Thinking about switching to Chase Bank

It would be a great deal, you should do it.

I haven't used them before, so no advice here. Nick got a similar offer from National City from one of his co-workers that we're considering doing.

i've been thinking about goign with chase myself!

I would switch

I wish they had a chase near me.

Hubby uses them for years and I prefer WAMU - now the two have merged LOL so I say go for it - sounds like a good deal

Wow! Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Personally haven't liked the way Chase operates with its fees, and how they decide to present items for payment/cashing, etc....Good luck with it if you sign up, $125 is nothing to sneeze at these days!

You can read my horror story with WaMu since Chase took them over:

HERE

Hi Rick. I used to be with USAA myself. Got mad at them one time a long time ago, when they cancelled my insurance because I had a wreck. I'd been banking with them and all my insurance was with them for 30 years, and one wreck cancelled my auto insurance. I closed everything, and had a bundle in their savings that they had to pay out...ha!!!!! Don't mess with my money or auto insurance. . . . and it was just a little wreck.

I've used both Bank of America and Chase. Closed my accounts with Bank Of America, just because - no reason - still have the Chase one, maybe if I close it they'll give me $125 to open another one.

Sounds good to me.

I was going to switch to Chase when they were giving $100 to open a new account, but they're too far away...14 city blocks. Bank of America is right up on the corner one block from where I live. I chose convenience since I turned down their debit card. I like to be taken care of by people; not machines.

sorry I am not a Chase customer

I have never been a customer with Chase, and most of what I hear is negative. I work for a small community bank, and we get a lot of unsatisfied customers that switch from Chase. Their complaints ranged from ridiculous fees to terrible customer service.

My husband had a secondary account there for awhile (he opened it with his travel checks for a similar promotion) but he didn't like them, so he eventually closed it out.

We were with Suntrust for awhile and then switched to a local credit union--they've been great.

This may be a good deal for you, but what I'm trying to figure out is what's the gain on Chase's end? Maybe they spend that much per person in advertising anyway and just wanted to try this out--hopefully it's not they get $125 in fees from the average person within a year or anything like that.

Chase is known for its profuse fine prints and convoluted rules on credit card lending. Both Chase and CitiBank thrive on tricking customers with monthly fees, penalties and usurious interest rates after 6 months. Just think, do you think Chase loves consumer so much that they love to give you free money? Just look at those huge corporate buildings and numerous branch offices. Do you think for a minute that Chase can afford to lose money on all consumers who get free $125? Like Tricia asks, "What's the gain on Chase's end?" I know Chase will profit from you somehow. They are not stupid. They don't stay in business if they don't make money. I suspect that this checking account asks you to pay a monthly fee for some number of months, and if your balance falls below $xx, then the account is charge a penalty. That's my guess.

What everyone should be saying is: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." I recommend a debit card from your local credit union or USAA Bank.

Here is one person's comment after a dialog with a Chase On-Line Chat representative.

"I took advantage of the $125 offer for opening a checking account. The other day I ACH transferred money from the Chase "Free" Checking account to an online savings account (not Chase). Today, I noticed I got charged a $3.00 fee for the ACH transaction. I have several bank accounts and NONE would charge such a ridiculous fee. However, you can upgrade to the Chase Premier Platinum Checking account - for the low minimum balance of $75K!"

Like Dave Ramsey always says, "If you play with snakes, you'll eventually get bitten."

I would switch.