Complaint Review: Chase / Bank One - Chicago Illinois

I have savings and checking accounts at my credit union. The only charge I have to pay is my monthly service charge. If I accidently overdraw my account, either by check or by debit, they will go ahead and pay the check or the debit, and then assess me a $30 fee for this service. If I don't want to get hit with that fee, I have to be careful not to overdraw my account. It's as simple as that. How on Earth do you people think banks are going to make any money if they just do everything for free? There is nothing wrong with what this particular bank is doing. If you overdraw your account, it is not YOUR money that is being paid out, it is the BANK's money, and they are going to charge you for that. Would you prefer that your check bounce? You need to take responsibility.

Thanks Elvera. That's the explanation I was looking for. Most of the other posts are from people working for big banks that are paying them with the money they ripped off from me. For these people my question is : Do you guys get paid to write the absurd posts defending your institution? Seems like an interesting job.

but the financial industry insisted on doing us "favors" by letting us overdraw our accounts, some do it by being very shifty with the way deposits and withdrawals are handled, AND they are now allowed to charge us for this "convenience". It used to be that when you didn't have the money in the bank or on your credit card, you would be declined. You may have had an embarassing moment but at least you weren't out of hundreds of Dollars. You can't tell me that with the technology we have available today that they can't do that anymore! I recently opened an account with a local bank. I was also testing them to see how much info they would give me before I made "mistakes" and if I did how they would be handled. Most of the info was useless and some of it outright wrong! They also couldn't even tell me who regulates a local bank in Texas, they kept telling me it was the FDIC. When I told them that they don't regulate, they merely insure deposits, they were flabbergasted that I knew more than them! It took them a long time to get me the right answer who regulates them! So here you have it! We are being charged hundreds of Dollars for "conveniences" we don't want and when we want to know beforehand what would happen udner certain scenarios they give half truths because THEY DON'T KNOW THEMSELVES their own rules. Reading the disclosure? Yeah, if you're a lawyer! And even then you might not understand all of the goobledygook! I use my bank now only for depositing my paycheck. After that I take my money and buy US Postal Money Orders to pay bills. Sure costs a lot less that their "convenience" fees!

It's just terrible the way these mean, nasty banks treat people. I mean times are tough enough without us having to pay our hard earned money, to these ripoff banks, on their unjust fees. There ought to be laws passed, to protect us, from their robbery. If anyone is planning a lawsuit, I'll get in on it.

Correct that a Debit Card is not a Credit Card (otherwise it would be called a Credit CArd). The visa logo is the "processor" that allows stores to deduct the money from your account. With the Visa Logo, you are also given added security (like their money back guaranteed and some warranty if you use your debit card to buy electronic items - you have to view your policies with your bank). However, as with withdrawing money from an ATM, a debit from your account acts much in the same way. You are IMMEDIATELY deducting the amount from your account balance. Though, as with some instances, your "balance" may not be immediately affected and the amount not debited automatically. This does not absolve you of the fact that you should be aware of the balance of your account BEFORE you use your debit card and keep track of your purchases. Debiting is much like yOU writing a check; so YOU must record each transaction in your register, so that you know your balance after the debit. You made the wrong assumption about a debit being approved on the amount of money in your account. Say you debited $20 from one store. Then went to another store 4 hours later and debited $140. Both transactions can take up to 24 hours to appear as a recorded transaction/debit. So if you had only $150 in your account, WHY are you debiting more than your account balance? Do you not keep an account of your current balance? Clarification is NOT needed at this point because even when you use a credit card, YOU can charge beyond your "credit" limit, and of course the CC companies can "penalize" you for doing so. What you need clarification on, is that all that you needed to know about Debit Card useage came with the documenation and policies you received when you opened your account and asked to get a debit card. Plain and simple summary : Debit cards act like "electronic" ATM cards/checks and that you should keep a recorded history of transactions AS YOU WOULD if you were writing checks. This was stressed by all three banks that I opened an account with who have the choice of using debit cards. Again, why did you spend more than what you had in your account?

That's how you avoid this situation. The bank allows you this "overdraft protection" for a fee. The fee is generally about $30 per incident. I'm sure this information was made available to you with your account. My account, which is with a credit union, has the same service and policy. No, I don't work for a bank. It is your responsibility to subtract the debits from your check register or whatever you use to keep track of your account balance. It's up to you whether you overdraw or not. Banks are not going to babysit you.

I do appreciate reasonable comments by some of the readers. Lets not insult one another with 1+1 = 2 math. And most certainly, I don't need parenting from a bank. What I am most concerned about here is the use of the term "DEBIT CARD". When I opened my account, I was told it is not a "CREDIT CARD" despite the "VISA" logo on the card. What I took from this is that approval for a transaction is dependent on money being in the account; if not, the transaction would be declined. It is under this premise I made the purchases. What I failed to realize is that, "DEBIT CARD" could act like a credit card for an outrageous charge. This clarification is necessary and essential at the time of providing a "DEBIT CARD" to someone and especially accommpanying the explanation of it not being a credit card. Moreover, upon finding this, I requested to turn off this feature in all future transactions. However, I was denied this request and am expected to continue enjoying this "privilege".

1 + 1 = 2, but if you take away 3, you're in a minus situation. And you expect to get that other '1' without having to pay someone for it? Doesn't work that way!

Banks have procedures to keep you from going into overdraft, but they don't kick in right away. They let you go over some so they can charge you large fees, which they have the right to do, because if you go over you are spending THEIR money. As the account is YOURS, it is YOUR responsibilty to manage it. It is YOUR job to know how much is in YOUR account and to spend accordingly, not the bank's. They will be right there waiting to take advantage of your mistake if you let them. You may also want to look into overdraft protection. This is a process where for a fee (usually smaller than overdraft fees) they will put money into your account as either a loan, or from another of your accounts, to cover the overdraft. Good luck!

Come on. Chase isn't your parent. You should be responsible enough by now to know how much you have in your account before spending it. The only "policy" to prevent your account from going into overdraft is to stop spending when the balance equals zero. How hard is that? One suggestion. If you are unable to keep track of you account balance for some unknown reason, give Chase a call and ask if you can opt out of that "feature" that allows you to overdraw your account with your debit card.