Why am I leaving Chase Bank after only 3 months? Here’s the story:

I recently started my own business and heard a few good things about Chase. The major item that caught my attention was the “no fees” for anything shpeal- but shame on me for not doing my due diligence.

I had a pleasant experience with the Branch Manager who opened up my accounts. After discussing that I had just started my own business, he reiterated several times the “no banking fees” terms with both my personal and business checking accounts. But, of course, there is always a catch…and I got tangled in this net.

A $6.00 service charge appeared on my statement after three months and when I called to have it removed they refused and said it was in the terms and conditions of my account. I know what you’re thinking, “you called over a $6.00 charge.” No, I called over a matter of principle. Banks have an ongoing war with each other to open up new accounts and are constantly pulling business from each other, but it’s little things like this that after banking with almost every major bank offered in the Southwest that I’ve come to realize what really makes a great bank for my needs. And if Chase is willing to lose my business over $6.00, good riddens.

The real issue: Chase Online Banking
Here’s some free advice. There’s a reason why Bank of America and Wells Fargo offer online demos of their online banking systems on their home page. They are proud of their ease of use and customer experience - both elements add to the brand experience as well. Chase’s online demo of their online banking is more than 3 clicks in and is an eyesore to look at. And once you actually get into using it for real, there are too many options, having to click everywhere to never find the task you wish to perform, nomenclature is all over the board and hardly intuitive. Options are everywhere and the hierarchy of these elements are far from a users needs.

The worst of it? Operations. 3 of my vendors never received payment over a 2 month period and I had to reissue personal checks because I didn’t trust that they would be sent by Chase (major branding issues here). The real red flag was when one of my payees was supposed to receive payment that same day and I had scheduled it over 2 weeks prior and was still able to cancel/edit the check 3 days after payment was supposed to be received - meaning they NEVER SENT THE CHECK to my credit card company!

Judge for yourself:
Chase Online Banking Demos - the Demos page doesn’t even have navigation back to the main site: http://www.chase.com/cm/shared/crb/page/demo_selector.html

Wells Fargo Online Banking Demo: www.wellsfargo.com (easy to find under Banking on Home page)

Bank of America Online Banking Demo: https://www.bankofamerica.com/index.jsp (again easy to find in top left Online banking login box)

Good luck Chase, I hope someone is reading this who can make a difference. Adios.