A bad taste in my mouth from dealings with Chase

[raftislander]

Last month I took a small windfall of money and paid off four credit cards and a home equity loan with it. One credit card was with Chase, as was the home equity loan. Each of these five accounts was paid off by me (or my husband in one case) going into the bank/store and asking for the total owing so the account could be paid off. I then wrote a check for the amount I was told.

I was surprised when I got my next statments from Chase, as both the credit card and home equity loan showed a small amount still owing. On the home equity it was a small amount of principal and some interest and just interest on the credit card. After three trips to the bank and a couple of phone calls, I still have not received a satisfactory explanation from Chase as to how this happened. The first person tried to blame it all on the teller who had helped me. The problem is that the amount showing on the home equity loan statement (as the balance amount prior to this payment) was the same amount as the teller told me was owing. But after I paid this amount, the statment still showed that a small amount of principal was owing and also some interest. So I dont think that the teller made a mistake. A loan officer I spoke to said that the balance in the computer wasn't the full amount- that it didn't include allof the interest. When I asked why they had their programs set up to give thier own employees inaccurate information, he had no response, other than to say if I really wanted to pay off an account I should speak to a banker. I certainly didn't have this problem with the other three credit cards. Those tellers checked the computer records, gave me an amount and paying that amount took the balance down to zero. I am left feeling that Chase has intentionally set up their computer programs so as to not give an accurate readout to the tellers as to the total amount owing so that the customer will end up paying a little bit more in interest.

So I am thinking about not using my Chase Disney Visa any longer. I will miss some of the perks that the card brings, but on the other hand, if a bank cant get something this simple right, why continue to do business with them. I am also thinking about reporting this to my attorney general. It is such a small matter that I doubt anything would happen, but I wonder how much money Chase "earns" each month by giving customers inaccurate information, then collecting a little bit more in interest.

What do you think? I am making too much of this?

 

[Swimalie]

I have never had a home equity loan but I know with mortgage pay outs, they have to calculate it daily, with the interest plus a little extra so you don't underpay. Sounds like the teller didn't add in enough interest. I know with our mortgage it will show the "ending amount" but it says it's not a pay off amount since that interest is calculated daily.

 

[kmedina]

First of all, Congratulations on paying everything off.

When you carry a balance past the grace period, you have to pay interest every day until it is paid in full. Mortgages and car loans do not have a grace period (generally), so you would need to get a payoff balance rather than just paying the amount from the last statement.

This means that if you have a $1000 balance when the statement closes that was not paid in full the previous month either, you are not within a grace preiod. Even if you do not use the card again, your balance will be higher than $1000. It will be $1000 plus your daily interest rate for each day past the statement date. Interest calculates daily for credit cards.

Not all credit card companies do this though (like store ones), but the big ones (like Chase) almost always do. We paid off Express, Best Buy and Chevron and were not charged additional daily finance charges from the payoff date. When we paid off Capital One and Bank of America, we were.

Not all agents understand this (especially if they are not used to paying things off or carrying debt in the first place). That may be why they had a hard time explaining the reasoning to you. It should only happen once though. Once you pay the $1000 statement balance (and do not use the card again), you should only owe the additional days finance charges. That amount would then fall under the grace period and be free from further interest as long as you pay it off by the statement's due date.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Same thing happened to me with a Bank of America card so it's not just Chase. I remember it happening in the past so I was expecting it this time but it was a small amount, like $20 or 30.

 

[ancestry]

Kmedina is correct. I've paid off several credit cards and always get one more statement with a small amount of interest that I have to pay even though I though I had paid the balance in full. This is a standard practice with most banks. Interest is calculated daily and on the new statement you have to pay the interest for the days that you carried a balance the previous billing cycle.

What chase is doing is a standard practice.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Chase is crazy to deal with! They wouldn't give me a mortgage payoff because I didn't have all the numbers to my account number. They told me to look it up on my statement which I didn't get because I automatically pay. They don't put the full account number on our automatic statement. They never even sent me a statement when they bought my mortgage. They just kept taking my direct deposit. It took me 15 minutes and a manager or two to get any information even with my social and answering every id question they could think of.

I finally threatened to stop my direct deposit and default on the loan (I wasn't really going to do this as I was paying it off in full) before they took me serious and gave me the information I needed to pay it off.

 

[taymaesmom]

I had something similar happen when I paid off my Chase Visa, the month after I paid it off I expected to owe a small amount of interest and kept watching my account and nothing showed up. I do not get paper statements so I rely completely on the online account. Nothing showed up. On the "due" date of the account my balance was $0 so I assumed that they weren't charging me any additional interest.

Fast forward 2 weeks, I get a phone call from Chase inquiring about my past due account! Umm what past due account. Apparently on my due date is when they decided to add $35 in interest charges and since it didn't show up on my online account I missed the payment and was not being charged a $45 late fee! I was MAD! After talking with dh who had also logged in to check the balance previously I called Chase back and calmly explained my experience. The person I spoke with put me on hold and then came back and told me that they were not only crediting my account for the late fee but they removed all charges! I owed nothing!

So I suggest calling and keep explaining until you get some help. I'm glad they helped me this time but I do worry about next time.

 

[AmandaRG]

Chase is crazy to deal with! They wouldn't give me a mortgage payoff because I didn't have all the numbers to my account number. They told me to look it up on my statement which I didn't get because I automatically pay. They don't put the full account number on our automatic statement. They never even sent me a statement when they bought my mortgage. They just kept taking my direct deposit. It took me 15 minutes and a manager or two to get any information even with my social and answering every id question they could think of.

I finally threatened to stop my direct deposit and default on the loan (I wasn't really going to do this as I was paying it off in full) before they took me serious and gave me the information I needed to pay it off.

I have to say, with the issues of identity theft these days, I would be thankful that they took caution with my account.

Whenever paying off an account, as OPs have said, you need to get a payoff amount rather than just the balance of the loan. Interest is added at the statement date rather than daily, because it would really stink to have to pay interest on the interest they have added to the account! The additional principal is due to the interest being deducted from what you thought was the payoff amount, and it left a small part of your loan balance unpaid.

Kudos to your for paying off your accounts! Feels good (the frustrations of unexpected additional payments ignored) doesn't it!!!

 

[TaraPA]

Although it's frustrating, this is completely normal & not Chase's fault. Like others have said, on a CC the interest is calculated daily, so this is what it is. It's standard & legal, but yes, a pain in the butt! Most major credit card companies follow this practice.

 

[marmalade]

The balance on the accout and the payoff are 2 completely different figures. So by asking for the balance on the loan they were correct in what they gave. Next time just make sure you ask for the payoff amount. They will also need to know the date you will be paying it so they can calculate the interest thru that date.

Congrats on paying off your debt!

 

[cvjw]

PP are correct. When we tried to pay off our house, there was no local branch to do so. We had to get the pay off balance as of that day, and then add in several extra days of interest because no one was sure when the check would arrive in the mail, and then be credited by the bank to our account. A pain, for sure, but worth the aggravation to know that the debt was paid.

 

[raftislander]

Thank you for the congratulations. I think part of my frustration is that I was denied the thrill of seeing those zero balances. I also understand about daily interest. But I did indicate that I wanted to payoff the balance and was told the wrong amount to accomplish that by the teller - which did not happen at the other banks. So it is either a computer programming issue - the correct amount does not display or it is a training issue. It seems like Chase bank is working against me, not with me.

 

[simonkodousek]

"""

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We just paid off our last mortgage, in the case from Chase.
2) Once all was paid and balanced, they owed us $11.
3) There are always things that are balanced on the last date.
. . . taxes
. . . interest
. . . any hold-backs or escrows
. . . fees
4) It is not unusual to have a final accounting with a +/- balance.


NOTE: YEAH! This was the last mortgage on the last rental.
Now, rentals and primary-home mortgages are done! We added
them up this afternoon. With rentals and prime homes, we have
had 16 mortgages! Whew!

 

[MissAndrea]

I used to work in the loan department at a bank. The pp's are correct in their info on payoff amounts vs balance. I'm guessing the teller just calculated it wrong. Obviously I can't fully speak for your situation or the teller you dealt with so I'm only speaking from experience with the bank I worked for. Our tellers weren't even allowed to give payoff amounts for fear that they'd screw them up. Especially on any loan with property attached (whether it be commercial or HELOC) because there were release fees involved. We had to pay to have the mortgage released so we'd recoup that money from the customer. It wasn't very much money (less than $10) but the tellers didn't know this info so they weren't allowed to do payoffs. The fees varied but that's besides the point. Teller positions have very high turnover. You may have had a newer teller who didn't know to use the "payoff calculator". Or maybe she just messed it up.

 

[DawnM]

I have had my card compromised about 4 times in the last 2 years. Chase has caught it EVERY TIME.

I love Chase CC.

We will see if I love them for mortgage as we are refinancing now and it will go through Chase.

Dawn

Congratulations!

I too have been left with a bad taste after a recent incident with Chase... Well, not so much an incident, but a phone call we got while we were on vacation in Florida.

The customer rep. asked us to verify that we were indeed in Florida and our card was not stolen.

I do not have a problem with the precaution, but the card frequently makes international purchases in foreign countries; China, Russia, Germany, France, England, Africa, to name a few.

They have never called except when we were on a family vacation in Florida.

Seems weird to me...

 

[raftislander]

I have had my card compromised about 4 times in the last 2 years. Chase has caught it EVERY TIME.

I love Chase CC.

We will see if I love them for mortgage as we are refinancing now and it will go through Chase.

Dawn

That is really good to hear..and important that they are watching that closely. I guess I would rather have them call me on vacation to double check, than to not have them watching