[GPSCC-chat] Problems With Chase Bank

[Spencer Graves]

Hi, John:


       I recommend NEVER using debit cards online, because identity 
theft is too easy and too costly with a debit card.  I use credit cards 
online, because US credit card law makes it relatively easy to contest 
questionable transactions.  Debit card charges are much harder to 
contest, and you can easily be forced to pay fraudulent debit card charges.


       Can you use a Credit Union?


       A recent Al Jazeera article on "A public option for banking" says 
that some Social Security and Disability recipients have debit cards 
with major banks, because they do not otherwise have a checking account, 
and it's extremely difficult and expensive for them cash benefit 
checks.  In January the US Postal Service released a white paper 
suggesting they be authorized to run a postal bank.


        In 2011, I wrote a "Move your money" flier that described an 
eight-step process for selecting an alternative financial institution.  
The first step in that process is to choose another financial 
institutions.  It took me several months of research to finally select 
Provident Credit Union;  I selected them, because they offered interest 
with a checking account.  (It's currently 1.76%, down from 2.24% when I 
started with them.)  All the other financial institutions offered 
something like 0.04% or less.)  A version of that flier is available as 
"No Credit Card trifold" on our web site at 
"http://www.cagreens.org/santaclara/resources/flyers/noCreditCdDebt20111013.pdf". 



       Hope this helps.
       Spencer


On 3/13/2014 8:25 AM, John Thielking wrote:
>
>
>       South Bay <https://www.indybay.org/southbay> | Global Justice
>       and Anti-Capitalism <https://www.indybay.org/globalization>
>
> *Problems With Chase Bank*
> by John Thielking ( pagesincolor [at] yahoo.com 
> <mailto:pagesincolor at yahoo.com> )
> /Wednesday Mar 12th, 2014 4:52 PM /
>
>     Chase Bank is no longer a serious bank. Has anyone else had
>     problems with them similar to what I am having?
>
> Has anyone else experienced the following problem with their bank 
> recently (my bank is Chase)? Scores of debit card charges over the 
> past two months have been declined allegedly due to the transactions 
> being flagged for possible fraud. I say allegedly because I doubt this 
> is the real reason. Two sets of transactions cause me to think that 
> legitimate flagging for fraud is not the true cause. One set of 
> transactions was with Microsoft to do a prepayment for the Bing search 
> engine. Half the online marketers in the world use Bing so doing a 
> transaction with them through Chase should be completely routine. 
> Another set of transactions over a period of two months or more was 
> for my web hosting company esilverbullet. I have had the exact same 
> debit charges (on the exact same days of the month) paid to that 
> account through Chase (and before that to brightbuilders who were sold 
> to esilverbullet paid through Wamu before Wamu became Chase) for the 
> past 11 years. Why they decided to flag that set of transactions for 
> fraud at this late date is a complete mystery. When I talked to a 
> customer service rep at my local Chase branch he told me that he has 
> had similar problems with his debit card. In my view, Chase is no 
> longer a serious bank. I am moving all of my monthly online billing to 
> no longer use my Chase debit card, effective immediately. In some 
> cases I am paying my bills for 6 months in advance by check. Does 
> anyone else have any comments or experiences to add?
> Add Your Comments <https://www.indybay.org/comment.php?top_id=18752490>
>
>
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-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com

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