You'd be better off burying your money in the back yard.
Seven years ago, flush with cash from the sale of our family home, my father invested $300k with Chase's brokerage arm, and we were promised excellent returns and service. We got neither. Three years later, during the 2nd term of the Obama administration when the stock market was gaining in the double digits annually, I withdrew his investment. What was the total gain on $300k for 3 years? It was a loss, actually, of about $40k. This money was to be used to pay for the care of my mom and dad, one with Alzheimer's and one with Parkinson's. We never received a single call from our 'Private Client' banker, advising that the investment was underperforming and that perhaps, a change should be made. But they took their fees for sure. Someone has to pay for all of those false promises and there's also the shareholders to consider. If you take that loss and extrapolate the time value through May 2021 based on average stock market returns, the loss of wealth suffered by my father and now the heirs to his estate is around $130,000. It's a result that people should be fired over. It's unconscionable. And it gets worse.
Fast forward to 2021 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when the government and reputable companies were doing everything to help Americans who had been impacted by COVID-19 (my business shut in October, my partner was laid off from his job in February), and I receive a letter from Chase that basically says you don't have enough money in our bank to be Private Client customers and that I was being downgraded to normal customer status. One of the benefits taken away, fees for NSF charges. The next month I was charged over $600 for NSF fees. Little charges like $4.99 for a Dropbox subscription, resulted in an NSF fee of $39 per incident. Given our reduced income as a result of the pandemic, I had to decide -- make my car payment or pay for NSF fees. I chose my car. Several weeks later, Chase suspended my online account access and closed the account in question. I finally paid off the $600 in fees. My online banking has yet to be turned back on. Calls to their customer service center resulted in long wait times, over an hour in some cases. The reason -- increased call volumes due to the pandemic. You would think they would hire a few more people with all the money they are sucking out of the pockets of working class Americans, struggling to stay afloat during the COVID crisis. But no. And the last and final bitter pill in the story--Chase announced record earnings in the last quarter. Pictures on the net showed the beaming faces of self congratulation of what I assumed were executives at Chase. All men, all middle aged all white. I'm just saying.
To me, Chase represents the worst qualities of the big banks, number one of which is a tireless focus on building shareholder wealth on the backs of their customers. Working class Americans who really can't afford a $39 fee for a mistake that costs Chase just cents to process. I'll go further, how about un-American and un-patriotic? Disgusting opportunists who couldn't wait 6 months to enact a policy change when the worst of the pandemic was behind us. No. They needed their victory lap on Wall Street now. I think it's time for the government to step in and investigate the bank fees charged by organizations like Chase. Ordinary Americans are suffering because these fees are so ridiculous. $39 per incident. No monthly cap. Why not Just make it an even $100. It will be easier to calculate how many times you'd be charged in a month.
No matter what your political party affiliation, this affects you. Especially if you're not one of the top 1% who don't pay NSF fees at Chase anyway. Although they are probably paying a much bigger price due to the incompetence of Chase brokerage. I have a new mantra for us all: STOP THE STEAL CHASE BANK! Write your local congressperson and demand change. That's what I'm doing. Together, we can wipe those snug smiles right off their greedy faces. read more
