- Report: #545358
Complaint Review: J.P. Morgan Chase Bank - Arcata California
Reported By:
bearclaw -
McKinleyville, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
J.P. Morgan Chase Bank
780 7th street Arcata, CA. 95521 Arcata, 95521 California, United States of America
Phone:
1-877-486-0592
Web:
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J.P. Morgan Chase Bank service charge rip offs and atm charges scams and ripoffs Arcata, California
I have been watching my account this whole year and I have been charged service charge after service charge. 33 dollars every time they say I am over my limit. 2 dollars everytime I use a non bank atm 3dollars for an atm withdrawl and I have had as much as 900dollars in charges in a two week period it is very confusing. When I look at my balance it says I have money and I take that money out and next thing I know I am overdrawn and every trasaction I have on my account has a 33 dollar service charge on it. It is very frustrating. I have been going into the actual bank to withdraw my money since my checks get automatically deposited or else they hold my funds for 3 business days to clear. It seems that every time I use my atm-visa card they charge me 33dollars on top of every single transaction, plus charge me for non bank atm usage. Does anyone else see this as a problem? The balance they show me is always wrong and I end up overdrawing my account and I was going by what they say my statement says. By going through my records from the year I have over 4000 dollars worth of charges that I did not realize that I was being ripped off of. This has to stop, it is wrong.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Here is how to stop it..
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, December 27, 2009
It appears as if you have several misconceptions on how a bank account works.
First there is no "over my limit", you have an account balance and if you spend more than you will overdraw your account.
You also appear to be relying on on-line/Phone/ATM for your balance. Since these are generally just "snapshots" of your account at that particular time. There will be times when debits you have made or checks you have written will NOT show up. The way that debits are processed, it is also possible that you will see a debit show up, and then disappear. As much as some people want to think that this is something sinister or intentional on the banks, it isn't.
No where in your report did I see where you said YOU keep a register. If you are unfamilar with what that is, that is basically a book(for lack of a better word) of all of your transactions. Unlike on-line banking if you keep a register you can write down the transaction when you make it. This way regardless of when the merchant decides to submit it, you know it is already spent. Because YOU accounted for it.
The next is deposits. You CAN NOT spend money in your account until it is available. As long as you keep a register, make sure your deposits are available BEFORE you even attempt to spend the money, and never go negative all of those fees will just go away. If you are unfamilar with your banks funds availability policy this is something you need to go in and ask them about.
Now, several banks are giving you the opportunity to "opt-out" of overdraft protection. That is once your balance is negative they will decline your debit card and not allow you to use your ATM card. However, this DOES NOT guarantee you won't overdraft. So even if you do decide to "opt-out" it does not mean you can slack off on using your register.
In addition unless you have some unforseen circumstance there should never be a reason you need to use another bank's ATM and incurr that fee. Because you should plan ahead and if you think you are going to need some cash to take it out when you are near your bank's ATM.
If you do happen to overdraw your account. You need to get it back to positive as soon as possible. Until you are 100% sure that all of your outstanding transactions are posted and you are back with a positive balance. You should only put money in and DO NOT take any more money out. As that tends to just perpetuate the fee-avalance. This may take several days depending on how accurate YOUR register is, and how many merchants have not submited the final debits.
Mia
scottsdale,Arizona,
USA
There is no policy that charges clients to use their debit card.
#3UPDATE Employee
Sun, December 27, 2009
I believe you are wrong when you say every time you use your debit card there is a $33.00 charge for that purchase. Unless, of course you are not at a Chase ATM and are withdrawing $30.00 in cash....The service charge is $3.00 so there would be a total withdrawal of $33.00. When you use a non Chase ATM the screen tells you of that charge before you continue with your transaction so you are aware of that charge. Now if you are stating that for every transaction you make against available funds, (whatever the amount) using your debit card you are service charged an additional $33.00; then you definitely have a problem. There is no policy that charges clients $33.00 to use your debit card. There is no policy for charging any amount for using your debit card when you have the money in the account. Using your debit card at stores and at Chase ATM's is free....as long as you have the money in the account to cover what you are buying.
There are account service charges for some accounts if you don't maintain certain balances, but the highest of those is $25.00 a month and that is for the Platinum Checking account. There are no personal checking or savings accounts that have an account service charge of $33.00 a month. There are overdraft fees when you overdraw your account and they are tiered at, $23, $32, $35 depending on how much you overdraw the account. There are different account service charges for business accounts, non of which are $33.00, but since you didn't mention your checking account to be a business one, I won't go into those charges. You need to sit down with a banker at your local branch, have them print out the account's activity. Then let them look at it with you and see where the errors are. I guarantee there is NO policy where client's are charged $33 to use their debit card when the accounts are funded with enough money to cover purchases.
Addressing your issue regarding your statement, "The balance they show me is always wrong and I end up overdrawing my account when I was just going by what they say my statement says." When you get your paper statement every month, do you check to see if all of your receipts match what the statement says? Do you verify that all of the checks you have written cleared? The time from when the statement info is pulled versus the time you receive it in the mail is usually several days at the least. Do you account for purchases you made during that interim? Now if you are going by what the teller says or what the ATM says your balance is, you need to verify that all the things you have purchased have hit your account. Nothing is instantaneous.
The following is an example that will maybe help explain: You checked your balance before you went to sleep and your account has about $100.00. The next morning you go to Starbucks and buy a coffee, $5, then you go to the mall and buy some clothes, $75.00. Later that night, you stop by the ATM to check your balance and you see the available is -$25.00. How? Why? Because when you checked your balance the night before and saw the $100 you didn't check to see if the cable bill for $45.00 cleared. You thought it did because you paid it four days ago but you never accounted for it. So the next day you go to the bank and deposit $30 to cover the overdraft of -$25...that leaves $5, right? So you go to McDonald's and buy an Egg MacMuffin for $2.00. Then you check your balance the next morning and you are -$32. HOW? $5-$2=$3, right? You forgot to account for the $35.00 overdraft fee from the overdraft caused by the cable bill. So now you go to the bank again and deposit $40 to get your balance positive and you refuse to use your card the entire day. The next morning, instead of seeing $8.00 you see -$27.00!! Now you are flipping out so you go back to the bank to find out what the hell happened and what do you see? Another $35.00 charge for the overdraft of the $2.00 egg MacMuffin and you are furious because you KNOW you had $8.00 in there...However you never verified that the overdraft charge from the cable overdraft was assessed. Since nothing is instantaneous and charges are applied to your accounts at night you were operating in the negative all along. Now some branch managers may look at your account and see the miscalculation on your part and reverse the last service charge. However, by the time most people get to the point in the above scenario they are beyond furious, confused, and not willing to hear anything the manager has to say. They threaten to close their accounts down and go somewhere else. It is not the bank's fault clients fail to check their accounts carefully and until you acknowledge your account's balance is in YOUR hands...there won't be a bank you will be happy with.
Now for all the bank haters... the above doesn't go into the fact that , yes overdraft charges are high... very high and I don't like them either. And, yes, they are structured to pay the highest amount first. The banks make money off of clients and clients who overdraw their accounts, regularly, demonstrate risky behavior so the charges are designed to capitalize on that. It is the same as being charged higher interest rates on loans if your credit report demonstrates poor credit. It is not great but until our system is changed, in banking that is, then it is to the customer's benefit to know how the system works and act accordingly. And as a side note, Chase is changing their policy and will pay items chronologically. Also in February 2010, client's will be able to opt to have their debit transaction denied at the point of sale if the money isn't available.
This is not a rip off. There is definitely a problem with an account being charged to use a debit card, no doubt about it. Take my advice and go into a branch, sit down with a banker and look at the latest print out with them. Those people who sit at those desks are real people and usually are more than happy to help someone who is being overcharged. And as real people, they will not respond well to being called thieves or scumbags, or threatened, so just take a deep breath, explain your confusion and see what can be done.
Good luck and update your post and let us know how things went.
