Complaint Review: Chase Manhattan Bank JP Morgan Chase Bank - Phoenix Arizona

I was 28 years old when my father passed away unexpectedly in August 2003. As his only child, and because he was divorced, it became my responsibility to cancel his credit cards and take care of financial issues. When I called Chase Bank Credit Services to inform them that he had passed away and to please close his Chase Bank MasterCard (balance of approx. $3500), they noted it. A while later I received a letter in the mail addressed to me, asking for my social security number and other information so that they can turn this account from Joint status to Individual status. Joint status?? I questioned. When I called them, to my shock they informed me that I was a joint account holder on my dad's account. I wholeheartedly denied this allegation. I asked them when the card was applied for and they said 1996 (eight years ago!) and that it was signed by me. So I told them they were mistaken and that they'd have to prove to me that I signed any such applicaton. They agreed.

Later, I receive a letter in the mail that simply says, We're sorry, but we no longer have the application in our files because the account in more than five years old. So, excuse me, you want to make me liable for a $3500 balance, but you won't prove to me that the account is mine? I don't think so.

So my next step is writing a letter to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, who regulates the national banks. I CC'd this letter to Chase. Wouldn't you know that once Chase saw that I had contacted the OCC, suddenly the original application magically appeared! (Or, someone actually bothered to look for it.)

Well, lo and behold, there's my signature. And I'm thinking and thinking, and I realize that at the time of the application, I was in college. Because I had no income, the intention of my father was to give me authorization to use his account in the case of emergencies, or with his permission only. (This is supported by the fact that in 8 years I DID NOT USE THE CARD, and certainly HAVE NOT EVEN HELD ONTO the card since I've been the recipient of my own credit cards once I was out of college.)

I saw that this was a Pre-approved credit card offer. My father made an innocent error when filling out the application; a misinterpretation prompted by the unclear language in the application. There is nothing that differentiated the terms joint cardholder from authorized card user and because prior to this application, when I was in high school, I had shared a card under my dad's account, he believed that joint cardholder meant just that someone who is allowed to jointly hold a second card for use under what he believed was his account rather than use the card myself as the other terminology suggests more authoritatively, as if it were my own authorized account.

With regard to the application, my father filled in my social security information and birthdate, and then asked me for my signature. I did as my Dad told me, also believing that I was signing something that would give me license to hold a card under his account. There would be no reason for my father to want me to take liability for the account, unless of course I were jointly using it with him, which I was not (as a review of former transactions would have easily shown but mind you, they would charge $5.00 per month to research past monthly transactions times that by 8 years and you get $480!) And there was no way that I would have wittingly signed something which would make me liable for an account that I had no intention of using.

Not to mention, in the 8 years since the application, all of the statements that have been issued have ONLY been addressed to my father. Because my name has not been on the statements all this time, it would be unreasonable for Chase to expect me to understand that I have had an account in my name that I am liable for! It stands to reason that if Chase expects someone to be responsible for an account, then their name should be on the damned bills!!!

Because my name wasn't on any of the statements and we were not aware that this account was a shared account, there was nothing to signal us to remove my name once I started to receive my own credit cards and did not need to use his in the case of potential emergencies any longer. Had my name been on any of the statements indicating myself as liable, then as soon as I received my own credit cards we would have most certainly removed my name from the account that my father used, and I would not be finding myself in this predicament.

In the time between the last payment (July) made by my father before he died and my being notified that I was liable for the account (December), a lot of interest and finance charges have added up. Had I been made aware I could have and would have attempted to address this issue much sooner.

So, that's the situation NOW, for the part where Chase comes in. One would think that a nationally reputable company such as Chase would understand the situation, based on the fact that I never used the card, and that my name was never on the statements, and that the whole thing was an innocent misunderstanding on my father's part and that I had no awareness that I was responsible for this account. Chase couldn't have cared less. They wanted their money. Money that bought lots of things that I never benefited from using! So the letter-writing campaign began

I was told by Catherine Lazinbat, Executive Resolutions Manager essentially that you signed it, you're liable. No ifs, ands, or buts. My next letter went above Lazinbat's head to the CEO of the company, William Harrison. Wouldn't you know that the letter was intercepted and a notice was sent back to me saying that my letter would be redirected to the appropriate dept. Wouldn't you know that it fell right back in dear ol' Lazinbat's hands. And another letter was sent to me by her saying nothing more profound than the essential, you signed it, you're liable. But this time, it also said: Understand that we feel we have fully addressed your concerns and further correspondence regarding this issue may not be addressed. Really?? They fully addressed my concerns?!?! They had NOT MADE A SINGLE ATTEMPT to address ANY of the points I'd listed (ie my name not being on the billing statements, the misleading language of joint accountholder vs. authorized card user, the fact that I never used the card in 8 years!)!!

Meanwhile, EVERY SINGLE DAY I'd receive recorded messages from the Chase Collections Dept. wanting me to call to discuss my account. They didn't even have the decency to have a real, live human being call me! I refused to pay until I had answers from these people.

Finally one day I get a phone call from a real, live human person, and they tell me that I'm so-and-so many days late on my payments and that if I don't call them pronto they may not be able to help me much longer. So I finally call them back. I get a nice enough person, Derek King, on the line, who tells me that my account is seriously delinquent and begins to tell me about various payment options. I tell him the story and he says, Ohhh, let me get my supervisor. You shouldn't have to pay. And so I get his supervisor, James Smith, who proceeds to get my hopes up and tells me that he didn't think I'd be liable, but in the meantime I'd have to send in a payment of $57 to keep the account current so that he could continue to work with me. I say fine, I pay the $57.

I don't hear back from Smith. I call him and he doesn't return my calls.

I'm later told that if I don't make another payment of $207 that they won't be able to work with me. I pay the damned $207.

I call again and finally get in touch with Smith, and he tells me that I was not approved for a term-settlement payment plan (where you make small payments over a long period of time) because my excellent credit history shows that I am able to make credit card payments. !!!!! Hello!?!? Wouldn't that be a trigger to prove that I am an honest person and that obviously I had no awareness of this credit card situation??

After tons of back and forth phone calls, I am finally approved for a settlement plan where I will pay a much smaller amount up front and be done with the whole thing. Or so I think.

I am told that I must pay a total of $1270 by April 16th. I'm also told that once paid, it will be reflected to the credit reporting agencies as fully paid, with nothing derogatory.

Upon another subsequent phone call, I'm told it must be paid by April 9th.

I receive a letter in the mail that states it must be paid by April 19th.

HELLO? DOES ONE HAND KNOW WHAT THE OTHER HAND IS DOING AT THIS DAMNED COMPANY??

Well, I decide to go with what is WRITTEN (apparently, always a safe bet). But in the letter I'm told that this account will be reported to the credit reporting agencies as paid-settled. I inquire with another customer service rep as to what that means, and I'm informed that it will show that the bank agreed to a smaller payment, but will imply that I didn't pay the entire bill as I was supposed to have.

This damned company is messing up my perfect credit history due to an account that I never even utilized!!!!!

So I pay the $1270 on time, and then I receive a letter saying that they received the money and my next bill is due on so-and-so date. NEXT BILL??

I call them, and their computers are down and they don't have any information that the bank agreed on a settlement!!! I demand that they check this further. Because I don't stop insisting, she FINALLY decides to check. I ask her to take down my number in case we get disconnected (which happened A LOAD of times before already!) and she simply replies, We won't get disconnected. Yeah, because the omniscient customer service rep knows for a fact that we won't get disconnected. I insist she take it down, and she finally does. She comes back five minutes later saying, It's ok it just takes time for the paperwork to be processed. You don't have to do anything.

Two days ago I get a letter in the mail from Chase saying that they will accept a sum of $1270 as a settlement on the account. That they WILL accept it future tense as though I haven't yet paid it!!

This is where the situation stands as of right now. I don't know where it will end up, but if I have to take them to court I will! I haven't even mentioned the months this all took, and the dropped phone calls, the RUDE, RUDE, RUDE representatives I spoke to, and the return calls that were never made to me by them.

Oh, and finally after 3 months, I get a letter back from the OCC, who says, essentially, The situation for which you write falls under the authority of the bank. Please take this up with them, we cannot help you. Thank you for taking 3 months to tell me that.

Oh, and I should also mention how I was given the runaround between the OCC and Chase, as each side told me that the information that is reported to the credit reporting agencies falls under the authority of the other side!!

My experiences with Chase representatives prove them to be some of the rudest, most asinine, callous people in the banking industry. Nobody at that company knows what they're doing and nobody cares about you, the human being, on the other end. I was looked at as a dollar sign.

This has been a distressing situation, particularly under the circumstances of my father's passing.

I am an honest person and my character references are solid. I work for a non-profit organization, and my credit history has always been excellent. I even have a loan out with Chase Automotive Finance which is in excellent standing. NONE of that mattered to Chase. And what's worse is the way they handled everything.

S

Brooklyn, New York
U.S.A.

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