I was unsure if submitting a complaint here was a good idea because lets face it, troll central!
But i will try it anyways and hope for some solid advice, by the way i have decided to go ahead and pay the amount but i do plan on contacting the ftc, bbb and the banking regulators who control chase(Supposed to anyways).
I will post the letters i sent to chase in the order i sent them, i was upset when i wrote them so details are seeming to be added with each one, but i told the EXACT SAME STORY to chase on the phone.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
August 11, 2011
Dear sir or madam:
This letter is to complain about service I recently received from a Chase Personal Banker named Dawn M. VanPatten.
I visited the Georgetown Branch Located at 6704 E State Blvd Fort Wayne, IN 46815 on 05/04/2011 to deposit and start up an automatic deposit of my Social Security Checks. During this time Dawn noticed that the last account that was holding my checks in was overdrawn by almost $200 dollars, after being on the phone with the legal department for about a good
twenty minutes she finally got off and informed me that as far as chase is concerned I am not liable or responsible for the overdrawn balance because it was a Representative Payee Account and my Mother at the time was the primary
Account holder. So she processed my check and everything was good for about two months until I started receiving strange phone calls from a debt collection company called ACI, LLC; they were claiming I owed them close to 250 dollars
and they said it was from chase so I asked them to provide me proof that I owe this debt and I explained to ACI that it was a rep payee acct but they told me I need to get a Police Report stating my side before they would consider
removing it from collections. So I called Dawn up to speak to her in regards to the issue at hand and she was unavailable(Conveniently after the other banker told her who I was) and the individual in question informed me that I am
responsible for the account and proceeded to nag me off the phone. Needless to say, I was quite frustrated.
I expected a much higher level of service from your company, and I am quite disappointed. Because I do not want to spend any more time on this problem, I am hoping that we can come to some kind of agreement or swift resolution in regards to this as I feel like I have been taken for a wild ride and to be frank- Used. I will be informing my friends and family about
this experience.
I can be reached most days at xxx-xxx-xxxx or xxx-xxx-xxxx(Cell)
Use only if first does not reach me.
Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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WITNESS AFFIDAVIT
Date: 8/11/2001
My
name is: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My
address is: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
My
phone numbers are: xxx-xxx-xxxx
I have witnessed the following on the date specified:
I went with my nephew(xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx), into the Chase branch located at Chase Georgetown 6704 E
State Blvd Fort Wayne, IN 46815 260-427-8213 on 05/04/2011 in order to deposit his social security check into a new chase bank account. We spoke to a woman with the name of Dawn M. VanPatten who after reviewing our information had
noticed that the old account that was a Rep Payee account was overdrawn close to $200 dollars. After making a phone
call to the legal department she assured us both that my nephew would not be held responsible in any way shape or form since it was his mother as the primary account holder. So we set up the account and everything was fine for a
few months until my Nephew started receiving strange phone calls from a debt collection company called aci, llc. My nephew told me they were sold a debt by chase and they were collecting against my Nephew, even though his mother is
listed as the primary account holder and she is the only one who had any access to the account in question they refused to accept that Dawn M. VanPatten and\or Chase Legal Department had determined that xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx was not
responsible in any way for the fees and overdrawn balance on the account.
DECLARATION
I, the undersigned, declare under penalty of perjury that the statements made in the above affidavit are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief.
They are made voluntarily and without any benefit (actual or promised) offered in exchange for making these statements.
(sign)__________________________ ______________
Print Date
Name
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08/22/2011
James Dimon
25 Banks Street, Chicago, IL 60610
Phone - (312) 302-9990
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase
Dear Chairman of the Board,
My name is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I have a complaint regarding the way I was misled at my local branch, located at 6704 E State Blvd Fort Wayne, IN 46815. Two months ago I set up a personal checking account with the help of a Personal Banker by the name of Dawn M. VanPatten, during which I was informed that the old representative payee account was overdrawn close to 200 dollars which would cause problems with me opening a new and separate account, that is when I explained to her the following.
1.
I never had any control or access to the account in question and so I felt that for me to pay it would put me in a financial
bind as I had several medical bills to pay right then.
2.
Even though it would have hurt me to pay it I was prepared to do so right then and there, but Dawn told me not to do it
because it was not my debt.
3.
I am a full time college student and getting ready to start my first year of college and I had to buy a lot of things that I
didnt have such as clothes and school supplies and equipment.
So she made a phone call to Legal and after twenty minutes she informed me that I would not be held responsible for the account in any way shape or form since it did appear as if the account in question was being mishandled by my rep payee and she explained to me that my rep payee is the only responsible party. So I took her word and she froze the account in
question before processing my ssi and the 125 dollar bonus coupon, which she managed to screw up and I had to come back in a month later to redo the automatic deposit thing which took a little longer than expected.
But back to the point, after two months I started receiving several voice mail messages a day from a company calling themselves aci, llc and they said a very strange name that I was unable to pronounce but I heard a
confirmation number and I entered it on their website which told me it was an attempt to collect a debt and it was from chase. They had all my information and when I called them they told me I had to get a police report if I wanted to
fight the debt, instead I wrote to the bank manager explaining my position to him and stating all the facts in detail, he gave me the wrong phone number repeatedly and the last time I spoke to him he told me to wait so he could call
them to make sure it was the right number for legal but he never called me back and since your company does not provide contact info for higher up managers I decided to write to you as a last resort before I consider legal counsel, which
will hurt me a lot financially but I might have no choice.
I would now like to state the facts as I see them
1.
I was Misled by a personal banker by accident or on purpose for the purpose of securing me as a banking customer which led me
down a rough financial road and destroyed my credit score even further making restoration more difficult.
2.
Because of this whole mess I was denied on my application for the chase freedom credit card due to my credit score dropping a
hundred points just as chase was viewing my credit report and that I believe is the reason it was turned down.(Which was a card I was hoping to use to help restore my bad credit as well as help fund misc college expenses but now I will
be unable to do so until I manage to scrape together 500-1000 dollars for a secured one from wells fargo)
3.
That due to Chases Negligence I am now forced to pay interest on a debt that I was assured is not my responsibility by both
legal and Dawn.
4.
I was prepared to pay the debt in question in full to avoid any future problems but I was told not to by Dawn and the legal
department.
I just want to say how sick this whole situation has made me and I would now like to state the problems it has
caused me.
1.
Due to the stress and anxiety I have dealt with in regards to this I have been seeing a psychologist and have been proscribed
anti-anxiety medication, before I was making excellent progress in my therapy and this may have set it back a few extra months which may cause problems for me in the long run.
2.
I have roughly a $1000 in other bills that my mom has illegally put my ssi number under and I have been fighting those bills
for a long time, it used to be close to $3000 a year ago. The point of bringing this up is that since I am in school now I need every cent I can get and having to pay chase $200 dollars is a big deal to me. I understand it may seem like an
amount you would consider little more than chump change but for a guy like me it is worth about ten pairs of new clean clothes a new laptop for school books and supplies etc!
3.
Because of chase lowering my credit score I will be unable to take out a personal loan through my local credit union to help pay
for my other expenses this year such as bus passes, lunchs, paying for my Dietitians appointments to help with my weight loss plans etc!
What chase did do that hurt me.
1.
Chase did not MAKE ANY ATTEMPT to notify me of MY RESPONSIBILITY to the debt nor did chase give me ample time to make payment arrangements which I was prepared to do that day, I was PREPARED TO PAY IN FULL!
2.
The Branch Manager Patrick at the address in question attempted to help me but did more to impede me in my investigation of
the matter than he actually helped.
3.
Dawn M. VanPatten gave me false information which led down this road and she would not take my last call to her after my
initial contact with her when she basically told me too bad and told me I should probably pay, instead she handed me off to another banker who identified himself as mark and he told me I should just pay while nagging me off the phone
as if his time was too valuable to deal with my problem.
4.
The Legal department gave me one excuse after another and eventually they gave me a phone number for the collections
department of which I spoke to a man who sounded like he was from texas and he said the whole situation seemed very suspicious and that I should probably just pay before this gets any more serious.
So as you can see I am not very happy with chase bank right now, I feel like I have been lied to and deceived in the worst way. I am starting to feel like switching to another bank over this deal and my family has been banking at chase for nearly twenty years, I will be giving them a heads up as well. I feel like chase is obviously letting the ball drop on who
they hire for their banking positions if they could be so careless as to hire these individuals who clearly do not understand the value of THE SPOKEN WORD, once broken anything else they could say is meaningless. The promises of how
well Dawn would take care of me and that I would be treated right by chase have left a sour taste in my mouth, one that no matter how much I brush seems to linger on.
I have attached the letter I sent to the banking manager along with an affidavit that is written up by my Aunt who was a witness to the whole ordeal.
What chase did that helped me.
1.
I called the customer service line and filed a complaint with upper management with the help of a CS agent, she was very
thoughtful and extremely helpful not to mention very apologetic of the situation Dawn and the Georgetown branch put me in due to their negligence.
2.
Nothing else so far..
Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Branch address---6704 E State Blvd Fort Wayne, Indiana 46815
Attachments--- Affidavit, Letter to manager.
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I can provide more details if you need clarification, nut please keep in mind i am a college student and so i would hate to have to answer obvious question.
Thx