Comments on: Class Action Lawsuit #9 Against Chase has now been filed by Green Welling LLP

By: Brian Meeks

Brian Meeks — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:05:50 +0000

These ridiculous overdraft fees are killing me. I need to find out about filing suit or being part of a class action suit. I use my phone and it shows a declining balance mirroring my transactions yet I get hit with nsf fees. Are there others out there like me.

By: Thomas Sgarlata

Thomas Sgarlata — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:31:34 +0000

I would like to file, or join a class action law suit against Chase.

Two weeks ago without warning Chase took away the overdraft on my checking account. I had made several small charges that resulted in -$256 in overdraft charges for roughly $21 in purchases spread out over 6 transactions. 4 were $2.24 Coffee purchases. They claim they couldn’t remove them because they had already done a one time courtesy 11 months before. A week later i was overdrawn by -7 cents, then another coffee purchase of $2.24 that the vendor didn’t post for two days because it was a weekend and they hit me with another -$64 in charges. So for essentially a total of $-23.07 of being overdrawn Chase charged me -$320 in overdraft charges. That is almost my entire unemployment check for the week. I have been a client of Chase for 14 year and used to have $125k a year paying job. I have roughly paid 10k in interest on my overdraft that they took away from me during this period. For them to treat me this way in unconscionable, and to be charged $320 for $23 is criminal. This has to stop please let me know what i can do to file a lawsuit.

By: Christina

Christina — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:38:08 +0000

I need help. I hope it’s ok to post here. I want to file a class action lawsuit against chase bank in reference to there Online and over all banking. I feel like a total idiot each time calling chase why I am being charged NSF and Over draft fees. I have alerts on my account why do I receive an alert only after I am hit with a fee? A representative told me more or less that it’s a system they offer for us to use but it is not backed by the bank in the sense they can not be held accountable for not sending notices. I post payments and charges to my account I may see online as pending or not at all, then these charges are debited to my account and yet any deposits are held pending and at times goes through the same day but after I receive a fee.
They do not, as the law requires, process ALL activity in chronological order
each business day, they deduct all applicable fees first, withdrawals and debits second, and finally deposits and other additions (fee refunds and reimbursements) third. This is done to cause overdrafts and associated fees that can be generated against accounts and the unsuspecting NEVER catch on. I have caught them several times and reported them to the Federal Authorities, only to receive refunds (not always 100%, mind you) and a promise to not do it again.
They are not electronically reporting correct and current balance activity which causes one to think that the balance is higher than it truly is (charging, but not reporting non-Chase ATM fees, foreign purchases, etc) What can I do about this who can I write to who do I talk to, its bad enough to be a full time student and full time worker and living off my paycheck week to week. One representative sets me up for a protection savings account, never the less it was never set up and the next representative told me she was sorry he made the mistake but could do nothing about it. What’s going on? What can I do I constantly check my accounts before I make any payment and yet I’m still wrong?

By: Charles Clausen

Charles Clausen — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:27:33 +0000

Yesterday (March 26) I also received the notice from Chase Cardmember Service that they had “discovered that you were incorrectly sent a Change in Terms notice…(blah blah blah).”

What a late discovery – after my OCC complaint in January they continued to insist that they were holding by the change in terms, and then I became the named plaintiff in the class action suit discussed on this webpage, which was filed in February.

The “discovery” letter appears to be a mass mailing, but we don’t know as yet who all they may have sent such letters to.

Charles Clausen

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:47:39 +0000

Dr. Lahm, I did receive a letter from Chase in the mail today . . . indicating that they “discovered that you were incorrectly sent a Change in Terms notice . . . (blah blah blah). We have credited your account for the $10 monthly account service charge and your minimum payment due will revert to its previous calculation of 2% of the New Balance instead of 5%”.

By: Dr Robert Lahm

Dr Robert Lahm — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:05:56 +0000

Hi Jan,

People are sending in different reports to me by virtue of privately contacting me as well as comments on the site. There is no rhyme or reason to discern who Chase is targeting, and who it may “let off the hook.” Chase is apparently still charging some account holders, but not others. That being said, I plan to do everything in my power to make Chase back down as a result of media pressure.

The wonderful thing about Chase backing down (for any reason — publicity, threat of meaningful regulation, lawsuits — or “all of the above,” which is my personal favorite!), is that we will succeeded in sending a message to the credit card industry:

There’s a line in the sand that we’re not going to let credit card companies cross.

Meanwhile, in my last letter to Chase via the OCC I demanded that Chase issue a press release, taking this change in terms back!

This is not a game of touch football — it’s a hard core “taking it to the streets,” fight.

Take care.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:07:56 +0000

I just looked at my statement online. I too was being charged the $10 a month “service charge” and also had my minimum balance due go up. But today looking at my statement I have a $20 “service charge refund” credit on there! Have you heard anything about this? Are they going to do away with the $10 charge??

The one thing that I have learned from all of this is that I need to be done with credit cards FOR GOOD. So by increasing my minimum payment due each month, I figure it will just get me that much closer to our goal. So while it hurts to pay that additional amount, it is nice to see the balance go down quicker.

I’m curious to hear why they refunded the service charge! I hope that means they are getting rid of it. but I googled and haven ‘t found anything about it.

By: Chase class action lawsuit #12, filed by Green Welling LLP: It reminds us of donuts, and the sentiment that Chase’s reasoning is “full of holes.” – ChangeinTerms.com

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:15:40 +0000

[...] on the information that we have already been tracking, the Oregon case was already known to us as (#9), Charles Clausen v. Chase. In checking with the Green Welling LLP regarding Chase, it provided a [...]

By: lyn

lyn — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:03:55 +0000

Charles, thanks for the explanation. To clarify, it seems from what you wrote that you contacted OCC to complain about the “Change in Terms” and Chase responded by refunding the balance transfer fee, though you had not specifically demanded that. If so, I find that an interesting sort of tacit “admission” that they are no longer providing the service for which that fee was a “consideration, ” as Vito said.

By: Charles Clausen

Charles Clausen — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:02:18 +0000

In response to Lyn: I filed a complaint with the OCC using a PDF form available on their website – links to their site are in the right column of this ChangeinTerms webpage. The OCC does not have enforcement powers, but apparently they may somehow have minimal powers to persuade. After my complaint I got a letter back from Chase in which they said they would return my balance transfer fee, but said they would not lift the service fee and 5% rate of min. payment. They said nothing about return of the transfer fee justifying their continuing intention to impose of the new terms.

Just before I had received the Chase letter, I had received a letter from the OCC in which they said that they had contacted Chase, and if I was not satisfied with Chase’s response, I should contact them again. The content of this OCC letter was exactly the same as the one that Dr. Lahm received from the OCC dated 12-30-2008, a copy of which is in the column at right. I contacted the OCC again, saying that I was not satisfied with Chase’s response. The OCC has not yet responded to my last letter, so I would assume that my complaint is still being processed.

It may be that it is because processing of my OCC complaint is not yet completed that Chase has not yet applied the change in terms to my monthly billings for January and February, though they had said in their original notice that they would do this in January. My min. payment is still 2% of my carried balance, and no service fee has been charged.

I would encourage filing a complaint with the OCC. Even if it does not expedite return of your transfer fee, it may help to bring Chase’s actions to the attention of our new reform-minded administration, if the OCC receives a great many complaints.

I would also encourage Chase cardholders to get in touch with class action lawyers, even if they live in states in which suits have already been filed. My lawyer, Robert Green, would like to find an additional Oregon plaintiff who has already been billed for the new terms. He has mentioned that he may develop an additional class action in another state.

Applying compensation for the class action law suits that have been filed may be extremely difficult, as different cardholders have done different things in order to cope with the change in terms, but I would hope there will be provisions in the settlement that will compensate cardholders who transferred their Chase balances to other accounts.