Chase Mortgage?

I do not have a mortgage with Chase. However, I did have a bank account with them and, as a result of my experience, my husband and I are going with a competitor for our mortgage. Here's why:

- The funds from a direct deposit paycheck went missing - an entire month's worth of funds which were accounted for on my employer's end but not on Chase's. I withdrew some money from my account before the holidays, went out of town for two weeks to visit family, and came back to a "fraud alert" hold on my bank account, an inability to access my account at all with my canceled debit card, and overdraft fees to the tune of $400 as purchases I'd made before leaving town hit my account.

- During the 11 conversations with Chase that ensued over the next week, I was accused of "taking money that didn't belong to me" by one customer service rep, told that the problem was on my employer's end and not Chase's by another, and was promised that the overdraft was "satisfied", a new debit card was being sent to me via FedEx and the fees removed from my account by a third, none of which materialized. Indeed, aside from this well-meaning but completely clueless CSR, the problem and its solution seemed a complete mystery to every Chase employee who reviewed my account. One thing was certain, though - this "fraud alert" was serious business, and I would need to speak to a supervisor.

That would have been fine, had anyone actually been able to locate one of these phantom supervisors anywhere in the international offices of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank to speak with me about their mistake. In fact, I was unable to speak to any supervisory staff for six whole business days, and each call required holding for a minimum of twenty minutes, only to be told the appropriate department or person to whom I needed to speak was closed or unavailable. Finally, I was able to speak with a supervisor on day 7, after two tedious encounters with less than helpful customer service reps and holding for 40 minutes, who rectified the problem with my balance, agreed to send out a new debit card, but to merely "reduce" the fees associated with their banking error - apparently, I should have checked my balance at any one of their "conveniently located" ATMs or their "even more convenient and easily navigable" website to know my account was overdrawn. To her way of thinking, it was my fault that the accumulated fees were so excessive. That I had no reason to think there were problems with my bank account and thus was not obsessively checking it every day did not impress. The cherry on the cake was the lecture she finally gave me about being more "involved" in the banking process to "avoid this sort of thing in the future." And, she was very sorry, but I would have to pay a $15 card expediting fee to get a new debit card by the next day. When I told her I simply wanted to close the account out and had no interest in banking with Chase in the future, she said, flatly, "well, that's fine. We're okay on our end." No apologies at any point; only attitude, obfuscation, accusations, wild suppositions and outright lies. And this from a bank that took a bath in the subprime mortgage scandal of recent months, and later went on to bilk an ailing school district out of millions in hidden fees on a loan of approximately $700,000.00.

Google "Chase sucks" and "JP Morgan Chase" and see what pops up. Avoid Chase at all costs - there are plenty of lenders out there. All this, over a single, paltry little checking account which had been receiving direct deposits from the same employer for two years. I can't imagine what we'd be in for with a six figure loan over thirty years. They were, however, kind enough to send me a brand new credit card last month. They're scrambling to scrounge up whatever nickel or dime they can, particularly if there's a variable interest rate attached. If you're gut says too good to be true, go with it. Better still, go with their competitors.

Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 10:49 AM

I had a similar issue with Citibank, and my brother with Bank of America. The commonality between both situations, and the above poster's, is that the bank NEVER provides a satisfactory answer as to HOW or WHO stole the money from the account. Never. It is covered up by the banks. In my case, I am convinced that the 10K that disappeared from my account and was used to open an E-Trade account, an unauthorized wire transfer, and repeated attempts to later access my NEW account number, were an inside job. And as a result, Citibank tried to cover its ass since it was most likely one of their employees. The best thing everyone can and should do is to constantly monitor their bank accounts down to the last penny.

Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:22 PM

oh, and to add another detail without getting into the whole drawn-out story, THREE DAYS before the money disappeared from my account I received two calls allegedly from Citibank in India, a "courtesy call" to see how things were going and if I was happy with my account. They left two messages to this effect on my machine. There was a lot of static in the call, and the caller had a heavy accent and identified himself as a Citibank employee.

Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 12:29 PM

I know that chase is good if you have the right person..call rick @ 917 593 7788

he can help you better...and is honest!!

Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 2:58 PM

I applied for a mortgage with Chase. They couldn't find my credit rating and wrote up a mortgage with only my wife's name on the note, and didn't tell me.

I called them and mentioned that my name should probably be on the mortgage as well. A young woman from AZ told me that was impossible. I told her to forget it and then she seemed to find out that it was possible from her supervisor.

I asked her to go ahead and send me a new one and she said, "what if I go through all this work and you decide to go with another bank?"

Which is what I did. Local, smaller banks have better rates if more stringent credit requirements.

Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 4:41 PM

We have several savings and checking accounts with Chase, as well as two Home Equity Lines of Credit (one each on 2 different properties). They make a point of making sure you have a personal banker these days, at the branch, and mine tries to be helpful to the point where I have felt the need to apologize when I didn't realize I was supposed to go to her and she was busy so I opened my son's account with one of her colleagues. Our HELOC's have been totally flawless. I have paid them off and paid them down and found the lines of credit department cust service reps very helpful when needing to deal with any and all of it. I would feel comfortable going to them if I needed a primary mortgage, too....if their rates were the best, I'd go with them.

I think the first poster's problems could and do happen with any financial institution these days, as has been pointed out. And I'd rather deal with someone flesh and blood in my neighborhood than a foreign or on-line only entity.

Posted by: guest at March 5, 2008 7:40 PM

I sympathize with 10:49. But as another poster points out, these horror stories can occur at any major bank, or even the financials that are elbowing their way into what have been traditionally banking services. Yeah, maybe as customers we can be more vigilant. Mostly it's just bad luck.

I have had the same bank accounts as they morphed from Manufacturers Hanover > Chemical > Chase > JPMorganChase. Other than the time that a branch would not cash a check -- I had a landlord who liked to get paid in hundreds, cause that was how he paid the oil company, etc. -- I have had nothing but good service.

Posted by: guest at March 6, 2008 9:01 AM

I HAVE SEVERAL ACCOUNTS WITH CHASE ALSO A EQUITY LOAN NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS.... I ALWAYS CHECK MY ACCOUNT VIA TELEPHONE.BEEN WITH CHASE FROM CHEMICAL BANK DAYS UNTIL NOW..
GO FOR IT GOOD LUCK.

Posted by: guest at March 8, 2008 12:34 AM

wholesale is for brokers only...

Posted by: guest at March 19, 2008 10:22 PM

Chase is great for personal banking, but I think their mortgage division absolutrly stinks. I went to 3 branches in lower Manhattan yesterday and not 1 mortgage person was there. They drove me crazy. Needless to say I waited 2 hours in one branch and no mortgage person showed who was supposed to be the Wednesday guy at the branch. I then stomed out and called Wells Fargo and got my mortgage in 15 minutes

Posted by: guest at May 1, 2008 11:54 PM