Chevy Chase Stole My Money.
I just recently opened an account with Chevy Chase. I tried to use their online bill payment to make a payment on my Sallie Mae loan. After doing so I was under the impression that it didn’t go through so in order not to make a late payment I went to the Sallie Mae site to pay. It turns out that both payments went through.
So my account ended up going into the negative and I was charged a Non-Sufficient fund fee.
I went into a local branch and explained what happened. The fact that because I wasn’t familiar with their service and I was trying to make sure I made my loan payment on time I ended up getting charged for it. She said, no problem, we’ll take care of that right now. She took the fee off and told me that my account balance was back to a positive.
Then today I look at my account and I have 4 NSF fees from using my card for purchases that hadn’t cleared when I talked to the branch manager. Purchases that caused hits on the account because of the Sallie Mae error that was supposedly fixed.
I went back into the local branch and was pretty much told, well that wasn’t Chevy Chase’s error so you still owe it.
The reason why I’m so frustrated is because I was trying to make sure that my Sallie Mae loan payment wasn’t late and now I end up owing Chevy Chase $150.
I called the customer service number and they told me the same thing, so I ended up talking to a supervisor. She said it’s not Chevy Chase’s error and we already gave you a courtesy refund. Since it’s a new account we cannot refund you anymore money. I asked to talk to her supervisor and she said she was the only supervisor there. I asked her for another number to call and she said there isn’t anyone else to speak to.
I said, “You’re about to lose a customer over this, are you telling me $150 isn’t worth keeping me as a customer?”
She said, “If you choose to close the account sir, that’s your choice.”
I asked her how I can get in touch with the President and she gave me an address so I can write a letter. Great. A paper letter? Let me go fetch my trusty Remington and send Old Saint Nick a wishlist.
I realize it’s only $150, but that’s a lot to just throw away because I didn’t want my loan payment to be late.
Chevy Chase is proving to me that money is more important to them than people.
I chose Chevy Chase because I like their online interface a lot.
Can anybody recommend a better bank to go with?
I’ve had the same problem with Wachovia. I’ve spent many hours on the phone in the last months going round and round about service charges (they charged me $4 for calling CUSTOMER SERVICE and asking a question) and overdraft fees (the rules of which seem to change at their convienence).
I’ve heard good things about Washington Mutual (WAMU), but alas there are no branches down here in Richmond.
I feel your pain. It stinks that they put on a kind facade while you’re opening the account. You kind of assume that’s always how they are going to act.
For some reason I doubt my $35 overdraft fee is really going to lighten their multi-billion dollar pockets, leave them in a pinch, if you will.
Comment by Joe — April 26, 2006 @ 10:51 pm
I believe SALLIE MAE preys on the young and naive and steals dreams and opportunities. If I had known a bachelor’s degree would only allow me to make more money that will go directly into the pocket of SALLIE MAE, I’m pretty sure I would have given up that dream a long time ago. THOSE OF US WHO FEEL THE EFFECT OF SALLIE MAE MUST UNITE. Please contribute your SALLIE MAE horror story or advice here or send an e-mail to “fcuk_salliemae@yahoo.com”. I am in the process of gathering as much information and personal stories as possible (I will not use nor release your name or any personal info gathered; also please don’t give out, post or send me specific personal info). If the response is large enough, I will purchase a web site for the sole purpose of helping people cope with SALLIE MAE and hopefully help future borrowers stay out of the lasting grips of SALLIE MAE. OUR VOICE WILL BE HEARD!
Home base is currently “http://www.geocities.com/fcuk_salliemae/” -content will be added soon
Comment by Our Voice — April 27, 2006 @ 7:11 pm