85% OT: Chase Bank REALLY screws customer

[HeyBub]

Follow along:

1. Washington state man buys house and qualifies for 1st time buyer rebate from IRS.
2. IRS deposits ,000 in account of record for man (Chase)
3. Chase had already closed the account for numerous overdrafts.
4. Chase subtracts 0 for the overdraft fees and mails man a cashier's check for ,400.
5. Man takes check to local Chase branch and tries to cash it.
6. Bank is suspicious. Has man wait a day.
7. When man returns next day (a Thursday), cops arrive an arrest him for trying pass fraudulent check.
8. Bank discovers error the next day, but doesn't tell cops until the following Monday.
9. While man is in jail, his car (an Infiniti I-20) in the bank's parking lot was towed.
10. It took two weeks for Chase to re-issue the check. Meanwhile, without money, his car was auctioned off.
11. He also lost his job for missing five days of work.

All that was over a year ago and, despite repeated inquiries, no further word has been heard from Chase.

Now the man has a lawyer. Fireworks to follow.

P.S. I fired Chase when they charged my account fifty cents to convert a $20 bill into two rolls of quarters!

[Malcom "Mal" Reynolds]

Maximum rebate was $8000

How can you deposit a check into a closed account?

What happened to the the other $1000?

Suspicious of a cashiers check that they issued and being redeemed in the same bank issued it?

Auctions can't take place that quickly...90 days would be more likely

[Dick Keats]

This guy reminds me of Rodney Dangerfield who said that if he didn't have bad luck he wouldn't have any luck at all.

[Caesar Romano]

On Fri, 8 Jul 2011 20:40:07 -0500, "Dick Keats" wrote Re Re: 85% OT: Chase Bank REALLY screws customer:

I guess that's an example of a person's karma coming back at them.

But it's true. Chase does indeed suck.

[The Henchman]

1. Chase had already closed the account for numerous overdrafts.

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Without knowing the man, why is his account always in overdraft? Sounds like a deadbeat to me and maybe this individual should not own a home.

Balancing a chequebook properly is a simple task that many fail in today's society, however it is simple and those that do not do it receive little sympathy from me.

Sounds like the man partially screwed himself.

[krw]

While all this is true, it certainly doesn't make Chase, in any way, in the right. They deserve to get their pants sued off.

Not at all. Chase accused him of, and had him arrested for, forging their own paper and then doing nothing when the "mistake" was uncovered.

[The Henchman]

Not at all. Chase accused him of, and had him arrested for, forging their own paper and then doing nothing when the "mistake" was uncovered.

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The money was deposited in a closed chequing account. Does the man not have to bear a bit of that responsibility.

I agree he should NOT be in jail but why didn't he post bail? oh wait he's buying a house but can't afford to post bail?

Also something is suspicious about the car. The car was auctioned off after a week or two? Is that normal in Washington State??

Again this is just speculation.

[krw]

Perhaps, but there is no way a teller should allow such to happen, either.

It doesn't matter. As you point out "he should NOT be in jail" for even attempting to deposit a *PERFECTLY*GOOD* check on the SAME BANK that issued it. They should know IMMEDIATELY that it wasn't a bogus check. Whatever culpability as you think he may have, or whatever you think a "normal" person should know, the BANK IS IN THE BUSINESS. They have an obligation to know better. From the point the mistake was uncovered and not corrected, they should be on the hook for kidnapping.

No information.

It's not speculation that he was shafted.

[bob haller]

a friends wifes car was repoed in PA, he had less than a week to pay for it totally to stop auction.

once repoed lenders sell them fast to get back what money they can

[dpb]

On 7/9/2011 12:31 PM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

Well, actually, the story says they _DID_ discover the mistake and called the detective (who missed the call and apparently didn't check for messages for quite some time) and left a message the check was ok, after all.

One could say from that point on the blame is in the cop's department.

The car could not possibly have gone to auction and been sold in a week or two unless it was already well along in the repossession process. Just not possible it's going to happen otherwise, arrest or no.

That he was out of pocket and couldn't make the sale is certainly true but while unfortunate his first phone call should have been to a lawyer who would been able to contact a bail bondsman and get an emergency hearing and at least get his butt out of the slammer.

One needs to get serious about working a problem when it happens so while have sympathy for his predicament, have to say it appears he let things snowball into a mountain.

--

[bob haller]

well while in jail it would be hard to get much done to fix things.

the bank ricly deserves a massive lawsuit, and changing procedures so it cant happen again

[Don Klipstein]

Towing crook could sell the car and pay off the lien on the title?

[George]

Given our current hard conditions I think the pay of the top folks at the bank should be doubled---oh wait they already did that after the banks gambled heavily and screwed everyone and we had to bail them out because of that genius "too big to fail" marketing campaign...

[Malcom "Mal" Reynolds]

1) typically this money is a direct deposit from the IRS. It's entirely possible that he wasn't aware the account had been closed, this is made more credible by the other facts of the story and way Chase screwed the pooch at every turn.

Bank should have refused deposit, returned it to IRS who should have contacted the man and made other arrangements.

2) Why should the man be responsible for what Chase did?

[Don Klipstein]

As much crookery as I have heard about towers, especially in Philadelphia, I don't think sale of a towed car without owner's consent is all that hard to achieve in practice.

The way I hear it in PA, the car's most-recent purchaser gets a title that has a lien on it if a lien exists.

If the title-holder sells the car, the way I hear it in PA, the next-buyer has responsibility to determine that "the title is clear" or have the seller sign an Agreement Of Sale stating that "title is clear". Otherwise, the next-buyer-in-a-legal-sale buys the liens along with title to the vehicle, sometimes unknowingly.

I have been advised to buy used cars from strangers, etc. only if they sign "Agreement of Sale" including something along the lines of, "Seller warranties that the title is clear". (So far, I have only bought used cars from friends that I successfully trusted to still be friends with me years afterwards, along with 2 mechanics relying heavily on reputation of honesty.)

What about a towing operation's impoundment lot charging a big towing fee, a big daily storage fee, and it does not take long for that to exceed net worth of the car? And the towing business let's your liability to them be reduced to zero if you sign over the towed vehicle? (Preferably with agreement of sale in-writing relieving the towee of other/further/ additional financial obligations to the tower, but I wonder if some of the Philly area towers won't sign such a thing?)

Also, private parking lots with legally-allowed parking enforcement by towing have signs indicating such... Makes me think "Park here only if you agree to terms-and-conditions", like clicking "I Agree" to a license agreement for downloaded software, (even if paid-for and by a major brand), with the license agreement being

30 pages long and "I Agree" is allowed even if the license agreement was viewed for only half a second.

And with how much crookery Philadelphia's legislators get into, and with how much Philly is a hotbed of judges being elected after spending $$$$$ for endorsements, my view gets dim.

Please tell me how the OP's predicament is not in such a "tough town".

[George]

I live in PA and there is a space on the title for liens.

Can't sell a car in PA unless both the buyer and seller are both present. The agent cannot even begin the transfer unless there is a release of lien.

It doesn't really matter in PA. The lien would need to be recorded in Harrisburg and noted on the title.

There would still need to be some formal action against you. They can't simply seize and sell the car.

As a point of interest those are largely a bluff and have very little actual weight.

[gfretwell]

If a towing company takes a car in a legal tow they can put a lien on it for the accumulated fees and essentially "foreclose" on it. I am sure the owner of record will have to be notified but if the lien is not satisfied, they can get the title in a court action.

Generally these are used when an abandoned car is towed but it could be a brand new Rolls. State law will regulate the waiting times and terms that allow conveyance of the title.

[aemeijers]

That was a long-time racket in the town I went to college in. There was a little-publicized ordinance that any car parked in same spot for over

72 hours was considered abandoned, and could be towed. Somehow, it seemed the towings would spike 3 days after kids left on Xmas or spring break, and the non-US students went home for summer. In Indiana (at least back then, I haven't looked it up lately), towing company stores the cars, not a government impound lot. Once cars go to auction 30 days later, towing company's inflated tow and storage charges become the defacto first bid. Back then, most college kids drove junkers, not shiny imports, so the accumulated charges were often more than car was worth. So, for the cost of a little gas, the tow company got a free car.

It was a favorite way for pissy neighbors to get even with students living next door that they didn't like- call the PD with a 'junk car' complaint, when they knew the kid was out of town.

[George]

Sure, but my point was what you noted that the owner would need to be notified.

[George]

And the other famous is when crooked cops are involved. Say your car breaks down and you coast off to the side of the road and it is not a hazard. Cop shows up and immediately declares it is a "hazard" and notifies their "towing partner" who then splits the $250 "emergency towing" fee with the cops.