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Chase charging for ‘free’ checking now; need new bank

Started 1 year ago by Diane
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Diane
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I’ve been with WaMu for years, started for the free checking; loved WaMu; been through all the aches & pains of transition with Chase; now the big slam; just got letter from Chase announcing that ‘free’ checking will now cost me $10 a month; exceptions to the $10 fee are the typical; if you have a job that offers direct deposit; I do not; been self employed for years; another exception to $10 fee, if you are well enough employed to have substantial savings in account; most of us struggling through recession are living month to month; sure wish I had savings; so short story, I plan to leave Chase asap, finally got needed kick in the butt; and searching for bank that offers REAL free checking; I only write about 2 checks per month, and make many deposits per month, from individual jobs that pay me daily; any recommendations?

Posted 1 year ago #
shihtzu
Member Profile

BECU.

Posted 1 year ago #
johnnyblegs
Member Profile

I agree with shihtzu. Credit Unions rock. Don't understand why everyone doesn't do it. I bank with WSECU and keep a savings account online with HSBC (highest APY I've found) who also has free bill pay & free bank transfers in addition to their free checking.

Posted 1 year ago #
The Velvet Bulldog
Member Profile

I've been with Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union for nearly 40 years. (Good God, that hurts to read...) Anyway, they are fantastic--check them out at smcu.com. Better rates all around.

Posted 1 year ago #
anonyme
Member Profile

I've heard great things about BECU. I have ING Direct, which is 100% online, and really like it a lot. The only drawback is not being able to immediately cash paper checks, but I rarely find that necessary.

Posted 1 year ago #
HelperMonkey
Member Profile

PLEASE be careful when leaving Chase. I had to leave them last year. When I went in to close my account in person, I was told I had to fax my request to the manager. I did. They never closed the account. This was the branch on California and Oregon. Get written confirmation that the account is indeed closed.

Posted 1 year ago #
johnnyblegs
Member Profile

"Fax my request to the manager"...?!

Weird! Who faxes these days?

Posted 1 year ago #
herongrrrl
Member Profile

We switched to BECU shortly after WAMU became Chase. We've been very happy with them. And unlike Chase, who stopped paying interest on small accounts, BECU pays decent interest. You can deposit to BECU through lots of non-BECU ATMs, too.

Posted 1 year ago #
HelperMonkey
Member Profile

@johnnyblegs - I know! especially considering I was standing right there. IN PERSON.

@Diane, I went with Wells Fargo and have been pretty happy with them.

Posted 1 year ago #
DP
Member Profile

Totally support the tenor of this thread.

Although I'm not questioning Chase's right to make "bank" off checking accounts, I think they owe their Washington Mutual stalwarts a little extra consideration for sticking with them through all the transition hassles. When I got my fee-increase letter yesterday, I decided I'd finally had enough. Chase has managed to squeeze their last drop of goodwill from me.

Following my tattletale instincts, I'm going to contact the manager at a couple of different branches, and possibly their headquarters as well, and go: Do you know what customers are saying about you on the West Seattle Blog? You're certainly going to lose some customers over this policy.

Will it change their minds? No.
Will it make me feel better? Yes. A little.

Posted 1 year ago #
WSB
Member Profile

Uh-oh, we routinely recycle almost everything that comes in the postal mail after a very quick look. Probably missed this letter. Thanks for mentioning it.

Posted 1 year ago #
austin
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In other news: USPS now requires you to send large volumes of junk mail if you want to mail a gift home to your mom for the holidays.
(that's a joke for those who don't have the internet humor plugin installed - firefox only)

Seriously though, chase taking a big crap on everybody who doesn't have $1500 in their checking account right before xmas. That's gotta be worth some type of robber baron award.

Posted 1 year ago #
metrognome
Member Profile

I would add another recommendation for a credit union; whichever one you pick, make sure ahead of time that there is a convenient WS ATM location for making those frequent deposits as some of them belong to the networks and some don't (the nearest office for most of them is downtown.) I don't belong to BECU, but they have an ATM in Morgan Junction in the little strip mall south of the Thriftway (there may be others in WS.)

Posted 1 year ago #
SarahScoot
Member Profile

Every 7-11 ATM can accept BECU (and probably other CU) deposits and gives fee-free withdrawals to CU members.

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane
Member Profile

LOVE you guys; thanks for all the great tips, warnings, ideas, and humor

Go credit unions!!!

Last night when I got this stupid letter I was mad/sad; now laughing and feeling validated; thank you, thank you, thank you

TR, I told my neighbor about it today; she said same thing, she had tossed it aside and not read; it’s in a big envelope with bold letters on outside ‘Changes coming to your Chase checking account’

so is there some cosmic contest this week to see who can be greedier, Comcast or Chase?

@austin, hilarious, and agree

“go home and fax the manager”; equally hilarious, and insane

@DP, excellent idea

Posted 1 year ago #
Sue
Member Profile

BECU also has online deposits now, where you can upload scans of checks.

Posted 1 year ago #
argiles
Member Profile

BECU is an amazing bank / credit union, I would suggest them!

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane
Member Profile

thanks Sue, that sounds fantastic; will have to check it out; I always make scan copies of my checks anyway, before deposit, for my own records

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane
Member Profile

I've been a BECU member for years, but have never used their checking, and since they removed the Admiral branch and atm, it didn't seem like very good option, at least until they open another new branch (I heard it will be going in near the Alaska Junction); anyway, really good to hear from all of you who are happy with their checking

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane
Member Profile

I think maybe in addition to DP’s idea of sharing our rants about Chase with their managers & headquarters; we should also share our raves about BECU with their managers & headquarters

Posted 1 year ago #
charlabob
Member Profile

Credit Unions rule! And I suspect Chase is getting a little desperate for new victims -- 'er, customers: As a non-chase customer, I got a letter offering me the 2010 version of a toaster if I'd open a new account "no strings":
$150 free! I, um, passed. :-)

To the person who said "they owe something to the WAMU customers -- maybe, in terms of PR -- but welcome to unregulated capitalism: they don't owe anything to anyone except their shareholders and their executives. And the WAMU customers are a very small part of their unregulated empire.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoB
Member Profile

credit unions are getting into the money making business too:(
but the good news is that when you join..
you become one of the shareholders.

Posted 1 year ago #
dtown
Member Profile

This is from Chase's website...

"Checking Fees: None when you have 5 or more debit card purchases (withdrawals from the ATM or cash advance transactions do not qualify) or a direct deposit post to your account during each statement period. The direct deposit qualifier changes to at least one direct deposit of $500 or more and takes effect with the statement periods beginning February 8, 2011. Two or more direct deposits that add up to $500 or more but do not individually equal or exceed $500, do not qualify; otherwise $6 per month"

is the is the 'change' you're talking about?

Posted 1 year ago #
SarahScoot
Member Profile

Thanks for posting the online deposit info, Sue - I'd forgotten to pull out that selling point! I've deposited about five checks online and it's worked perfectly. Now if only they'd develop a way to allow us to withdraw money remotely; you know, just print the cash on my home printer. Nothing could go wrong with that... ;-)

Posted 1 year ago #
dtown
Member Profile

Wonder if they could allow you to print a cashiers check.

Posted 1 year ago #
miws
Member Profile

My computer, being seven years old, still has a floppy drive.

Now, if they could devise a way for that to dispense cash......

Mike

Posted 1 year ago #
Jacob
Member Profile

@dtown That is for the "Chase Basic Checking" accounts that are also getting rolled over in February.

My old WAMU account got rolled into Chase's "Free Extra Checking" when they took over, and will be subject to a $10/mo fee if you don't meet their requirements, and the debit card waiver isn't available.

You can find more discussion going on in these threads:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1046845/
http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=2391763

I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. I'm trying to decide between closing my accounts and moving to BECU, or trying to switch my "Free Extra Checking" to Chase's "Basic Checking" before the changes go into effect. I use my debit card a lot, so I would qualify for that fee waiver, but I'm not sure if I trust Chase to keep that fee waiver available in the distant future.

Posted 1 year ago #
WorldCitizen
Member Profile

If you are lucky enough to qualify for a USAA membership I suggest banking with them. Amazing. Really.

Posted 1 year ago #
DP
Member Profile

Per austin:

Seriously though, chase taking a big crap on everybody who doesn't have $1500 in their checking account right before xmas.

As I recall from the letter, you have until February 2 to get $1500 into your checking account, or sign up for direct deposit and make a deposit, or open a CD, or whatever.

And by the way, you probably wouldn't even have gotten that letter from Chase if you opened up an account there after Chase absorbed Washington Mutual. According to what "Jaimee" — the nice assistant manager at the Westwood branch — just told me, the new fees apply ONLY to those customers grandfathered in from Washington Mutual. Pre-existing Chase customers are already paying the fees, so they wouldn't have gotten any special notice.

I chatted with Jaimee for about 10 minutes, telling her about this thread and explaining that Chase was probably going to lose lots of customers in West Seattle over this, including me. Jaimee acknowledged that and said that several folks had already come into the branch to cancel their accounts.

By way of justifying the new checking fee policy, Jaimee pointed out to me that these fees simply reflect what a lot of other banks have been doing for a while now, and that Chase was merely catching the old Washington Mutual customers up with the times, as well as with other, pre-existing Chase customers.

Jaimee had worked for the old Washington Mutual, and she opined that Washington Mutual had been giving away a lot of stuff that most other banks didn't, including free ATM usage, higher savings rates, and better mortgage terms. She further opined that these generous policies may have had something to do with Washington Mutual's collapse, which I don't doubt. Of course we know it was the sub-prime mortgage crisis that really did WaMu in, but there may have been other contributing factors as well.

So that's the unofficial word from the Westwood branch assistant manager.

I will be sending Jaimee a link to this thread, just in case she wants to check it out for herself. I've also asked her to give me an e-mail address for the Chase complaint office or other responsible person there, and she said she would.

It's hard times for banks right now, Jaimee told me. All of them are imposing these kinds of fees.

I believe her. But at the same time, I sincerely hope someone high up at Chase will read this thread and take notice. If Chase is indeed having a "hard time" right now, I'd think it would behoove them to do whatever they have to to keep their existing customers. Hiking checking fees is not a good way to show customers you love them.

–David

P.S. As you all are comparison shopping, consider this: Credit unions, while they may have cheaper services, usually don't offer better savings rates than banks. Moreover, credit unions are far less convenient than banks, simply because they have far fewer branches. So, if you only need to step into a branch once in a while, then a credit union might be great for you. But if you like the feeling of having a branch every few miles, then you might want to stick with a bank.

And if you want to move from Chase to a different bank, like Wells Fargo, that's great. But if you're doing that based on the fact that Wells has free checking right now, just remember that that deal could evaporate at any time, just like it has with Chase.

Posted 1 year ago #
austin
Member Profile

While it's true that the new plan doesn't go into effect until February, it was the news being delivered during the holiday season that I thought was the frosting.

Posted 1 year ago #
DP
Member Profile

Right, austin. Pretty Scrooge-like, that. Probably a sign of things to come.

Liked your graphic too, BTW.

Also, on the topic of "poor little Chase" I might direct your attention to the fact that the JP Morgan Chase conglomerate paid out $9 billion in bonuses to its hotshot investment division employees last year, to say nothing of the stockholders.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jan/15/jp-morgan-bonuses-profits-rise

They also made a tidy $11.7 billion in profits.

That's: $11,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00

— or 11.7 x 10 to the 29th power.

Oh no, wait. My bad.

The number I gave is actually 11.7 gajillion dollars. Chase isn't projected to make that much profit at least until 2015.

Posted 1 year ago #
dhg
Member Profile

Good one, DP.

It is time for me to get off the stick (or get on the stick, whatever...) and move my account to BECU. Think local. Chase is making money, lots of money, that it distributes to a few people on the East Coast. Seattle does not benefit from Chase the way we did from WaMu.

Posted 1 year ago #
sam-c
Member Profile

I was irritated when I got the letter too, and was glad to see this thread started. however, me closing my checking account with them really wouldn't do much because we have our mortgage with them (originally with WAMU)

that is what I would like to do, take my mortgage interest elsewhere... but I don't think refinancing is possible for us any time soon. our family's employment and income is different than it was when we bought our house 5 years ago..

Posted 1 year ago #
DaveB
Member Profile

I'll second what WorldCitizen says about USAA.
It's online only (unless you live in San Antonio) but:
-You can deposit a check remotely via a scanner or iPhone/Android app (something Chase recently started doing), funds are credited to your account in a few minutes.
-They'll cover ATM fees charged by other banks (up to a set amount per month, I think it's 15 bucks).
Fees are low for other services.
You qualify if you are military (retired or active) or have been a dependent of same. Check USAA's website for details.

I moved from BoA a few years ago, and have saved a boatload in fees since.

Posted 1 year ago #
JoB
Member Profile

I can also chime in for USAA..
if you qualify you definately should check them out..
for insurance too :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Pibal
Member Profile

Westwood branch assistant manager Jaimee, as quoted above states:

"It's hard times for banks right now..."

Oh really?

Check this out:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/13/jpmorgan-chases-profit-jumps-23-percent-third-quar/

Cut me some slack Chase. You'll find no simpathy here...

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane
Member Profile

Fascinating and timely to receive in my BECU newsletter today:
~
"Checking is Free at BECU: Due to new federal regulations that limit fees financial institutions may charge, many big banks are finding ways to make up for this lost income. In fact, several of these big banks are now considering eliminating free checking. We want to ensure you that checking is free at BECU."
~
btw; I asked bank manager at Morgan Chase when I went in last weekend to deposit checks, do they have free senior checking, or any other offer to keep me as customer? Answer: no, and no

Posted 1 year ago #
erika33
Member Profile

Support locals!! I love Viking bank, been with them for over 8 years. I'm done with big banks!!

Posted 1 year ago #
alki_2008
Member Profile

@sam-c -- Assuming you don't have a puny mortgage balance, then your mortgage loan amount would qualify you for the free checking. Might want to check into that.

Posted 1 year ago #
JanS
Member Profile

alki_2008....so, if I rent, and don't have a mortgage loan balance that would qualify me for free checking, wouldn't that be discriminatory?

Posted 1 year ago #
RainyDay1235
Member Profile

Another vote for SMCU!!

Posted 1 year ago #
yeah-me
Member Profile

When I talked to them, the gal sorta "poo-pood" (official term) my concerns (I even told her about this long thread on this forum). She said all they were doing were requesting automatic deposits. Really? During the conversation (where she had called me to try and secure my business banking) I reminded her that I am self-employed and don't use automatic deposit and therefore I would not qualify -- so not only would she not get my business banking she would likely lose my personal banking.

Posted 1 year ago #
alki_2008
Member Profile

@JanS - the mortgage balance is just as 'discriminatory' as the savings balance requirement or the direct-deposit requirement. If you want to consider every requirement "discriminatory", then go ahead.

In all honesty, if someone has a Chase mortgage of more than $15k -- then Premier Checking is free, and that includes free safety deposit box, free checks, and other features over the regular Checking account.

Okay - now I'll wait to see all the comments from people that think anyone with a mortgage shouldn't get anything for free because they must be sooooo rich to have a mortgage at all. Let's not forget that everyone that lost a house to foreclosure or short-sale also had a mortgage in the first place.

Posted 1 year ago #
JanS
Member Profile

it was just a questioin, Alki...I dropped my account there the minute Chase took over from Wamu...

Posted 1 year ago #
JanS
Member Profile

it was just a question, Alki...I dropped my account there the minute Chase took over from Wamu...

Posted 1 year ago #
sam-c
Member Profile

Alki_2008: thank you for the heads up. I will have to look into it. Since I received the letter from them citing a specific checking account, and I read through the exceptions, (which seemed to be primarily $500 automatic deposit, huge savings account, or huge CD balance, etc....) I didn't see anything that applied to having a mortgage with them. I will investigate further though, thanks!. that mortgage exception though does seems discriminatory, just as all the other do. I have my paycheck deposited to a credit union, and I don't know, I guess I could switch it......

Posted 1 year ago #
alki_2008
Member Profile

@sam-c: You might need to upgrade your checking account type. Oddly, the loan balance of at least $15k gets you Premier Checking for free - but not Basic Checking. Not sure why, but if they're making money off your loan interest payments...then you might as well get all you can out of them. ;-)

Posted 1 year ago #
rockhills
Member Profile

Here's another post in favor of credit unions. In twenty years of banking with a CU I have paid exactly ONE fee, that being for a large wire transfer. No interest, checking, or transfer fees, ever.

When I moved to Washington, I was concerned about the convenience factor since my CU has no branches in this state. I opened an account with a local bank but soon closed it because I never used it and they started charging me fees. With today's technology, distance really isn't a factor.

Posted 1 year ago #
hammerhead
Member Profile

CU are a huge issue for me, not convenient at all being self employed. I have been WAMU/chase since I opened my business. I can not do a direct deposit and as for my FCAT, there is no way for me to be able to keep a $1,500.00 minimum balance.

I am going with Wells Fargo, my house loan is threw them, so I guess I can get everything for free, if they should ever put a fee on this I would be grandfathered.

I told the employees this and they were totally supportive and get it. We all have to do what we have to do and what works best for each person or business.

Posted 1 year ago #
Diane
Member Profile

well I had sit down chat with manager of Morgan Chase, and they clearly have no interest in keeping any of us who just have checking accounts; the answer I got was basically, they want to get folks who will bring all their financial business together to Chase, in other words, my interpretation, they only want rich people
~
I plan to check out US Bank on my next day off; they have free checking for seniors (over 55), including free checks; anyone have good/bad experience with US Bank?
~
I thought about doing the BECU thing, but closest branch is Westwood, 5 miles; and when I asked about how the check scanning to deposit checks from home works, the woman was very curt with me, and said she's never done it so couldn't tell me anything about how it works, and told me to contact customer service # if I have any questions; not impressed; before talking to miss snippy, I had lovely chat with a guy there, who asked me to contact him anytime with questions, but he didn’t give me his card, and when I went back in to ask the scanner question like 5 mins later, he was nowhere to be found; certainly not a big confidence builder in doing business there

Posted 1 year ago #