Why I Think JPMorgan Chase is a Bad Investment

JPMorgan Chase, the first major bank to report third-quarter earnings, stoked the market's optimism as it handily beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-September period. The bank also achieved record year-to-date revenue.

Their earnings report helped boost the stock market and I'm sure their shareholders are pleased, but it didn't come as any surprise to me. In fact, I'd have been surprised if they hadn't had a good earnings report. You see I was one of the unfortunate people who became a credit card customer of Chase when they bought out Washington Mutual. I had two cards with Washington Mutual and had been a happy customer of theirs for years. Then Chase took over. Almost as soon as they took over, I received letters regarding both of my accounts, telling me my interest rates were being increased. So I got on the phone and talked to their customer service. I pointed out that I had never been late with a payment, always paid more than the minimum and questioned why my rates were being increased. It turns out that the rate increases had nothing to do with my credit rating, the reason they increased the interest rates was to increase the profitability on my accounts. O.K. Not something I wanted to hear, but I figured I would just pay the accounts off and wait until they came to their senses and offered me a reasonable interest rate, before I would use the cards again.

A few weeks later I get another notice in the mail telling me my rates are being increased to nearly 30%. That's when I decided to decline their offer and cancelled both of my cards. So, why do I think JPMorgan Chase is a bad investment.

First: Their customer service, in my opinion, is atrocious. They did not care that I had been a good customer with a proven payment record. They made no effort to keep me as a customer. They only cared about making more money off me. When you're running a business that relies on customer satisfaction and you carelessly disregard dissatisfied customers, your business is doomed to dwindle, if not fail altogether.

Secondly: While their profits are up now, I believe that it is largely a result of extreme rate increases to credit card customers like myself, who will eventually do like I've done and stop doing business with Chase bank entirely. I will NEVER do ANY business with this bank again! And I know a lot of other Chase customers who have had the same experience and feel the same way. So they are bound to see a dramatic drop in credit card business, which they may never be able to recover. With that in mind, it's my opinion that JPMorgan Chase would make a very poor long term investment.