Would You Bank with Chase? | A NOTE FROM THE FOUNDER

Would You Bank with Chase?


by Adam J. Kovitz

(originally published in The National Networker Weekly Newsletter)

Chase Bank (J.P. Morgan Chase) is certainly making a name for itself in the world of consumer and small business banking...and not in a good way.

Question:  What do you do if you're one of the Nation's top four banks and you're being squeezed by the Federal Reserve amongst other regulatory agencies to curtail excessive fees?

Answer:  Take your frustrations out on the "little people" by creating new fees that further make it difficult to do business with you.

Let's look at the facts: 

• During the financial bailouts of 2008, Chase was chase one of several large banks who received $25 billion in TARP funds
• Months later in 2009, Chase wrote a check for $25 billion to the U.S. Government to repay them
• Chase reported profits of $11.7 billion in 2009.  That same year, Chase's CEO, Jamie Dimon received $17 million in bonuses
• As of February, 2011, Jamie Dimon was the highest paid executive on Wall Street
• Chase is currently considering raising its dividends to investors.  Should this come to pass, Jamie Dimon would earn approximately $6 million in dividends.
• Chase announced a few weeks ago that to combat the $1 billion in revenue it would lose from lowering the cap interchange fees associated with debit card transactions from 44 to the Fed-imposed 12 cents, Chase would be "forced" to cap spending limits on the cards at $100, possibly $50!
• Chase announced recently that it is "testing" $4 and $5 ATM transaction fees for non-customers

So...the million dollar question...would you do business with Chase?  If so, why?

I, like many of my colleagues, feel that a strong, healthy economy is predicated upon a strong consumer, small business and entrepreneurial base.  This base, if properly supported, supplies the lion's share of job creation and innovation needed for a sustainable economic environment.

To me, this is just another example of corporate arrogance and bad behavior that is at the root of our current economic woes.  Chase and other large corporations that engage in these types of practices are:

• Anti-consumer, therefore anti-economy - consumer spending is the largest component of the U.S. economy...roughly 70%.  Make it harder for the consumer to purchase goods and services and make it more expensive for them to access their money and you have a recipe for further economic downturn.
• Anti-small business - working to separate small business and consumers from their money through creative new fees and transaction caps only makes it harder for small business to sustain itself, leading to job loss and potentially, closing the doors forever.
• Anti-entrepreneurial - true entrepreneurial innovation is about solving problems that benefit both the end user as well as the entrepreneur.  Chase's solution, along with those of other well-known banks only benefits the banks, themselves.  Where's the "win-win"?

It's easy to get upset, even angry at such institutions, but that's neither productive nor profitable.  Instead, I recommend the following:

1. Recognize that the large banks (JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo) see all consumers, small businesses and entrepreneurial concerns as just good for deposits.  Take your deposits elsewhere and do it now.  I suggest taking your deposits to a credit union, local regional bank or one of these "least evil banks".  You've seen the boycott big oil emails around...why not boycott big banks.
2. Don't use a bank for a loan.  Today there are so many other non-traditional approaches to raising capital, including crowdfunding amongst others (even TNNWC offers its entrepreneur members such innovative approaches to both specialized finance and venture capital).
3. Change your world view.  Understand that the media, is under the control of large business.  And while it's worthwhile to stay informed using free news aggregators like The National Newspicker, we also recommend the more extreme points of view as a "sanity check" like those you may find in another free resource:  LEFT, RIGHT and CENTER.
4. Utilize anti-consumerism services like Freecycle.org, which allows individuals to give their old items to others who need them while offering others that you may need absolutely free.
5. If you invest in business, consider investing in smaller, entreprenerial concerns.  Yes...they are high risk, high reward, but with such innovative new approaches like crowdfunding, you don't need to lay out vast sums of cash to support worthwhile endeavors, the risk is considerably lower and you're doing your part to create jobs.

It's time the entrepreneurial community took action supported each other.  Not those who just see us for our money and have no regard for our well-being.

J.P. Morgan Chase is obviously named after J.P. Morgan, an early industrialist who made his fortune in the late 19th century and became known as one of the "Robber Barons".  Who in their right mind would do business with such an organization?

Wouldn't you rather to business with those you know and trust?  Last time I checked, business is still about relationships, right?

All my best,

Adam

www.TNNWC.com
http://adamjkovitz.blogspot.com

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