The Chase of American Greed

Yesterday, my Chase debit card was denied for the first time. I handed out my e-fund card instead and while waiting for the cashier, I was wondering what went wrong.

Did I run out of balance? Was my card demagnetized? Did someone else steal my card access?

Upon reaching home, I immediately checked my online account. It was overdrawn not once, but eight times. At least, they were all my transactions.

I was not notified in any way about this overdrawn activities. If not for that denied transaction at Joy's Village for lunch, I wouldn't suspect anything wrong. All the while, I was even thinking mine is a debit card, not a credit card, so any cash advance is impossible.

For the first five overdrawn transactions amounting to about $25, I was penalized by Chase bank itself for $125. For the next three overdrawn activities totaling about $60, I was charged $96.

Through all these, the available balance in my mind was about $277 so even if I charge all those eight transactions ($85), I should still be safe. Before all these eight transactions, I actually checked my online balance and Chase showed me $270+. My balance inquiry was already several days after my last purchase with that card.

In other words, Chase deceived me.

And for being deceived, I was being penalized excessively without directly telling me.

It was like an imposed loan at horrible interest rates. For the first five overdrawn transactions, it was 500% in two days or at least 6,000% per year. The prevailing rate is only about 20% per year. For the next three penalties, it was 160% in two days or at least 1,920% per year.

Those eight overdrawn activities were posted in at least 4 days, not one single day. In at least 4 days, I wasn't even alerted about it. Chase pounced on the opportunity to penalize me and get some profit.

When I talked with a Chase staff, I was told there's no way they can accurately update my online account 100% because some merchants are late in posting debits.

I said if they can't do it, how can I trust whatever I see in my balance inquiry? I think it is the responsibility of the bank to keep tab of the activities in my account. If the bank can't do that, it is useless. Obviously, I need a safety net of my own.

I think it is not right to force that imposed loan or penalty on me. I should have been informed at the first instance of overdrawn transaction and at least asked if I want to continue “borrowing” from Chase at that interest rate. Instead, Chase just continued charging me until I discovered such scheme myself.

I told the Chase staff directly that such overdrawn penalty is no longer decent banking. It is greed. It is already a crime. I wonder how she can work in a banking system like that and share her income with a clear conscience to her family. Chase may twist my arm and many others to pay for its profit that way but I am sure, this bank will never prosper.

Granting, for the sake of argument, that the merchants posted late, it is still not right to charge 80 to 250% per day on such “imposed loan” which they call penalty. Look at it in realistic context. They give only 1 digit rate earnings on deposit, if the account qualifies at all for some interest.

I was later told that the $125 penalty for the first five overdrawn activities has been waived by the manager. I just need to pay the remaining $96 dollar penalty plus all the overdrawn amount. I was also being asked to sign up for the overdraft protection which carries with it another set of fees. They are doing these because they care for me.

It was like being stabbed twice with two different knives then offering to remove one knife off my back because they care for me. I only need to remove the other knife myself and pay for the surgery. I don't have to worry, they add, because they have some medicine for me. For sale.

Well, why should I be stabbed in the back in the first place? That offer doesn't make them kind to me as a customer. It only makes them stupid criminals, apart from being greedy.

I didn't steal or take away money from Chase. It was a trap, an imposed loan which Chase uses to get profit from the kinks in online transactions.

I was also told every other bank does the same thing. It was just normal.

That only makes things all the more disgusting. I came here to the United States as a hungry scholar with deep thirst for learning and great, great regard for its repository of knowledge. I am appalled to discover that some graduates of banking, finance and related fields in this first world country have only progressed by using their brain and resources in devising schemes of greed. They may appear well-dressed in business suits but with this ploy, they are more dirty and filthy than the polluted rivers of third world countries. (Later into the emotionally-charged conversation, the Chase staff herself who looks like Asian, probably Chinese, admitted there's nothing like this excessive profit-making venture in her own country.)

I may be powerless as an ordinary individual to effect a good change to this crooked practice of a corporate giant but I believe if this greed continues, Chase is chasing its own doom.



...
PS.
For several months since last year, Chase has also ran a deceitful balance inquiry program. It worked this way: If you withdraw 400 from an original deposit of 1,000, Chase will give you a balance of 400, not 600. The balance is always equal to whatever amount you withdraw, which leads you to believe your balance is always positive. As I see it now, this is a trap to overdraw and be charged with hefty overdraft fees.

If you make another balance inquiry from the ATM, even those that they own, you will be charged for balance inquiry fee. The only free balance inquiry is by phone (toll free customer service) and internet. It was like renting a car with faulty speedometer. The only way to know if you are staying within speed limit is to ask a highway patrol. If you don't get a penalty for overspeeding, you are driving within the legal limit. If you look at the faulty speedometer, the rental company charges you with a fee for every glance you make.

I called the attention of a local Chase branch, the customer service and IIE (Institute of International Education) which is our fund source but everyone was pointing fingers to each other. The balance inquiry fee was actually just small (less than $1 per transaction) so I thought it was not worth the trouble. This balance inquiry flaw was fixed recently when I checked through my e-funds card.

And now, I stumbled into this crooked scheme.