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Only read the Chase post if you truly hate banks, or an insomniac and need something truly boring and whiny to fall asleep to. If you think that I’m

December 23, 2004 By pia

Bah, humbug! Not a Christmas Tale.

This might be a long and boring story, however it’s one that I have to get out before I kill my best friend who has been a model of calm and wonderfulness, and doesn’t deserve the grief I gave her when I called her hysterical from just about everywhere today. (I hate everything about Christmas except for some of the music, and Christmas dinner at the Ralphâ’s.

Okay enough Christmas cheer: First a disclaimer or something: I’m not a crazy person, don’t look or act like one except when I go into a certain Chase branch on Broadway near 72nd Street where I become my worst nightmare. If I ever murder somebody I’m going to use the “Chase drove me to it” defense.

My long convoluted history with Chase began, probably shortly after birth. My personal history began when I moved to East 63rd Street, and there was a Chase branch just down the block on Madison.

They kicked me out soon after as I didn’t have $10,000 to leave in a non-interest bearing checking account, when they became the first Private Banking Division. What 20something had that amount of money? Okay, many probably did, and didn’t care about the interest. What normal person would want to leave $10,000 in an account that doesn’t give interest? This is in late 1970’s or early 1980’s money. $10,000 was a lot of money.

This is totally true. My father, the super CPA didn’t believe me. I brought him to the branch. He apologized. My dad would start bank accounts if they gave him a toaster. Then he would close them. But he always remained a devoted Chase customer for reasons he was at loss to explain. He did scream at them “you give money to every South American country and won’t give my daughter a credit card.” My hero.

Chase began to change my branches so many times I lost count or any knowledge of where my account was supposed to be. Then in the early 1990’s I went to work in The Bronx and changed my branch to one down the street from my office.

Somehow they debited my entire account. I didn’t know this and paid my bills. They not only bounced all my checks but had debited my credit line. How this happened is beyond my comprehension. They also refused to acknowledge this mistake. I worked for Social Security, couldn’t use the phone during working hours, and had 45 minutes for lunch and two fifteen or twenty minute breaks a day.

As Chase kept banker hours it was very difficult for me to have my money re-credited to my account. But I somehow was able to reach the Bronx District Manager for Chase who at first didn’t believe me then professed to be horrified.

But I had to call all ten people or institutions I had made out checks to. I felt humiliated as my credit is important to me, and I dislike bouncing checks especially when it wasn’t my fault to begin with. The Manager agreed that the bank should pay all charges. However, they didn’t pay the money I was charged by my landlord, credit card company, and everybody else. This began my true hatred of them.

I moved from Manhattan to The Bronx and was changing branches to one near my home when my sister and I made identical $25,000 deposits to our savings account. We both made out checks as we had been told to put the money in our savings account and that the checks would be honored.

Got a funny feeling about it and went to my bank to transfer my money to my checking account. My new branch called the old branch who said that they would transfer the money immediately. They didn’t, and all my checks bounced.

My sister’s branch in The West Village of Manhattan, looked at her total account, saw that she had the money and a good record and let the checks go through. I had excellent credit, hadn’t bounced a check (except for the ones stated above) in many, many years. Yet still they bounced my checks and refused to pay the fees.

I know, I know. Anybody else would have changed banks then. But it was complicated. Way too complicated to explain

Filed Under: 9/11, New York Stories Tagged With: 9/11, New York Stories

« Bernie quits so that Rudy can run, how noble
Last night I felt so stupid for having posted my Chase rant. But it's true and while I don't believe in "worthy" or "less worthy" I should be a cust »

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  1. Courting Destiny » Blog Archive » The Obligatory Best of Post, part one says:
    January 1, 2006 at 5:25 am

    […] This is a rant about the bank I truly hate, and am finally going to leave. […]

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About Me

I live in the South, not South Florida, a few blocks from the ocean, and two blocks from the main street. It's called Main Street. Amazes me too.

I'm from New York. I mostly lived in the Mid-Upper East Side, and the heart of the Upper West Side. It amazes me when people talk about how scared they were of Times Square in the 1970's and 1980's.

As my mother said: "know the streets, look out and you'll be fine."

What was scary was the invasion of the crack dens into "good buildings in good 'hoods." And the greedy landlords who did everything they could to get good tenants out of buildings.

I'm a Long Island girl, and proud of it now.
Then I hated everything about the suburbs. Yet somehow I lived in a few great Long Island Sound towns after high school.

Go to archives "August 2004" if you want to begin with the first posts.

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