her!
I found both cards, called back, waited 10 minutes again, and inquired on the bad-terms account, asking why they had chosen to keep that one open — and was treated again to a sing-songy recital of terms. When I indicated that I had no interest in retaining the bad-terms account if the good-terms account was not re-opened, I was told that was not possible, and that they could not give me any reason.
So apparently, it is now the policy of Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon to DRIVE AWAY CUSTOMERS, because even when I told them that I would never do business with Chase ever again, in any capacity, unless they re-opened the account, I was rebuffed. I closed my account and snipped up the cards, and Chase made an enemy for life.
These are the practices of banks whose very existence is based upon the generosity of the taxpayers, each of whom earlier this year ponied up something like $10,000 per person to keep these institutions, including Chase, afloat.
I am going to send a letter to Chase Bank’s marketing department, informing them that I do not ever wish to receive any marketing correspondence from them ever again, with their acceptance of the letter constituting their agreement to pay me back the $10,000 I loaned those deadbeats if they ever dare to send me any marketing letters again. I can do without the happy, smiling, mountain-climbing people on them, telling me how much Chase cares about me.
I guarantee you, these banks are not “too big to fail”. They are failing all of us, every day, by pretending that the “good customers” are those people who never pay down their balances, go over their credit limits, incur insurmountable debt, and consequently have lousy credit ratings that warrant sky-high interest rates. That is a telling business model, and it explains why, months after receiving billions of our dollars in order to “free up the credit markets”, the only ones whose credit is freer are the banks themselves, allowing them to continue the highly-leveraged practices that collapsed the system in the first place. I guess deadbeats just value other deadbeats.
I, for one, am researching local banks that are small enough to actually fail and not guaranteed survival by the taxpayers — they may value customers who pay their bills and are responsible with credit, which is what bankers are supposed to do.
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