Chase Bank

I have had very friendly help at this bank ever since I moved back home to Seattle. I feel that the staff really has my back, which is wonderful in these uncertain economic times. Alex is awesome! Eric, Michael and Braiden know their jobs, and all of the tellers have been outstanding! I am happy that this bank has a parking lot, since many businesses in Wallingford do not. This is a gem!

This bank location has been great. Alex has been hugely helpful — a big improvement. Always greets me by name when I enter the bank. Quick service. They work hard to take care of us. Alex even stopped by our place of business one time to help us push through some documents.
We tried Bank of America briefly but they just couldn’t offer the same quality of service. Especially in with online banking options. Chase offers so many options to pay people through their website that are quick and efficient. You can email a transfer to someone quickly or send a check for no fees. Awesome.
Alex has helped us out dozens of times. The rest of the staff is also dedicated to making sure the lines are short and we’re taken care of. Thank you all!

We just closed on our home purchase and our loan officer, Nick Riebli, was just the best! We had a 30 day closing that happened on time, and that was just part of it! He and his assistant, Luree, were super communicative, creative and efficient. We knew we were in great hands. Nick is local, and knowledgeable about the current marketplace. He took great care to make sure we had the very best loan for our purchase and was even able to come up with a few extra solutions that were financially in our favor. We are grateful that we had Nick guiding us. An awesome experience and very happy clients. Highly recommend!

This incident happened back in May, actually on May 1^st. I didn’t know at the time that the downtown branch had had some incidents that day, but it’s no excuse for what happened to me. Here is what happened to me that day:
I go into the local Chase Bank every month to deposit rent in my landlord’s account and every other time or so, I get accosted by someone trying to be extra ‘helpful.’ It’s always fun to see them when they realize that I’m handing them $ 1700 in cash and that they then have to get a teller to come out and handle the cash, but the real purpose is that they want to get me to open an account with them. I have had good luck in the past simply telling them that I am happy with my CU and that I don’t need a Chase account, but today I got a particularly obnoxious and desperate account salesman who first tried to tell me that it would be easier for me to make the deposit if I had an account and when I laughed at him and told him that it was already pretty easy he tried several more things before launching into a near tirade about my credit Union and how sainted Chase Bank was and then he started telling me how the banks are the only ones paying taxes in the community and how the CU does nothing for the community and that the schools would get no funding if it weren’t for the giant banks and something about how the housing crisis wasn’t Chase’s fault and all kinds of other stuff that was pure BS. I basically told him he was full of shit and that I wasn’t ever going to open a Chase account and then I left before it escalated into a full blown shouting match right there in the bank lobby. There must be an amazing amount of pressure on these guys to get some sales and it’s kind of nice to see Chase desperate for the account of someone like me. Too bad they didn’t think of that 10 years ago.

I’ve never witnessed so many people get angry or yell at a bank teller (outside of Communist China) as I have at this Chase bank. I’ve only ever DEPOSITED checks and cash at this location — the ONLY transaction that all banks prefer you perform — but have never withdrawn money nor contacted a staff member about an *issue*. I leave this for emotionless documented emails with online banking, because it’s just downright distracting for other customers to bring their scrappy-​looking dogs to the bank and proceed to chew out the teller, while the dog becomes anxious and seeks out a good spot to anxiety pee.
I believe this location serves coffee, which is a big mistake when your patrons are already wound up about a mysterious $ 20.00 service charge on their statement. Valium is a better choice, but imagine the lawsuits (or the increase in customers).
I also believe that it’s not necessarily the tellers but the bank policies which are frustrating (don’t shoot the messenger). And, judging by the people who come in and spend 10 minutes trying to describe what they need only to realize they’ve forgotten an important piece of info — a bank teller typically requires the patience of a Saint.
That being said, the three stars is for the rather lackluster service at this location. Every time I step foot in here, a piece of me dies a little. The décor is so sterile and the place so subdued and quiet, even if there are several people waiting in line. The only time anyone’s ever reached out to me was a guy trying to get me to buy something. And he seemed to be on Valium. Where’s the love, where’s the enthusiasm, where’s my… money???

LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!
I’ve never had used their service inside. I just stopped by there to get some cash. I thought the location is very convenient. The most important thing is there’s a parking lot :-)

I really didn’t want to switch, the branch in Wallingford is convenient. I was there when it was Williamsburg Savings bank, then WaMu. I even held on in spite of my disappointment with the large banks during and after the financial crisis. Willing still to give them the benefit of the doubt even though the bonuses that management got as well as the salaries of upper management are just plain out of line.
What pushed me out was having to deal with Estate issues that i was managing after a death. I went to the bank with all the documents they told me I would need to get access to the deceased’s accounts so I could pay bills. I was close to the person who died, so this wasn’t simply a business matter. While going through the account review, the «banker» actually tried to sell me financial products for the account. Completely insensitive to the death that brought me to the bank in the first place. Even after it was explained to him. No one from the branch manager or the «banker» at the desk could actually tell me what they needed, and what paperwork they wanted kept changing. «Get the original of this document and we’re good to go» So I went home and got it, and then was told, «that’s not enough, we need more» Every question I asked was answered affirmatively, only to then be told, no we don’t need that document, we need another. But what the other document needed was no one could say. Then while the «banker» was on the phone to legal, his inability to explain to the legal department what was going on was really making me crazy, so I asked to speak to the lawyer for Chase so I could explain it coherently. The lawyer through the «banker» relayed that she «does not speak to customers».
So the hour or two I spent there yielded nothing. I had to pay my lawyer to go in and handle it just to get an answer as to what piece of paper they thought they needed. Two weeks later all papers in hand I went back and closed the deceased’s accounts.
With insurance settlements and house sales etc., the Wallingford branch through their incompetence lost out on well over ½ million dollars in deposits.
A month later I closed my account. That level of incompetence and insensitivity does not deserve my business.

Watch out for this bank. After 10pm you cannot use your cc to pay for anything. I have been stranded in the cold, left with bills at restaurants I could not pay for all because they are doing a «batch transfer.» When you call to ask why your payment was declined (with my balance clearly displayed on my iPhone) you get unhelpful people with Indian accents that tell you to wait until 3:30am until you can use your card again. This bank also charges you ridiculous hidden ATM fees on top of the local ATM fee that doesn’t show up until you see your statement. BEWARE

Incompetent. If there is one word I can use to describe working with this branch, that’s it. Not only was a deposit made into lala land, then it was taken in and out of our account a total of 6 times without authorization or acknowledgment to let us know what was going on over a 10 day period of time. This left us having to pay our bills late and having to wait several days to purchase groceries our family needed.
On top of that, just two weeks later, a teller took it upon herself to call my husband to discuss something completely non-​bank related. Tellers do not have the authority to compromise our personal information for anything other than a banking issue.
I am absolutely horrified that this this branch is allowed to continue to run this way. Isn’t it ironic that this branch couldn’t be bothered to keep communication open with us over $ 1700 bouncing around all over the place but had no problem quickly looking up a phone number to have a completely absurd discussion with my husband while he is at work?
The fact that KIM was still working today after showing such poor decision making is beyond me. Is that someone you want with access to your personal information?
I don’t feel safe having my money here, which is unfortunate because I have beeen a member of WA MU since I was 13 years old. We will be banking elsewhere in the near future.

Banks suck! Someone writes me a check. I take said check, to the bank its written from. I’m then charged to cash said check, even though the person that wrote it has an account there. Assholes! That’s why I deal with cash only, and go to Money Tree.

The employees try to be helpful but there isn’t really a lot they can do. Since changing from WAMU, it’s been all about fees and misleading advertising. They tell you you can «turn off» overdraft? Read the fine print. There’s plenty of exceptions. This is a bank where you read the contract, read it again, read it a third time and then pay a lawyer to read it because they are seriously not invested in your well-​being at all. Try ING or a credit union — really, any other company. Free checking? Joke.

I tried to ‘hang on”. The clerks/​tellers are great. The suits and the head are stil learning to be friendly. Well, maybe they do, but not today. I want to be somewhere where smiles are genuine and customer service is not let me sell you something from a robot vioce.
Not only did I get hit with fees whcih after banking in that physical space over 18 years; but also the Bank Manager didnt offer the idea of a wire transfer to help out a situation.
He is very young and was at one time a ‘temp’ Chase manager. Now he is the big cheese. If you call the 1 – 877 to talk to a real regional manager you may not.
The saga continued and I got some help.
I got help; timepassed; I do simple things here. I appreciate continuity.

I banked at the old Walllingford WaMu for years. Jennifer Bugge the former manager, knew how to run a branch. It was a comfortable, helpful place.
Things are changing with the Chase takeover. Notice the plethora of men behind the desks? You won’t see them jump up to help out tellers when a line starts to form. Sometime ago, when WaMu was still on the door, and the folks behind the desks were both men and women, you’d see them helping out tellers when necessary.
The tellers are still wonderful– Jennifer is still there, Maddie, Kim, etc.
There are new unfriendly policies including charging for checking accounts that used to be free. Checking accounts that Chase promised not to change.
As a business owner (who deposits a considerable amount into my account each year) I was told I can keep my account «free» if I use my debit card 5x a month. Any month I don’t do this, I’ll be charged a fee.
One more thing to track. (sigh)
This week when I got my statement this month, I noticed a charge of $ 17.50 for checks. When I was told I needed to change my business checking into one of the new Chase «products», I was told «We’ll get you some checks.» I accepted the offer– it seemed natural that the bank would comp checks under these conditions. To charge for checks when I was not informed there would be a fee feels sneaky. When I complained, Kale told me they were willing to reverse the charge. Ok, I appreciate that. I’ll still be looking at my statement more carefully.
Several friends who’ve left the branch since the takeover note the benefits of banking with a credit union, such as BECU. I’m told you can earn 5% interest on your first $ 500 in checking. Not to mention the idea of supporting a local not-​for-​profit financial cooperative.
For now, the location is still convenient for me, and I do enjoy working with Jennifer & the others. Should the hassles continue, I’ll be making the trek to BECU in the UD.
Watch your statements.

I’m with Matt M. Supremely satisfied seems like a cop-​out description of how I feel about the business services at the Wallingford Chase Bank. Each time I enter the branch I’m greeted with a big smile, and prompt service. Kale and Taylor in particular have surprised me with their ability to remember both my name, and the nature of my business.
These folks are excellent. I have only positive things to say about my experiences with the business staff here.

Things to know about Chase Bank:
Chase Bank charged me a $ 34 return item fee, on a $ 1 withdraw that I didn’t know was going to happen because it was a verification for an online account, however there is a rule now that banks are not supposed to charge fees on over-​withdraws under $ 10, when I spoke to the bank about the charge they would not fix it even though I said I didn’t know it would charge my account, at that time I didn’t know the rule had passed but Chase should have and was unwilling to change the fee.
I have never had to have so many $ 37 fee charges changed but had alot of them with this bank.
Also if you have an account with them and it gets overdrawn Chase is very unwilling to set up payment arrangements and is only willing to allow you to have the account for 60 days before it goes to collections no matter how much you might have made in a payment on the account. Even if you ask to they won’t do it and after 60 days it gets put on a check-​systems report which can stay on for seven years.
I also find the commercials that Chase Bank has on the radio to be quite annoying, not sure what they’re like on T.V. but in some ways now am glad to not be banking with them. So while they did work on fixing some fee issues, which I hadn’t had with other banks, I found them to be not helpful in working with me to resolve a small account issue even when I had made a payment on it.

If I could give less than one star (like negative 50 stars), that’s what I would rate Chase Bank. I’m so disgusted.
Their internal policies must be really messy, because we made a large deposit and we were NOT told there would be a hold placed for any amount of time. In fact, I checked our online banking the next day (more than 24 hours after making the deposit in person) and the money was noted as «available» and «present» per the Chase website.
I made a large payment elsewhere (which wasn’t even due yet, but I figured hey — the money is there, let’s take care of this.) Then the next day my account was IN THE NEGATIVE!!!
I called Chase and was told (after spending an hour on the phone and dealing with three separate people) that it’s basically my fault since «all banks will put a hold on deposits that large.»
At no time did any Chase affiliate apologize to me for a) not MENTIONING that there may be a hold placed and for b) waiting 27 hours to place said hold.
They’ve not addressed the fact that there is a HUGE gap in time in which the money is «available and present» and then they shut it down, and CHARGE AN INSUFFICIENT FUNDS FEE!
As soon as our money is available (for real) I’m changing banks. That should happen next week.
My advice is: NEVER BANK WITH CHASE. I hate them — it’s a terrible bank with terrible practices and I’ve never been more unhappy with any institution (which is saying a lot, considering how credit cards are operating these days.)

I’m not normally in the habit of writing reviews for large companies. After all, the whole point of Unilocal is to help you find local gems (at least in my opinion). However, I recently had such a fantastic experience at my Wamu branch bank that I had to rave about it.
I setup a small business account about 3 months ago. I was in the bank about 2 weeks ago and the bank manager saw me needing help (I was standing in line for a teller) and called me over to her desk. She commented on the fact that I had shaved since the last time I saw her. That’s kind of impressive because I’m sure she sees hundreds of people a day. But it gets better…
A couple of days ago I went back in for some business and she remembered my name this time. Kind of a nice touch from a large bank. I mentioned that I would be opening another checking account in a couple of days but needed to wait until I heard back from the State with my business license number. Here’s where things get impressive.
Two days later I get a call from her on my cell phone. It goes something like this:
Bank Mgr: Hey Matt, I just went on the WA dept of licensing web site and saw that they’ve processed your business license already. If you want, I could get the paperwork all done on your new account and you could just swing in and sign stuff.
Me: Wow! Really? How does an hour from now sound?
Bank Mgr: Sounds great. I’ll see you in an hour.
An hour later I walk into the bank, she has my paperwork all done and out on her desk, I sign on a couple of dotted lines, and less than 5 minutes after walking in, I’m walking out with a new business checking account and checkbook!
You read about (and experience) so many bad or mediocre customer service encounters from large companies that I figured it was worth writing about one of the great experiences. Kudos to the 45^th Street branch of WaMu for having an awesome manager.
PS: If you wonder why I only gave them 4 out of 5 stars, it’s because I’m still a little peeved at some overdraft charges I received a year ago that I didn’t think were fair. But that’s another story and I do have to take some personal responsibility for that one.