Harsh language? Perhaps. Well, yes. But there is no better, more succinct way to describe how Chase Bank treats prospective customers. I went to cash a check there, and they charged me $6 for the service because I am not their customer. The clerk had no explanation for this fee. The conversation was civil but it boils down to: Shut up and pay it, or if you insist on having all your money, have some other bank submit the check to us on your behalf. When an individual wants to take money out of Chase Bank, Chase apparently needs to wet their beak a little.
Obviously, six dollars is not an amount that will break me financially, and my anger seems disproportionate, even to me. But I heartily dislike being ripped off. There was no simpler way for Chase Bank to ensure that I will never be a Chase customer. There was no simpler way for Chase Bank to ensure I’d do everything I can to spread the word about their deplorable treatment of prospective customers. If I’d wanted to pay an outrageous check-cashing fee, there are a number of semi-loan shark “payday advance” storefronts from which to choose.
Added: Turns out that Chase bought Washington Mutual, thereby doubling the suck factor. If there were actually truth in advertising, their logo would be an extended middle finger.
Bravo, Laura. There seems to be no limit to the extent some companies will go to, to ensure their own demise. I suppose they are looking for another gov’t. bailout.
Sorry to be unclear, Matt. I am all for capitalism, less regulation and free markets. The check WAS drawn on a Chase account- that’s why I took it to Chase. So there was no risk whatsoever to Chase; they knew the money was in the account, and if there were concerns about a forged check, they had the opportunity to check their customer’s signature on file or even call their customer to verify the check was legit. The reason I took the account directly to Chase was to avoid the delay at my bank waiting for the check to clear. I did not blame the teller for the policy; I blamed Chase, the institution, not the person. However, their teller could not explain the reason for the policy nor was she willing to find out by asking her supervisor; another fault of Chase’s because that was lousy customer service. They should train their people better. It is reasonable to expect Chase employees to be willing and able to explain Chase policies.
Furthermore, this policy represents bad service to the people who wrote the check. I have two banks, one for personal transactions and one for my business. When I write a check, it is with the expectation that the person I hand the check to will be able to get their money quickly and conveniently. Chase did not serve their existing customer, my client, very well in that regard. I was thinking of changing banks for my business account, but I certainly would not reward Chase for abusing me by giving them the opportunity to abuse my business contacts.
To sum up, Chase was at no risk whatsoever, and their teller was uncooperative and dismissive. While they gained $6 from me in the short run, they’ve lost a lot more than that in the long run. I’ve already cost them one customer by telling them about my bad experience there. If monthly fees were $6 (and they’re typically higher), then that’s $6 x 2 x 12 = $144 a year. I hope that Chase will recognize that their policy loses them far more than it gains them and changes it, or at the very least begins to provide better customer service.
Finally, Steve made the remark about the bailouts, not me.
So, what’s wrong with a little capitalism and Chase offsetting some risk exposure?
Chase is taking a risk in cashing a check for you (a person they know nothing about). You didn’t mention if the check was drawn on a Chase account, so I’ll assume it wasn’t. Therefore, the risk increases for Chase a bit more. How would Chase go about getting the full amount of cash they hand you had the check been fraudulent or bounced?
You do state, however; that you were a prospective customer. And this is how they treated you. My questions are: a.) why not use your own bank? b.) why not save the $6 and become a Chase customer if you don’t have an account elsewhere?
If you are going to complain about banks and the risk management practices they undertake, don’t blame the ignorant teller behind the glass for not knowing how banks magically work, because clearly you aren’t even aware yourself on how it all works.
Finally, to address your bailout remarks. If you recall, Chase was forced to take those funds (and subsequently paid it all back as quickly as they were permitted). Chase was not in danger of collapse and was forced to take over WaMu when it collapsed. These remarks are irrelevant to the basis of your opening argument and primary complaint.
You should see how they treat their military card holders… If I was lucky enough to have an account that I was 100% sure would never be defaulted, that REGULARLY carries the balance for at least one month and tends to do one or two large buys instead of dozens of small ones, I’d bend over backwards to be the most helpful business on the planet. Nope, they’re as bad of BofA.
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The $6 fee charged is not uncommon for banks now. You should check with your bank to see if they would charge a non-customer fee for cashing checks. I am 99% sure they would too. The fee is in response to the high risk non-customers present. Even though the signature might match and the funds may be available in the account, the check could still be fradualent. Washing checks is common now. And you did mention that it was convinent for you since your own bank would delay the check chasing and may not have made the funds available to you right away.
Basically you are making a big deal about a fee that is now common place. It is used to mitigate the risk non-customers present.
It was easily within their power to learn if the check was fraudulent. Lacking every other method involving powers of observation, they could phoned their (also my) client at the contact number they had on file and simply *asked.* However, it is ridiculous to say that there is more risk of fraud when a consumer presented a check to a bank, warranting a fee, when if I had asked my bank to present the very same check to Chase on my behalf (same theoretical risks apply) there is no fee. It’s a scam, pure and simple. Fellow banks would not put up with it- they would just stop accepting deposits that included checks written on Chase Bank. Individual people may grumble, but we generally do tolerate it, and that’s how it continues. My bank actually does not charge a fee for that, and that’s the right thing to do, because the monthly fees I pay on that account should cover all transactions related to my account, incoming and outgoing. Quite frankly, Chase is double-dipping because they can get away with it, and they are jerks for doing so.
This is to Matt who stated “You didn’t mention if the check was drawn on a Chase account, so I’ll assume it wasn’t.”
Do you even realize what you said? What idiot would go into a Chase Bank that does not hold and account their, and the check they are trying to cash is not written on a Chase Account? What fool would do that? Chase doesn’t even do that! They are not a check cashing service so they are not in the business of cashing checks for non members from other banks.
I went into a Chase bank today with a check written to me from my mother. She had a doctor’s appointment and would not make it to the bank before they closed so she asked me to go and withdraw funds for her trip this weekend. Because my mom is elderly and does not use the ATM, I agreed to go. They told me it would be $6 to cash the check and I promptly asked for the check back and called my mother and told her she would have to make the bank before her trip the following day because I would not give them $6 just to get her own money. Sure $6 was not going to break her but I thought the fee was ridiculous and flat out refused to pay. They were nice about it, I was nice about it, they handed me the heck back and I went on my merry way. But with that type of policy, if Chase were the last bank on earth I will put my money in a coffee can and hide it out in the yard
chase bank really sucks!!! I got a check written out to cash from a relative for my birthday ,writtten out to cash from chase, and they wouldn’t cash it! no if ands or buts,there was money in the account and I needed the cash and they refused.I’d keep my money in my pocket before using them
I agree with all of the previous comments. My rates went up to 27%, and when I called to find out why, I was told it was probably because of a late payment, my credit score or my level of debt. Hmmm, I own my home, have extensive savings in Chase (formerly WAMU) and have never had a late payment in the past two years and have always, always paid above the minimum. After consulting her files, the customer service representative agreed that was the truth and further, she stated that she was embarassed that the interest rate was so high for no reason.
So guess what? I am paying off my card, taking my savings out, and encouraging my colleagues to switch to Union Bank of California – which has some great rates for personal and business accounts and polite, empowered customer service reps.
This is the age of instant communication with the world and I promise that what I say and continue to say about the corrupt practices at Chase will repeat endlessly from my mouth.
Chase, shame, shame on you. You take our tax dollars and laugh all the way to your bank. And then you have the audacity to screw your customers?
I encourage everyone to start a world-wide rant against these abuses.
Not to be a nay-sayer here, but I worked at a little local bank as a teller for a few years. It went under and I moved on, but those fees are most certainly not exclusive to Chase. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, they all charge fees to cash checks that are drawn on them. It’s a way to attempt to defer fraud, and if it’s over a certain limit, they won’t be able to cash it at all.
And if a check looks legitimate, there is essentially no way to tell if it is fraudulent until after the fact. It’s called money laundering, and it’s very real and very hard to catch. They are sticking their neck out for you because if the check does come back, they have literally no way of tracing you. It’s a loss to the bank.
What this essentially all boils down to is, because some people will try to outsmart the bank and cost millions of dollars, they are collecting a six dollar fee in an attempt to off set their losses. The rotten few ruin it for everyone.
I recieve a workers compensation check every week for the past year written on chase for 257.93. I cash it at the same chase branch every week and get charged the $6 fee every week! So I ask those of you talking about fraud possibilities to show me the risk on my checks!!
Plus the checks I recieve say “pay to the order of (my name) $257.93″, not 251.93. by charging this fee they are violating a written contract!!
Agree no risk of loss if they can verify funds are available on their own serviced account. But again, you don’t bring anything to then not being a customer, no loans, deposits, etc. If you were a small bank trying to make a profit would you cash a check for free? Perhaps, but now multiply that by the number thousands of branches that have non customers just like you, that’s a huge cost to provide that service, so they have a small fee to provide this service. Even Wal-Mart charges a nominal fee to cash a check. Even though Chase is a huge corporation, loosing money is loosing money, and people have jobs specific to make sure it doesn’t happen.
You are not a customer. They provide a service to you by cashing your check, so like most businesses they charge a fee to provide you with a service. Nothing against you but to them you are nothing. So why would they provide a free service to you if you have no connections with them. A gas station is not going to give you free gas to try and get you to be their customer. I agree it seems a bit unfair and frustrating but from the standpoint of the business they have no obligation to you to cash your check. Time is money to them and they are paying an employee to spend three minutes cashing your check, plus processing your check, plus if the check is no good then they just took a huge loss, multiply this. By thousands just like yourself and you see they are not making money by offering free check cashing.
Big corporations do suck BUT not very many companies will provide a service for free, especially when there is direct risk of financial lost, such as processing costs, cost of the employee that spent time with a non-customer, cost of recovering if your check was sent back NSF, etc. It’s annoying I agree but the simple solution is to open an account at a bank of your choice and this would all be avoided. Or use a service like square and use your phone to accept debit and credit cards and then you won’t have the risk and hassle of dealing with checks,
Jim, their customer was the person who wrote the check and gave it to me. That person paid fees every month to cover services including the ability to write checks and have the recipient get the full amount of the money that Chase’s customer promised them when they wrote the check.
They have every right to charge their customer, but I was not their customer. Make sense?
Opposite. By charging a fee, they are more likely to get you to open a FREE checking account. Then they get your deposits. Then because you are a customer, when you need loans, credit cards, stocks, etc, then you will likely come to them first., thus they make even more money even though the account is free. I understand your point, but what large bank will cash a check for free? Meaning you won’t punish them by never being their customer because you can’t really go anywhere else because they are all the same.