I don't know whether to be insulted or angry or what...

[JerseyJanice]

I'll start by saying this thread is mainly a vent.

I went into a Chase Bank branch to pay my credit card bills last week. I usually do the drive-through, but it was packed, being the Friday before MLK Day. Inside the bank, there were a few people in front of me waiting for tellers, so a branch manager approached me, and said she'd take care of me at her desk.

While she had my checks processed, she started hitting on me to open a checking account with Chase. I wasn't really interested in that, but started talking to her about credit card debt that I'm trying to pay off. She proposed that I open a home equity line of credit to pay the CC debt and gave me some reasons why that would be a better route than taking out, say, a fixed rate home equity loan.

I wound up making an appointment to come in the following Tuesday and discuss some options with her. Now, I know that Chase Bank is the Devil, but my regular bank is Bank of America, and let's face it, they're pretty much in the same level of Hades. But I know I have a stellar credit rating and both banks have hit some hard times, so I'm thinking that they need to attract and keep good customers and would give good incentives.

When I went in on Tuesday, I got a big "switcheroo." I didn't see the woman I made the appointment with--she took me to their mortgage specialist who immediately proposed that I refinance my entire mortgage and tack on an additional $50K for home improvements and "vacation money" and what-not.

Now, let me say that I have an awesome "mortgage" that isn't really a mortgage, but a home equity loan. We took it out in late 2003 at a fixed rate of 5% for 20 years. It's a simple interest loan, meaning that it isn't amortized like a traditional mortgage. So IOW, after 10 years from the start of the loan, we'll owe only half of the principle.

Anyhow, they hit me with this ridiculous proposal to refinance this debt and tack on another $50K (for CC debt and hee-haws) for another 30 years. I'll be in 77 in 30 years! Really, no matter how I look at, it was a crazy thing to propose, and I'm shaking my head wondering if they thought I'd be that stupid.

So this was Tuesday. When I left the bank, I said I'd be in touch on Thursday after thinking about it and talking to my husband. Pretty the minute I walked out of there, I knew there was no chance I'd consider doing what they proposed.

I didn't hear from the bank until 4:00 today as I was leaving work. I don't know if I'm being silly, but who wants to deal with something like this at 4:00 on Friday? The branch manager called my cell (the only number I gave them) and I didn't answer. I got another call a few minutes later from a "district" Chase manager--not from the branch. I explained that I went into the bank to talk about one thing, and they switched gears completely by proposing something I had no interest in.

I wasn't mean about it, but I'm ticked about the whole experience. Aside from the fact that I feel like they're loan-sharking thieves, my time is valuable and I don't appreciate having it wasted by people who clearly have nothing but their own self-interests in mind.

 

[MIGrandma]

Is there a reason you don't just pay your credit card payments by check, and mail them to the bank?

I've never paid a credit card bill in person before.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

You should have just walked out when they started down the wrong road. As you said, your time has value, too...

 

[BC]

Considering the number of credit card offers I have gotten from Chase bank, I am not surprised!

 

[JerseyJanice]

Is there a reason you don't just pay your credit card payments by check, and mail them to the bank?

I've never paid a credit card bill in person before.

What I should do is pay on-line; I hate buying stamps. There are Chase banks all along my route to/from work, so it's just easy for me to stop by and pay in person.

Considering the number of credit card offers I have gotten from Chase bank, I am not surprised!

They're such shysters, I can't believe it! What they proposed made no fiduciary sense. The branch manager bragged to me that she had a high-powered Wall Street position for 20 years, but since the market collapse, she's decide to work among her neighbors to help them make good financial choices. How good of her, right?

Whatever.

 

[Jennasis]

Is there a reason you don't just pay your credit card payments by check, and mail them to the bank?

I've never paid a credit card bill in person before.

I pay a few bills in person...power, phone, and even our line of credit. I am in town often and then I don't need to waste a stamp or envelope and I generally don't like online bill pay.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

I absolutely despise stepping foot in a bank. For years and years, I never did. The most banking I did, and still do for myself, was to go to the drive-thru ATM and withdraw cash. DH does the banking...there's a branch next to his office building.

Then I started handling mom's money, and every month, I have to cash one of her pension checks. (Others get direct deposit, but this smaller one is like her petty cash.) After I had sold mom's house, and initially put the proceeds in her checking account (before investing), they still gave me grief about cashing a $170 check, even tho I have my name on her accounts.

I finally got to a point where I knew one particular teller, who always treated me well; then she transferred to another location. I did OK there tho, because they had a notation in my mother's account that they had my POA on file.

Last month, I went to cash the check, and was told I couldn't, but they could DEPOSIT it and then immediately withdraw it. OK.

Last week, I go to cash this $170 check, and now they are no longer allowed to have the POA notation in the account when they look it up online, so the teller had to go have a manager (who was busy with another customer) look it up somewhere ...took 10 minutes. I asked the teller if I was going to have to go through that every month...she gave me her card and said to go to her, and told me she doesn't work Wednesdays.

I was also told a few months ago, when I had hit another stone wall doing my mother's banking, that the tellers have to check the IDs of ALL their co-workers...the people working next to them day in and day out...when they are making their own transactions. Maybe I should start asking DH for his ID when he wants to conduct transactions at home.

Hate banks.

 

[okeydokey]

You should be glad that you know enough about finances not to be taken. I feel badly for people who just get it, and can be swayed by people like that.

I wonder if they'll keep calling. How annoying.

 

[a1tinkfans]

You should be glad that you know enough about finances not to be taken. I feel badly for people who just get it, and can be swayed by people like that.

I wonder if they'll keep calling. How annoying.

I agree!!!
As an aside, I was at a doctor office yesterday and this guy (a patient, mind you) was soliciting every senior that walked in....told them about this great supplement he could get them....he profits off selling this crap and these elderly sick people were giving him their names. Finally he left and the last woman he spoke to I felt compelled to say something...I had heard her say she was also a cancer survivor so I just said something like, goodness, glad he left, he solicited anyone that came in here and she laughs and said, yeah, thats why she "yes'd him" to shut him up. Of course we then gabbed about cancer, UGH. ANyhoo, I pray that the others did the same thing cause he looked like a leech and I felt SAD for those people, in pain and vulnerable!!

 

[RitaZ.]

Our mortgage is with Chase. It wasn't by choice. Our loan was sold to them years ago. In 2003, we chose to refinance our mortgage for a lower rate for 15 yrs. From the moment that I first spoke to the loan officer, he was really pushy. He kept telling me that we should take out $100K from our home's equity to buy another property because "property values would never be that low again." I told him we weren't interested. He kept trying to convince me that it would be a really smart financial investment for us. No, not interested. Then, he began to push a HELOC. I told him that we weren't interested. At this point, he knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere with us. The day of the closing, there was a note written by him reminding us of the HELOC.

 

[Tink888]

I'll start by saying this thread is mainly a vent.

I went into a Chase Bank branch to pay my credit card bills last week. I usually do the drive-through, but it was packed, being the Friday before MLK Day. Inside the bank, there were a few people in front of me waiting for tellers, so a branch manager approached me, and said she'd take care of me at her desk.

While she had my checks processed, she started hitting on me to open a checking account with Chase. I wasn't really interested in that, but started talking to her about credit card debt that I'm trying to pay off. She proposed that I open a home equity line of credit to pay the CC debt and gave me some reasons why that would be a better route than taking out, say, a fixed rate home equity loan.

I wound up making an appointment to come in the following Tuesday and discuss some options with her. Now, I know that Chase Bank is the Devil, but my regular bank is Bank of America, and let's face it, they're pretty much in the same level of Hades. But I know I have a stellar credit rating and both banks have hit some hard times, so I'm thinking that they need to attract and keep good customers and would give good incentives.

When I went in on Tuesday, I got a big "switcheroo." I didn't see the woman I made the appointment with--she took me to their mortgage specialist who immediately proposed that I refinance my entire mortgage and tack on an additional $50K for home improvements and "vacation money" and what-not.

Now, let me say that I have an awesome "mortgage" that isn't really a mortgage, but a home equity loan. We took it out in late 2003 at a fixed rate of 5% for 20 years. It's a simple interest loan, meaning that it isn't amortized like a traditional mortgage. So IOW, after 10 years from the start of the loan, we'll owe only half of the principle.

Anyhow, they hit me with this ridiculous proposal to refinance this debt and tack on another $50K (for CC debt and hee-haws) for another 30 years. I'll be in 77 in 30 years! Really, no matter how I look at, it was a crazy thing to propose, and I'm shaking my head wondering if they thought I'd be that stupid.

So this was Tuesday. When I left the bank, I said I'd be in touch on Thursday after thinking about it and talking to my husband. Pretty the minute I walked out of there, I knew there was no chance I'd consider doing what they proposed.

I didn't hear from the bank until 4:00 today as I was leaving work. I don't know if I'm being silly, but who wants to deal with something like this at 4:00 on Friday? The branch manager called my cell (the only number I gave them) and I didn't answer. I got another call a few minutes later from a "district" Chase manager--not from the branch. I explained that I went into the bank to talk about one thing, and they switched gears completely by proposing something I had no interest in.

I wasn't mean about it, but I'm ticked about the whole experience. Aside from the fact that I feel like they're loan-sharking thieves, my time is valuable and I don't appreciate having it wasted by people who clearly have nothing but their own self-interests in mind.

I wouldn't be angry or insulted. Chase was just doing what the mortgage/banking industry does best. You should just feel good about yourself that you're financially savvy enough not to be taken in by a deal that doesn't have your best interests in mind.

 

[bumbershoot]

You said they originally were talking about a checking account...since you're focused on paying things off, it might not be a horrible idea. Open it, have the amount you put towards your cards (or at least the minimum each money you'd absolutely put towards them) direct deposited. Then you can do an immediate transfer over to the cards, if it works the same way it works for our Chase loan. Doing that is SO much better than scheduling a transfer from our credit union, let me tell you!

 

[phillmolly]

This is the reason I quit working at Chase!!! They train their employees to "work the Lobby"...go up to a customer in line and get them over to the desk, tell them "I can take care of that for you"...while someone else is taking care of the transaction, the salesperson ask questions to "profile" you...where else do you bank, do you own your home, ect... all in the hope of being able to set an "appointment" with one of the "specialist"... a loan officer or a financial advisor. They trained us to do the "bait and switch", one of my favorites was to sell a customer opening a checking account, overdraft protection, only instead of an overdraft application, we were supposed to run a home equity application. I really hated working there, I got in trouble one day when I didn't make an 80 yr old women take a new credit card. I also got written up for not following policy, because I wouldn't trick customers into taking products they didn't need or want. I would let my customers know what was avaliable and what they qualifed for, but I wasn't go to twist someones arm just to make a sale. The happiest day of my life was quitting that job (well, I actually got fired, but I was ready to quit anyway, I gave them my soul for three years and that was enough!) I was an honest slaesperson and I met my goals most months, but I was never in the top becasue I refused to sink to the levels of some of my coworkers.

 

[auntiegem]

My first reaction was "unbelievable." But then I quickly switched to "believable" -- it's Chase, after all. My bank was swallowed up by them about a year ago. Fortunately my mortgage is not with them. Eeesh. Shudder.

 

[FireDancer]

What I should do is pay on-line; I hate buying stamps. There are Chase banks all along my route to/from work, so it's just easy for me to stop by and pay in person.

I pay every bill I have online now. Our water and natural gas providers now take online payments without a charge which means I pay everything online.

I am the I.T. director at a local credit union and was the project manager on out home banking and bill pay projects. I can only speak for ours but we offer a lot of tools to manage your money. We can automatically pull in most of your bills electronically and you can set up pretty detailed rules for how to pay them. We offer a service that lets you do an EFT transfer from any account you have in the world into our credit union and vice versa. There is an online budget tool that requires some work to get it right because it uses trends to determine forcasting. Check out the online tools your bank or credit union offers. It might make your like much much easier.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I can't get past the fact that their sales pitch worked on your for that additional Tues. appt.

You know, you threw caution to wind and wanted to see what they had to say.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

This is the reason I quit working at Chase!!! They train their employees to "work the Lobby"...go up to a customer in line and get them over to the desk, tell them "I can take care of that for you"...while someone else is taking care of the transaction, the salesperson ask questions to "profile" you...where else do you bank, do you own your home, ect... all in the hope of being able to set an "appointment" with one of the "specialist"... a loan officer or a financial advisor. They trained us to do the "bait and switch", one of my favorites was to sell a customer opening a checking account, overdraft protection, only instead of an overdraft application, we were supposed to run a home equity application. I really hated working there, I got in trouble one day when I didn't make an 80 yr old women take a new credit card. I also got written up for not following policy, because I wouldn't trick customers into taking products they didn't need or want. I would let my customers know what was avaliable and what they qualifed for, but I wasn't go to twist someones arm just to make a sale. The happiest day of my life was quitting that job (well, I actually got fired, but I was ready to quit anyway, I gave them my soul for three years and that was enough!) I was an honest slaesperson and I met my goals most months, but I was never in the top becasue I refused to sink to the levels of some of my coworkers.

Yikes! Okay, so I got a flier in my Disney Visa bill (I charge everything to it, pay it off weekly, take my credits and run.) that if I sign up for a Chase Checking account and sign up for direct deposit and direct deposit money into the account every month for 6 months, Chase will give me $125.

Are they going to do an upsell on me? I was thinking of having $10 deposited in the account every paycheck and then closing the account as soon as the 6 months were up and spending my $125 on prezzies for some dear relations.

 

[KramBerries]

I would be annoyed rather than insulted or angry. Banks don't have a fiduciary responsibility for their customers. You would think that banks could be more successful if they treated their customers better, but it doesn't seem to be working that way.

When I deal with a bank, I expect them to be trying to maximize their profit for every deal without regards to how much it will offend or annoy me. I minimize my dependence on them and deal with them almost strictly via the web. This has actually made for a pretty good relationship.

I bank with Chase. I have a checking account and a savings account. I also have two credit cards with them. My paycheck is direct deposited into my bank account. I have an automated transfer set up to move money from checking to savings. I also have my credit cards set up to automatically draft my checking account each month. My only non-automated involvement with them is the ATM for withdrawals and random check deposits and their website for downloading check images. It works well for me.

 

[JerseyJanice]

I can't get past the fact that their sales pitch worked on your for that additional Tues. appt.

I know! I was silly enough to actually think that they'd offer me something that we could both benefit by.

FWIW, the home equity loan I have now with Bank of America gives me the same perks there that Chase was offering. I already get free checking with check printing and a free safe box. The Chase people were offering all that plus 1% cash back of my last month's something. It wasn't clear to me what I'd get the 1% on, but I doubt it was 1% of anything huge.

Just as an aside--I hate the Chase commercials with Julia Roberts. The own where some guy (maybe her husband?) is talking to her about Chase rewards and she's trying to tell him that she used them to buy the fabu dress she's wearing. C'mon, like Julia Roberts needs Chase rewards to buy a dress?

 

[Planogirl]

I avoid banks like the plague. One nice thing about online payments is that the computer is easier to say no to.