After Chase closed all my credit card accounts in April I decided I would close out whatever was left of my banking relationship with them. I only had a checking account left and decided that since there was no real benefit to me keeping the account open.
Chase is clearly a company that I have a personal grudge against and will try to avoid for the rest of my life. The retail banking division of the company has severe deficiencies (mostly lending operations). I know it’s not personal but if they can wrongly label me as a high risk customer and close out all my credit accounts abruptly then it can happen again in the future.
I’ll stick to Citibank’s credit offerings where I’ve hit $17,000 in charges in a month (and paid it off) with not so much a call from fraud prevention or lending operations.
Several years ago, I did the same thing — closed all of my Chase credit cards because I was unhappy with their customer service. However, that change was not permanent. JP Morgan Chase acquired Bank One and First USA where I had other accounts that were later converted to Chase. Also, they took over Washington Mutual where have a few bank accounts. So in the end, I’m stuck with Chase again.
Another follow-up: The Chase.com website went down for 3 days last week. I had a bill payment in progress, and it ended up getting paid late. It is not my fault, but I will have to deal with the hassles. You can read about my experience here: Chase Screwed Up!