Chase Bank Doesn’t Honor It’s Own Customers Checks…
…without charging a surcharge.
No lie.
I went to cash a check on a JP Morgan Chase account, at a local JP Morgan Chase Bank, and was told that there was a $5 charge for the privilege of getting the money that is owed me. I am filing a complaint with the owner of the account.
Now the point of checks is so that you can make large purchases (or payments) without carrying around large amounts of cash. The bank makes money off the interest that it acquires by reinvesting your deposits (or so the theory goes). They also make money by charging their own customers various fees. But to subtract from a payment in check form, makes the payment short on fulfillment and thus a broken contract. In this case the broken contract is between the payer and myself but was caused by the payers bank refusing to honor the full amount of the check.
The attitude of the teller was very interesting. When she first informed me that there was a charge, I asked her if I had made a mistake and was the check not drawn on a Chase bank account. She said that she would check (even though it said JP Morgan Chase on the front of the check) and then pulled the account up on the computer. The teller then informed me that it was, in fact, a Chase account but that a $5 charge for payment would still apply. I was short of time to argue with her and let her go ahead and short the check for $5. She told me that I could avoid the charge, IF I would agree to start a “free” account. I told her that, “…No I don’t need another bank account and that the reason that I came here was that this was the bank the check was drawn on.” She had been keeping up a chit-chat conversation with the adjacent teller and didn’t bother to respond to my comment at all.
I urge any people who receive a check drawn on a Chase bank to demand payment in some other form, to avoid being shorted. I also urge those who have Chase accounts (especially commercial customers who could suffer large lawsuits pursuant to failure meet contract obligations) to close them and explain why, so that the bank reconsiders how it should treat it’s own customers, and the customers of it’s customers.
Apparently, I was lucky that I got the majority of MY money at all…
Boycott Chase Bank | A G K Y R A
More Chase horror stories…
Chase Bank HATES Their Customers!
Chase Bank Tries to Pull a Fast One…
Boycott Chase Bank and Learn What Not to Do In Customer Service…
Rip Off Report: JPMorgan Chase Bank ripoff Houston Texas…
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” — Thomas Jefferson
“I sincerely believe … that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale.” — Thomas Jefferson
“You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.” — Andrew Jackson: To delegation of bankers discussing the Bank Renewal Bill, 1832
Someone knowledgeable left the following comment on my post about Chase Bank on my blog. If I understand it, since Chase didn’t honor the check from their customer, the person/company that wrote you the check is liable. Chase is liable, in turn, to that person, their customer, but not to you. So if you sue whoever gave you the check, they can sue Chase Bank. That might be the only way to end this dishonest practice.
Here was the comment left on my blog:
Chase should honor the presentment of the check, however, they are not liable to you for dishonoring it. A body of law called the Uniform Commercial Code controls here. Section 3-409 of the UCC states that “the drawee is not liable on the instrument until he accepts it” The drawee is the bank and you are the recipient of the instrument, in this case a check. The bank did not accept the check for payment, so you have no recourse against the bank. According to Section 3-122(e), “[a] cause of action against a drawer of a draft or an indorser of any instrument accrues upon demand following dishonor of the instrument.” The “drawer” is the person who wrote you the check. Therefore, the drawer is liable to you. Further, Section 4-402 states “[a] payor bank is liable to its customer for damages proximately caused by the wongful dishonor of an item.” Therefore, the bank is liable to the person who wrote you the check in the event that you enforce your rights against that person for payment.
Comment by Agkyra — March 1, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Yes. This is exactly correct, which is why I am filing a complaint with the account holder. By accepting the deducted payment, however I may have no final recourse. We will see where it goes. My main intent was to make people aware of this scam and that it is a basic contract violation for payment of a debt.
Thanks for your input and the references.
And, thanks for stopping by.
David
Comment by David — March 1, 2008 @ 8:32 pm