Not since the AT&T debacle of December . . .

Not since the AT&T debacle of December . . .
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Have I been this mad. New reader? Need a refresher, sorry, you'll have to go back through my totally unsorted archives and find something in November or December 2007. Back then, in the old days, I REALLY had a hate thing going on with AT&T. But, that was nothing like what I feel for CHASE.

You'll be happy to know I've shifted my corporate hatred. Please join me in hating CHASE. Feel free to hate this institution in anyway shape or form. I do. If you read here, you know we're redoing the house (all from a nasty plumbing leak which pushed some of our plans ahead two years, but ...) Several years ago, we got an equity line of credit on the house. We have used it only a few times, it's kind of our emergency back-up. Our mortgage is also with Chase. We've always paid on time, always paid more than necessary, did I mention we ALWAYS pay ON TIME?

We planned our kitchen remodel thinking we would use our Chase line of credit. We decided to go a little nuts and get some fun stuff (mind you, the plan for the kitchen was for under $5000 - floors, counters, cabinets, everything - we're not talking about great sums of money here). We figured with the home equity account we could pay everything off in 12-18 months. We angsted and re-did our plans many times before I headed to IKEA on Sunday.

Once at IKEA, I met a lovely woman named Britta. She spent a lot of time with me nailing down details and offering useful suggestions. We finally got it all done and I gave her my shiny CHASE card. Not approved. If you've ever been truly broke and living on the edge, you know what a horrible, shameful, sinking feeling something like this gives you. BUT ... I KNEW there was money (lots of money) on our credit line and I knew our account was up-to-date. Britta was very kind and ran the card again. We tried several variations, with each variation, I wished the floor could swallow me whole. We tried calling the "customer service" number on the back, but CHASE doesn't offer customer service on Sunday. At that point, I would have gladly walked to the exit of IKEA naked if it would take away the declined card humiliation.

Today, I started calling around 10 am. The computer system was down. Finally, around 1:30, I reached someone who had a clue. By this point I was a total basket case - because I'm a glass-half-empty kind of gal. I just KNEW something was not good. When the glass IS half-empty, I'm almost always right. That's why the good things are so good - I never expect them.

I talked to the first girl and she wasn't making sense and, smart girl, she recognized it and transferred me to a new department. There, I met a very special kind of woman. I think the word for this type of woman is bitch. She didn't even listen to me before she launched into her "speech." We're sorry, but after a digital appraisal of your home, we've frozen your credit line.

Me: HUH? What's a digital appraisal?
Her: Your home equity has gone done, so we've frozen your account.
Me: How much has it gone down?
Her: It's appraised at $x.xx
Me: That's still three times what we paid for the house. And houses here are selling well.
Her: Well, you always have the option of paying for an appraisal and then mailing us the results - we don't accept emailed or faxed appraisals.
Me - You're serious? (here is where my voice hit hysterical) I have a gutted kitchen and no access to my home equity line, even though we pay on time and have a good credit rating?
Her - Yes, I'm serious.
Me - I have four boys here, three are teenagers and NO kitchen. Do you understand what that means? We would not have ripped out the kitchen if we had known that our line of credit was going to be blocked.
Her - Did you get a letter?
Me - (losing patience) Do you really think that I would have ripped my kitchen out if I had received a letter? Do you think it's good business to send your customers into stores to be humiliated? Shouldn't you notify them BEFORE you cancel their lines of credit?
Her - (typing) Ahhh, you should get your letter this week. And, no, we don't have to inform you beforehand.
Me - So what are my options?
Her - You can have an independent appraisal done and then mail us the results and we'll get back to you in 3-6 weeks. Really, though, if you watch the news, you should have seen this coming.
Me - (here is where I snapped) Are you serious? Did the news scroll names of customers who'd suddenly lost their equity lines? Are you f-ing kidding me? (yes, I swore at the anonymous lady, but only because she was so nasty and I know that's not a good reason but ...damn)
Her - Everyone watches the news. You should have seen this coming.
Me - (you're all aware of my serious news "habit") You have to be kidding. I should have known that our line of credit was blocked from watching the news? Is there anyone else I can talk to?
Her - I can take your name and number and have a manager call you.
Me - Ummm...you already have more information about me than my own family. And, yes, please have the manager call me.

Guess what? No on called. We've redesigned the kitchen to be functional, eliminated the "fun" things I was so excited about. We cannot afford many more days of not having a kitchen. So, we'll go with functional and suck it up.

I don't get how a bank would deny customers like us. We ALWAYS pay and we ALWAYS pay on time. We've been in this house for ten years. Even in downtimes the house is well-appreciated. Why do we have to "pay" for their stupid loans? I DO know, however, that once we get the remodeling done, the first thing on my list will be to change banks. FOREVER.

I hate to be humiliated in public (especially when I'm arguing about WHY the salesperson must be wrong), WHY would CHASE put their customers in this position? My stomach is still churning. It's one thing to be really broke and have to put stuff back to get the total of your grocery shopping down. (Been there, done that.) But, that wasn't the case here and I am so freaked out by having to revisit the days when this was the norm. I'm weird, but I've already checked our bank account three times today. Just to be sure. I hate having a stranger telling ME????? to watch the news to get updates on my account. Am I nuts? Do you all keep track of your credit via network news? I'm fighting the urge to go and water down the milk - just to be sure we have enough money. We do, but I seem to be in a fight or flight struggle right now. Am I totally nuts?

We'll go pick up the cabinets and stuff tomorrow. It's not what I wanted or planned for, but we can afford it. And, at the same time I realize how good we really have it. As I type, I"m watching the news (haven't seen our bank info posted yet, but I'm sure it's coming right after the cyclone in Myanmar/Burma and the earthquake in China) I'm sure what we're ending up with will work fine for the 10-years we planned for this remodel.

I am trying to get past feeling so guilty for feeling sad about having to "settle" once again. It's stupid and I know I'll get past it once I have a kitchen again. I'm letting go of the kitchen I "thought" we would have and embracing the one we will have. Gah. I'm just a big fat baby.



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02:22 AM (UTC -4)