If you want the run around, if you want to sit on hold for an untold amount of time, if you have nothing better to do than learn a secondary language from a 3rd world country and then practice it on the telephone with customer disservice reps then Chase is your place.  That’s right folks, Chase bank the former WAMU or Washington Mutual is the worst bank I have ever dealt with.  I have experience with poorly ran financial institutions, I have been a customer of Bank of America for 15 years or more.

My issues with Chase all started when I called in to inquire about a secured credit card.  I am recently divorced and due to that had filed bankruptcy which is all a long story but nevertheless, this is why I was looking into a secured card.  I can not currently get a regular credit card due to the recent bankruptcy.  I went online to apply for the card.  I could not find anywhere online to apply for the card, I only could find very basic general info.  It basically stated that these types of cards were for people that were looking to rebuild their credit or for other reasons could not obtain a card regularly. 

I initially got through to the credit card department at the 800 number listed under the ”contact us” link.  The guy there said that they are actually another company that is a 3rd party not really Chase at all and that he can not tell me anything about what Chase offers in the way of secured cards.  He said he can only answer questions about existing accounts.  He suggested I call back the same 800# and speak to customer service, he did however warn me that they were probably closed due to the late hour.  It was 3:30pm Pacific Standard Time.  I did make the call.  Good thing I took 4 years of foreign language in high school, this made me somewhat fluent in accents which came in very handy on the first call as well as this secondary call.  When I got the customer service rep on the line she suggested she transfer me to the credit card department.  I told her that I just talked to them and that they had told me to call customer service.  She then suggested that I go into the bank.  She ended up transferring me back to the credit card department.  They transferred me back to customer service, I was so excited cause I got the first English speaking as a 1st language rep so far when calling into Chase.

I didn’t bother getting anyone’s name throughout this ordeal because I could not understand them and I would have had to ask them to spell it which I figured would be rude.  At any rate me and the English speaking as a 1st language rep got started, I told her what I had been through thus far.  She didn’t really sound like she wanted to hear it.  She proceded to tell me that Chase didn’t offer secured cards.  I asked in protest why they are advertising them on their website.  She mentioned she may have been wrong especially if something had changed within the past 24 hours.  She said she would check on it for me and placed me on hold.  She then came back and said that Chase did offer secured cards.  She looked up what info she had available to her and quoted it to me, amazingly it was the same info that was already stated on the main website, basically saying what a secured card is.

The rep told me I would need to have a savings account with Chase, I advised her that I had recently opened one about a week earlier and that I had only made the minimum deposit.  I told her that I would put more in but that’s why I was calling so I could know how much was needed.  She said that I would need more than the minimum amount, when she said that I thought, “Wow!”  “I’m glad I got to talk to this lady today, she’s super smart!”  Seeing that I was not getting any info that I needed I suggested to her that I would just stop by the local branch when I got a spare minute.  She thought that was a good idea and we ended our relationship.

I called again today cause I was kinda bored and was also wondering when Chase was gonna post the money they had debited from my BofA account on Friday.  I called and the girl who answered sounded like maybe she had just earlier been enjoying a colada by the pool in her home country of NOT AMERICA!  Anyway, I asked her when the money would be in the account and she said, “The money is not in the account yet.”  I was beside myself with awe, I advised her that I knew that and was just wondering when I could expect the funds to be there.  She said, “There are no guarantees when the money will be there.”  I was really excited now, I had just put $200.00 into cyber nowhere on it’s way to a financial institution that I am now fully convinced is run outside of our fine country and now am being told essentially, “Hey, thanks for the cash, but no promises k?” 

I almost flipped out on the girl but she quickly followed up her earlier less than brilliant comment with, “you should see it within 3-5 business days from the date of deposit.”  I guess her online translator was experiencing a 7 second delay.  I will wait until Friday and see what happens.  I can’t wait to see what’s coming next with Chase.  I guess they want you to Chase down answers and Chase your money around too at Chase.

Related posts:

  1. Update Bank of America Home Loan
  2. Bank of America Ultimate Home Loan Fail