(Update, Sunday, March 03, 2013, 12:22 am) If you have received your Chase Bank Monthly Minimum payment Class Action Lawsuit settlement check and wish to leave a comment, please do so by clicking this link.
Rather than Chase Bank showing a modicum of remorse over their hideous actions regarding the monthly minimum payment increase they levied against a million of their most trustworthy, reliable customers, Chase Bank basically threw almost endless legal thumbtacks into the path of the class action lawsuit attorneys, a lawsuit that was supposed to provide financial relief for around ONE MILLION CHASE BANK CUSTOMERS who were put into financial jeopardy back in late 2008 and 2009 by Chase Bank.
Rather than Chase Bank showing a modicum of remorse over their hideous actions regarding the monthly minimum payment increase they levied against a million of their most trustworthy, reliable customers, Chase Bank basically threw almost endless legal thumbtacks into the path of the class action lawsuit attorneys, a lawsuit that was supposed to provide financial relief for around ONE MILLION CHASE BANK CUSTOMERS who were put into financial jeopardy back in late 2008 and 2009 by Chase Bank.
Chase Bank basically bait and switched a million of their MOST RESPONSIBLE AND LOYAL CUSTOMERS into monthly minimum payment increases that meant a monthly minimum payment of 200 dollars escalated to 500 dollars, a 400 dollar monthly minimum payment rose to 1,000 dollars.
Chase Bank then hid the best solution from customers who could not afford the sudden increase, which the Cat Who Ate Chase Bank, blog, reported about back on Oct. 07, 2010, I know this from personal experience because it was only through a significant amount of internet research that I found out about the Chase Bank balance liquidation program.
Ultimately, Chase Bank also did not allow their customers to opt out of their change in terms!
Ultimately, Chase Bank also did not allow their customers to opt out of their change in terms!
When I called Chase Bank customer service back in 2009 to find an alternative to having my monthly minimum payment suddenly increase by an additional 150%, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS KNEW NOTHING about their own "Pro Active" balance liquidation program, meaning anyone caught up in the Chase Bank monthly minimum payment increase was given no solution even though the "Pro Active" balance liquidation program would have been an effective compromise.
The proposed and apparently already agreed upon 100 million dollar agreement works out to around 50 to 100 dollars per customer after legal fees of 25% are subtracted. In my estimation, the agreement should have been for ONE BILLION DOLLARS plus an additional amount equal to all the bonuses the Chase Bank credit card division executives received during the time they put a million of their best customers through financial peril.
Even though I have written over 400 articles about various Chase Bank shenanigans since April of 2009, I was not invited to contribute my ideas on how to get the settlement offer higher.
I did submit a paper of protest about the Chase Bank Change in Terms settlement offer and it is part of the legal record regarding this case. (Edit Update, Nov. 17, 2012, The Chase Bank Monthly Minimum Fairness Hearing took place yesterday, Nov. 16, 2012)
One thing that upsets me is that I offered my services back in January of 2012 by email, twice, and never heard back. I don't know if my email ever made it to the plaintiffs attorneys however as the email address does not actually state the name of the legal firm or where it was actually going.
One thing that upsets me is that I offered my services back in January of 2012 by email, twice, and never heard back. I don't know if my email ever made it to the plaintiffs attorneys however as the email address does not actually state the name of the legal firm or where it was actually going.
info at chaseminpaymentlawsuit.com appears to be a valid email address, but I never heard back even though I emailed them twice. I had MANY good ideas on how to get Chase Bank to see the light and I have reason to believe that at least some of them were not tried. However, I have come to learn that there is a difference between behaving despicably, and behaving illegally, especially when it comes to how the banks treat their customers.
I am guessing what happened was Chase Bank was so busy keeping the class action plaintiff lawyers busy with legal challenges, motions to dismiss, and other types of legal shenanigans that the plaintiffs side did an excellent job of meeting those challenges, while possibly missing the opportunity to engage people like me who might have been able to give them outside the box ideas to counter punch Chase Bank hair ball tactics.
However, it is also possible that my ideas might have been counterproductive in terms of getting a baseline agreement of 100 million dollars.
However, it is also possible that my ideas might have been counterproductive in terms of getting a baseline agreement of 100 million dollars.
It appears that as a general rule class action lawsuits top out well below the real value of the actual damage caused because actual legally defined damage may be different from the actual damage that occurred. Additionally, as the settlement number increases, the risk of losing via a jury trial versus what has already been agreed to has to be considered, and the legal firms spend a lot of upfront money getting the settlement offer higher as they go farther into debt on the case.
I read that Chase Bank keeps a "legal war fund" of around 3 to 4 billion dollars. So if this case should have settled for a billion dollars, Chase bank can instead throw 50 million dollars worth of hairball legal motions that cause the plaintiffs to spend out of their own smaller legal war fund to keep pace.
Eventually, 100 million dollars looks pretty good to both sides as both sets of attorneys will claim victory, even though the consumer in my opinion is the one that has been shortchanged.
Don't forget, the Cat Who Ate Chase Bank, the book, coming out some day.
