The Liminal Librarian

(xposted mostly at Mashup Mom. Because I’m annoyed.)

I just spent a frustrating 1/2 hour at Chase. Why? A few months ago I registered LISjobs.com as a DBA and opened up a business account, mainly to deposit some very small checks from things like Google ads. I chose Chase because we have a personal checking account there, and I saw an ad on their site that they would waive business account fees for accounts linked to personal accounts.

The banker I signed up with (who of course wasn’t in today) assured me that this was the case, that I wouldn’t be charged any service fees, no worries.

This month, a $10 monthly service fee showed up on my business account. This is pretty significant, given that I have under $500 in there and they of course don’t pay any interest.

So, into the bank I go. No, they’re so sorry, they don’t have any such deal, and I obviously didn’t read the fine print. There was only an introductory 90-day fee free period. They’ll waive it just this once but it will keep being charged each month. Fees are only waived if I use my business credit card with them every month, or if I link to a “premiere” personal checking account in which we need to maintain a $15,000+ balance or be charged a $20 monthly service fee, and this of course has to be what the guy told me.

Now. I didn’t have a $15,000 balance in my checking account in March. I don’t generally maintain a $15,000 balance. I do not nor have I ever had a “premiere” checking account. And, this is not what the guy told me, or I wouldn’t have signed up for the account.

OK, fine, say I. Close the account and move the money to my personal checking account. Oh, sorry, they can’t do that today. Why? Since they waived the $10.00 fee “just this once,” it’s showing up as a pending credit to the account so I can’t close it until that clears, I have to come back another day.

Lesson learned: Get it in writing. I went home and checked my original paperwork, of course, nothing about the fee being waived. Too bad for me! And, way to be unfriendly to home businesses, Chase — Thanks!