Rip-off Alert - Chase CD Early Withdrawal Penalty

Wow this is very timely for me as my WaMu (now Chase) 5% CD just matured this week. The letter arrived at my house and told me to call the 800 number for "special rates" on a renewal. I did so, but the CSR had no good rates to offer me and suggested I stop in to my local Chase branch which I did last evening. I had three accounts which I had opened with WaMu: Free Checking, Online Savings (which had a high MM yield at the time I opened it) and the 5% CD. In the branch I told the rep that I wanted to close the CD and the Savings account and move everything into checking. They were very nice and did exactly what I asked, but I did have to sit through a bit of a sales pitch about moving my money into Mutual Funds and so forth. In the end, it was not a huge hassle and I plan to ACH the money out of the Chase checking account and close all my Chase accounts. As this posting says, be really careful that you move your money out of the CD within the grace period!

I closed my Wamu(now Chase) CD last month and it was a huge hassle. The worst part was that I didn't get my check until two weeks after I closed the CD, despite the CSR's contention that it was mailed on the day I closed the account. I think they are holding the money for 10 days after you close the CD, b/c the agreement specifically says they don't pay interest during that period. Thus, they get the benefit of the "float," i.e. using the money for 10 days w/o having to pay for it......

This has been discussed on this site several times. You can instruct to have your cd closed 35 days BEFORE maturity. Don't you people read these blogs????? Pay attention and realize that banks are NOT your friends. They will use you - so you best be using them.

Good for you, JOHN, you have time to read every blog.

But many people like myself have to work for a living and do not have time or access to a computer every day. Sometimes a week or more will go by before I access the internet or even my e-mail.

Don't be so harsh on others that are less fortunate than yourself!

John -

Actually no, Chase (at least in my area) states specifically that you must contact them on the day of the CD maturity, or within the following grace period. It's silly to imagine that such a bank as Chase, with its horribly low rates and nefarious financial practices, would offer us something like a "prior 35 day grace period".

To John. Yes, I do read these blogs every day. And NO, Chase would NOT allow me to give them my instructions to close my CD's early. I talked with 5 to 6 CSR's and they ALL said that I must close it ON OR AFTER THE DATE OF MATURITY. After reading a blog a couple months back informing me that I can request to close my account 35 days in advance, I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor confirmed that I CANNOT request to have my CD closed UNTIL THE MATURITY DATE OR AFTER. So, John, I don't know where you are getting your information, but it doesn't apply to Chase.

To Anonymous, 7:16 AM, October 15, 2009. It also took Chase a couple of weeks to get a physical check to me. I called and complained after 10 days when the first one never came in. They said that they do not see that a check was sent, apologized, and said that they would issue another to me. After calling back again on another day and speaking to another supervisor I finally received my check. The check for my second CD “only” took 9 days to come in. I was not very happy about the delay and accused Chase that of deliberately delaying sending checks to their customers. They did not deny it, but only responded that they had 7 to 10 BUSINESS days to get it to me. How long does it take to cut a check? When I received my second check I noticed the postmark was 2 days after the date on the check. I will never have a CD with Chase again!

My Wamu/Chase cd came due two weeks ago. Before got countless calls from my local branch, then a week before the due date got a letter from chase.

I went to the bank-I listened to what they had to offer in rates, NOT GOOD, so I informed the csr that I would be closing it today.

He asked me why,I could do much better in rates,He Said where-On-line banks-He Said we can't compete with that-our rate are tied to prime.

After sitting their he printed a paper out,withdrawal slip and told me to give this to the teller and tell her how you want it 50's,100's.

I LOOKED AT HIM like he was an idiot-This cd was a substantial amount. I said you got a briefcase and two armed guards, are you kidding???

After now asking for two id's he eventual went and got me a cashiers check.

They must be losing a LOT of WAMU's cd money and are NOT happy!

on a side note.... who the hell would open a 12 month CD for 0.25%?

Broadway Federal Bank also has a one-year penalty for closing a CD early.

JPMorganChase posted a $3.59 Billion profit last quarter.

I agree that Chase seems to have unfairly harsh & costly penalties for early withdrawal. I also agree with Anonymous at 9:29 A.M. in suspecting that a lot of depositors who had WaMu CDs are pulling their funds out of Chase when those CDs mature.

That is certainly what I did when my WaMu CD matured last week, but my experience was much more pleasant. I received the usual reminder letter about a month in advance, and also a phone call about a week prior to the maturity date. The caller wanted to encourage me to roll the funds over into a new Chase CD, but she didn't waste my time once I told her that Chase's rates are not competitive with those of online banks. She also confirmed that I could only make arrangements for withdrawing my funds on the maturity date or within the grace period thereafter.

On the maturity date, I visited the WaMu-turned-Chase branch (L.A. area) where I had opened the CD, and merely needed to provide my account number and PIN in order to withdraw the entire balance of the matured CD.

Following my instructions, they provided me with two cashier's checks and transferred the small remainder into my WaMu-turned-Chase savings account. I plan to transfer those funds into my Chase checking account to pay some bills, and will then close both those accounts because there are better rates elsewhere, as we know through the much appreciated efforts of the Banking Guy. Still, even if their rates are far from great, I wanted to make it clear that my experience in closing this Chase CD was easy and problem-free.

When possible, I always stop by the bank on maturity date. When not possible (e.g. with internet banks), I'll call a day or two before maturity, and I'll call every day after that until the CD is closed.

Hey, those who are recommended for investment options, I'm in the same situation.
I was thinking about moving all money into other reward checking accounts, but they recommened me Franklin Templeton funds. I'm still not sure if they are good, since all funds there are load fund like they take at least 3.5% service charge for long term investment.

Did anybody take these investment options at Chase?

Isn't this really a procrastinator alert not a "rip-off" alert?

When you open a CD you know the day it will mature. You have several days of grace to make your move afterwards.

If anything, you're ripping yourself off if you can't manage to get it done.

I just closed my 5% cd an hour ago. Chase had called me last week and had me schedule an appointment to do this. They said that without the appointment I could be around there for quite a while.
At the scheduled appointment, they presented what they had to offer. I told them no thanks, I have other plans. They then ask about my other plans and I declined to provide. The agent then went and made a bank check (with the WaMu name on it) and closed out the account. The agent was nice but knew that Chase does not have much to offer. A friend of my had told me that this is the nightmare of these high interest cd's when they mature. Billions of dollars in cd’s were pumped into WaMu to try & keep them afloat and now billions of dollars will flow out because of low interest rates. I guess you can’t blame Chase for trying.

I CALLED in my instructions A MONTH prior to maturity. The wamu cd WAS transferred as instructed. I also called to confirm this on the maturity date.

Take PROACTIVE steps - not reactive. These are companies that do not care AT ALL about you or I.

John:

I'm the guy who posted the 2nd comment. Just so you know, I called Chase 5 days BEFORE my date of maturity and asked if I could close it out early. They told me that they would be more than happy to comply but that I would be charged an EARLY WITHDRAWAL PENALTY. Obviously, I declined and called back on maturity date. Maybe you were dealing with WAMU before it became Chase, or maybe you got hammered with an early withdrawal penalty and didn't realize it. Regardless, I can assure everyone that if you cash out early with Chase, you will pay for it.

Just wanted to echo Snippy: I stopped at my branch the day the CD matured, the CSR was very nice and closed the CD into my checking account, from which I requested a cashier's check (deposited in an ATM for my reward checking account on the way home). No problems at all.

Me too I was not allowed to instruct how to close this CD by maturity date.
I went to bank on the maturity date to avoid issues.
In CA, my wamu branch is already converted to chase.

I also just closed my 5% CD so did my husband. WaMu/Chase would do it only after maturity date.
Think about the profit they made since last year. Even though we knew the fact WaMu was not doing well already a year ago, many people opened WaMu's 12month CD and lots of money were sitting there.

I will be going to a branch the day my CD matures. If they try to push mutual fund investments on me, I will tell them exactly why I will not do that: I am morally opposed to being a part-owner (i.e., stockholder) of corporate entities whose business practices are antithetical to my own ethical standards.

John,

I made the post Anonymous, 9:21 AM, October 15, 2009.

We believe that you were able to arrange to have your CD closed in advance. Now, please believe us when we say that we were NOT able to prearrange the closing of our CD's. It may be that they allow prearranged closings in some of their markets, but not in others. Judging from the comments made, it sounds like you are one of the very few fortunate ones who were able to arrange to close your CD in advance. I agree with you...be proactive. I TRIED to arrange the closing of my CDs a week before they matured, but Chase refused to let me do so. One can only be proactive when one is allowed to be.

Please cut some slack to us who tried to do what you were able to do, but were not successful because Chase refused our requests. We must live in a different market/area/state than you do.

This sounds scary! I just made a request to close my Wamu CD (Now chase) and have the money deposited into my chase checking. What's the best way to close the checking account after ACHing out the money without getting hit by fees?

Like many of your CD's - my CD matured last month as well. I was unable to cancel my CD via Telephone like some readers mentioned - but I did goto the bank during the grace period. Has anyone also noticed that they mail you the renewal letter like 6 weeks prior to the rollin - I suspect they are hoping that you will forget to cancel it (which I almost did). Chase offered me a very poor CD rate ; it was actually 1% - I'm shocking to see the readers friend was only offered .20% (that must be the non-negotiated rate like many of the banks are doing). The banker offered to place my money in the stock market or in bonds. The banker quoted me a safe corporate bond yielding 2% - yeah :-( My money was moved to savings and will soon be moved to another bank. Another interesting note, the banker said that i could wait till after the grace period to cancel the CD without a penalty - I said, 'oh yeah, what about the cancellation fee' - he said, oh we wouldn't do that if it's only 1 or 2 days past the grace period - we're a nice bank. I said yeah right - move my money to a savings account - NOW !!

I went to my Chase branch in NY. I had to go to the bank in person on the day the CD matured or within the grace period. They would not set up anything sooner. I had them transfer the money to my checking account which was available immediately. I was foutuate that they were busy and the branch manager closed the CD for me (I also had my 4 year old with me!)

This is a good example of why we need a consumer protection agency for financial institutions.

The focus has been on credit cards and mortgages, but it should also examine obscene fees like this one.

I am closing all my Chase accounts next week when my last Wamu CD matures. Chase has made the Wamu online savings account no longer competitive, and now has also ruined their Freedom credit card rewards. Instead of 3% cash back on your top 5 categories (with a Chase checking account) you now get only 1.1% ... so I see no reason to continue doing business with Chase.

I just opened a checking account with BB&T online ... with a $100 bonus. Bye bye Chase. I'll keep the credit card only because closing it will ding my credit score, but it will be inactive.

Chase figured out a way to make 1,000+ % Interest !!
Chase just found another way to charge outrageous interest rates - customers beware, expect more banks to follow suit. What Interest rate is Chase earning on the $3,025 penalty (100K balance) if the customer cancels the CD after just 10 days of renewal: 1,104.125% return to Chase. Somebody call the Cops!!

Chase has a $10,000 per transaction and $25,000 per day external transfer limit. When my WaMu CD matured, I had to go into the branch and arrange for a wire out, which is free if it comes from checking, $20 if from savings.

My husband closed his five percenter at Chase with no problems. I make a note of all CD maturities on my computer calendar so that we don't run over. We did this at the branch on the actual day of maturity and after speaking to an account rep, she had the teller cut a check for the amount. We did get a call from one of their investment reps about two weeks prior to the maturity to tell us that he could help with reinvesting. We knew this would be non FDIC insured junk and cut him short with a "not interested" comment. This Chase tactic scares me and I don't know how they have the gall to rob working class people of so much money.

If you have Chase ACH ability, I would not recommend it to push money. You must have the money in your account for 5 business days before you can initiate the push and then it takes them 5 business days to process it they say. This results in a 10 business day hold on your money where they are earning interest. This is worse than holding a check to see if it clears! Easiest to use ACH at another fin instit or snail mail that check!

Chase called me before my cd matured asking me to come in and discuss options of what to do with the money. I said I had already decided and I was sending it to another bank. She did not ask for what instrument. I don't want to deal with Chase any more.

I am currently leaving my free checking account open with $10 because they do give you free cashiers checks and money orders which is nice and it is just around the corner for me.

BTW, I asked 3 different CSRs at 2 different branches and they both said that I could NOT give CD instructions prior to maturity date.

On maturity date, I went into branch, waited in line for the counter CSR to transfer the CD money to my free checking account. Then waited in line for a desk CSR to initiate two wires for me which were free. Chase also doesn't charge for wiring money out. I gave the instructions on Saturday and that monday morning they were wired to my small bank in another state. The balance I pulled out by check as my other receiving Reward checking bank was going to charge me for RECEIVING a wire!

Also, I have a chase Ultimate Rewards checking account. They changed the bonus reward so that you can not have the money credited directly to your statement on the balance owed, now you have to request a check to be snail mailed to you. They sent my $50 check to a year-old address! They have managed to send my last 13 statements to the correct address, but the check they send to my old address. Why couldn't they just credit it to my balance? So they could lose the check!!! That was August 7th and I am still trying to get my $50 that they sent to the wrong address!!!

I think they are crooks and more guilty of financial terrorism on USA than those that were held at Guantanamo Bay! Re-open Guantanamo Bay and put the fin instit CEOs in there!

Better check your interest you received from your account. I checked my interest on my 13 month, 5% account. They shorted me $73.00. When I complained they re-figured and said that they would give me an additional $68.00. They said I was figuring the interest wrong as it was not month to month. It was time period to time period and apparently the time period can float. This information was provided by a supervisor and the regular agent I was dealing with said this was something new to them. I wanted to know exactly how this time period thing works, but they couldn't seem to find time to help me on that issue while I was waiting. I finally told myself to take the $68.00 and get the heck out of there. They are going to have to come up with one heck of a high cd rate for me to use this bank again.
(Note) I had called the customer service number before I went back down to the branch, I wound up in a foreign country with a very confused agent on the other end. There was no help from that direction.

I already took my money out after it matured in 13 months. Credit Unions offer better rate than Chase CDs...

i would strongly suggest anyone who considers getting a check mailed, especially if you have a 100k CD to try to get to a local branch or open a checking account as you will WAIT. expect 2 weeks before you see anything in the mail, and then it might be another week to get the check cleared/cashed at another bank.

i will say customer service for me was polite.

there are numerous reasons for the long hold time. obviously writing checks doesn't take priority at a bank, cashing them and opening/maintaining new accounts does first. they also got through a review process looking for potential charge back situations. and like most firms, the check printing and mailing operation is all outsourced with seperate IT systems so another few days delay occurs. heck it wouldn't surprise me if the check printing is outsourced to india and ship over in batches via barge.

The nice folks on this blog saved my bacon when my WAMU internet CD matured last month.

I had received the 6-weeks-early warning letter from WAMU. It stated quite clearly that no action to close the CD could be taken until the maturity date or within the 10-day grace period, and then only by telephone. Problem was, I was going to be traveling overseas the entire month of September and it would be bloody inconvenient to handle the issue by international phone call from the remote area where I would be..

But because of reading early posts on this subject on this blog, I took a shot at phoning WAMU about 30 days before maturity. "Oh yes," said the CSR, "you can instruct us now to close the CD on its maturity date. Just send a notarized letter to (a PO box address in San Antonio) and it will be done. However, you cannot have the money ACHed to your Chase checking account; it must be mailed to you by check."

That sounded okay to me. The letter went out via certified mail three weeks before maturity, and the check was waiting for me upon returning home two weeks after maturity.

In careful reading of the above posts, I suspect the relative ease of this transaction was due to dealing with WAMU rather than Chase, but who knows for sure? As more than one poster surmised, it may simply be a matter of geographical market.

The reasons I regale you with this story are to add another version of the ever-varied experiences we've been having with this WAMU-Chase situation, and to thank those of you who posted the "call in advance" instructions that I otherwise wouldn't have deduced.

I fouled up and missed the period for one of my three 5%ers.

When I went in to close the other two, the CSR encouraged me to consider breaking the one he saw had just renewed. (Goes against my grain. It was my fault after all)

He decided on his own to check the penalty and we were both dumbfounded when we saw it.

This is in defense of Chase. There are conflicting statements in this thread as to can or cannot one close CD account by calling in advance and giving instructions to do so. I can only speak from personal experience. I called in late September and ask rep. to close CD and transfer money to my fee checking. When I checked this afternoon, the account was closed and money were transferred.

I had a real go around with Chase/WAMU when I attempted to close 2 of the 5% CDs I had. I went into my local branch on the 7th day of my 7 day grace period (which was a Saturday) and they tried to tell me that my grace period had expired because the 7th day was not a business day. Even though they were open, they didn't consider Saturday as a business day, and consequently my grace period actually expired on the 6th day which was Friday. They now wanted to charge me a severe interest penalty on both CDs because according to them the last day of my grace period was actually Friday (6th day) and not the Saturday (7th day) . Several calls to corporate did get this resolved and they finally closed the CDs without penalty. So be careful when the 7th day of your grace period falls on a Saturday. Chase considers these non business days even though the branch is open.

I sent Chase a secure message about closing my 5.00% CD. This is what I received.

To redeem your CD, you may:

- Send us a request via Secure Message Center.
- Contact a Telephone Representative at the number below.
- Visit your local branch. If visiting a branch, please be
sure to bring valid identification

I don't have any other accts. with Chase except for 2 credit cards. My CD info is listed along side of my credit card info when I log in. I think everyone was saying you had to call by phone or make a branch visit.
I'm going to try the secure message center. That way I dont have to listen to any sales pitch

If you have a chase checking acct, close the CD and transfer the money to checking is the easiest way to go. I called in but wasn't happy that I require to punch the SSN. I called multiple times and couldn't reach anyone. Here is what you need to do, punch in *0 after dialing the main number, then something like personal deposit account. There will be some Indian spoken people in India to help you. Once he/she thinks, everything is verified, they will transfer you to the retention department where the actual execution will take place. My sister got stuck with the Indians part because she wants Chase to mail her the check. She was asked couple security questions and was told she failed. My sister was furious because one of the questions was if she ever lives on such street name and she answered no. The thing is her husband lived in that street name, not her. How stupid is their system! Just mail the check to where the address the CD is used and done, right? Wrong! Her problem is still not solved because there is no branch within 200 miles.

Yeah Chase is the sneakiest bunch of so called bankers out there. They give loan sharking a bad name. They never waive fees and the cd pealty is off the charts. Absolutely outrageous.

They remind me of the old att before the breakup.

Please close your chase accounts and go to a decent bank. This place needs to go out of business.

Recently I discovered that the WAMU CD (Which now became CHASE BANK) that I had at 4.89% and an early withdrawal penalty of 6 months interest came due. I was not notified, but more importantly it renewed at  .2%  or $40.00 a year on a $20,000.00 deposit.   I went into the bank as soon as I discovered the renewal.  It was 4 days after the grace period.   They had changed the terms of early withdrawal penalty to 3% of the PRINCIPLE plus $25.00. This is the the equivalent of 15 years of interest plus $25.00.   Just a little outrageous. First they give you the lowest imaginable interest rate without notifying you and if you try to withdrawal your money they rip your face off by charging 3% of the Principle ($600.00 $25.00) the equivalent of  15 years of interest

Has anyone else had this problem. If so, please contact me at "one. [email protected] ".  Lets consider a class action lawsuit.  I need some other CD holders who were deceived as I was.
Bob

U.S. Bank is even more predatory than Chase.  My friend needed to close a CD he had just opened 30 days prior due to a sudden divorce action.  It was an 18 month CD at 1.1% and they charged him 3% of the total balance ($7000).  After much talk with the higher ups he got it reduced to $3900 since that is what the teller told him the day he opened it.  That is still awful to take so much of the principal after only 30 days in the account.  Stay away from U.S. Bank, but more importantly--READ THE SMALL PRINT.

I had Chase CD's with a balance of 12K, They tried to turn them over to the state as abandoned. I managed stop that and tried to close them out, but they suggested to wait till maturity to avoid penalty, which I did, and they automatically renewed them. I managed to take home 11K. More than 15 years worth of interest, but I was lucky to get that much. It was a local hometown bank when i purchased the cd's originally, taken over by Chase.

In previous comment, I meant to say that I still lost 15 years worth of interest.  I might as well have buried the money in a coffee can in the back yard. I would have been easier to get out, and it would have been all there.

 

After Chase took over Wamu for nothing everything changed for the worst , the give 0.01 % for saving , money market etc and charge 1 % penalty for early cd withdrawal . I have to 11 more months and then will transfer the money to checking and write a check to open account with another bank .