Reasons to avoid Chase, BofA, Elan, Wells Fargo?

[Swatch]

Talk me out of wanting credit cards with Chase, BofA, Elan, or Wells Fargo? Or should I ignore negative posts about these banks since it's a small percentage? (I haven't searched for negative comments on Elan.) I have not been too happy with Chase in terms of checking/etc, but they (and the other two) have some good rewards/signup offers especially BofA and Elan. I am trying to avoid banks which are going to annoy me with their customer service, being stingy, asking me jump through hoops, etc but I am also trying to get rewards/cashback, offers, etc. (I've gotten used to the great service with AMEX and Discover and certain newer or smaller banks.)

[SouthJamaica]

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@Swatch wrote:

Talk me out of wanting credit cards with Chase, BofA, Elan, or Wells Fargo? Or should I ignore negative posts about these banks since it's a small percentage? (I haven't searched for negative comments on Elan.) I have not been too happy with Chase in terms of checking/etc, but they (and the other two) have some good rewards/signup offers especially BofA and Elan. I am trying to avoid banks which are going to annoy me with their customer service, being stingy, asking me jump through hoops, etc but I am also trying to get rewards/cashback, offers, etc. (I've gotten used to the great service with AMEX and Discover and certain newer or smaller banks.)

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I think Chase is fine, and its customer service is fine.

[FinStar]

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@Swatch wrote:

Talk me out of wanting credit cards with Chase, BofA, Elan, or Wells Fargo? Or should I ignore negative posts about these banks since it's a small percentage? (I haven't searched for negative comments on Elan.) I have not been too happy with Chase in terms of checking/etc, but they (and the other two) have some good rewards/signup offers especially BofA and Elan. I am trying to avoid banks which are going to annoy me with their customer service, being stingy, asking me jump through hoops, etc but I am also trying to get rewards/cashback, offers, etc. (I've gotten used to the great service with AMEX and Discover and certain newer or smaller banks.)

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Well, that can be any financial institution, really. There will be plenty of negative comments with the 4 you mentioned as well as positive experiences. Personally, I've not encountered any major issues with any of those 4, but other folks have had not-so-pleasant experiences. And, the fact is, not every insitution will work for everyone. The same can be said about Discover, AmEx, Capital One, Barclays, Citi, etc.

So, research the products that appeal to you, and if something is suitable for your needs, go for it.

[wasCB14]

Chase doesn't support eBills. That kind of irks me and is part of why I very rarely use the cards anymore.

[longtimelurker]

As @FinStar  says, nearly all institutions, including beloved CUs, will receive negative press here.

When evaluating comments on MyFico, remember that most people here are not typical customers, and evaluate how closely you resemble the background of the commenter.   By and large, people here differ from the norm by one or more of:

1) Being rebuilders.  Some portion find this forum when rebuilding, and, (hopefully!) fix their credit and stick around.    Banks will naturally look on these people with a little more suspicion, especially early on.   Complaints may focus on unfair denials, CLIs etc.  Non-rebuilders might get treated better.

2) Credit seeking.   Those always opening more cards and/or CLIs.   Complaints from this group might focus on lack of growth, "denied for no reason" or worse, "closed for no reason".    If your credit seeking is more like a "normal", banks may treat you better

3) Churners, MS, etc.   "Professionals" doing this don't complain when accounts are closed etc, it's part of the price/game, but people dabbling in it might get surprised when a bank gets concerned about you wanting too big a share of their profit!   Again, if you don't do this, banks may treat you well (but you will  be poorer, at least for a bit!)

That's not to say that there aren't useful comments that apply more widely, e.g. @wasCB14 comments about CHase and e-bills.  Such things may not be a real factor or could be a deal breaker.  (Or worse, seems OK now, and when you discover the wonder of e-billing,  seems a deal breaker but too late!)

[AwsiDooger]

I'll never have anything to do with Wells Fargo. I detailed the reasons months ago. They kept badgering me to apply and then turned me down when I did. It is my only denial. But it wasn't an instant denial. They left me in pending for weeks while insisting I had to send some kind of financial statement. Okay. I sent a brokerage statement with high numbers. Dozens of times any number they would possibly assign as my limit, even though I didn't include either of the IRAs. Brokerage was listed among the accepted statements, in the letter they sent me. No matter. You're rejected. And  the hilarious aspect -- as I detailed here -- was that the phone suspervisor who denied me gave completely different reasoning than the rejection letter I later received from Wells Fargo. 

I could only conclude they have no idea what they are doing. It's also not a trustworthy company. I asked them repeatedly to send back the copy of the brokerage statement. They agreed to do so but never did. I asked them to stop sending me mailers regarding Wells Fargo credit cards, since they obviously won't accept me if I do apply. They put me on hold several times until finally insisting that my name had been removed from their system and I'll never receive anything again. That was a lie. I stopped receiving the mailers only for a few months. Now they come in droves, including one last week.

[Gollum]

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@Swatch wrote:

Talk me out of wanting credit cards with Chase, BofA, Elan, or Wells Fargo? Or should I ignore negative posts about these banks since it's a small percentage? (I haven't searched for negative comments on Elan.) I have not been too happy with Chase in terms of checking/etc, but they (and the other two) have some good rewards/signup offers especially BofA and Elan. I am trying to avoid banks which are going to annoy me with their customer service, being stingy, asking me jump through hoops, etc but I am also trying to get rewards/cashback, offers, etc. (I've gotten used to the great service with AMEX and Discover and certain newer or smaller banks.)

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Chase, BofA, and Wells Fargo are all in the top 10 banks in the USA; some/many classify large banks like that "too big to fail."

I don't agree with the idea of "too big to fail."

Instead of credit cards from banks that are "too big to fail," I recommend credit cards from credit unions. Credit unions are owned by their members, so credit unions do not have pressure (from shareholders of big banks) to provide profits/dividends to shareholders.

Elan is apparently owned by USBank but I don't know much about it other than a recent Internet search.

[Remedios]

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@Gollum wrote:

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@Swatch wrote:

Talk me out of wanting credit cards with Chase, BofA, Elan, or Wells Fargo? Or should I ignore negative posts about these banks since it's a small percentage? (I haven't searched for negative comments on Elan.) I have not been too happy with Chase in terms of checking/etc, but they (and the other two) have some good rewards/signup offers especially BofA and Elan. I am trying to avoid banks which are going to annoy me with their customer service, being stingy, asking me jump through hoops, etc but I am also trying to get rewards/cashback, offers, etc. (I've gotten used to the great service with AMEX and Discover and certain newer or smaller banks.)

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Chase, BofA, and Wells Fargo are all in the top 10 banks in the USA; some/many classify large banks like that "too big to fail."

I don't agree with the idea of "too big to fail."

Instead of credit cards from banks that are "too big to fail," I recommend credit cards from credit unions. Credit unions are owned by their members, so credit unions do not have pressure (from shareholders of big banks) to provide profits/dividends to shareholders.

Elan is apparently owned by USBank but I don't know much about it other than a recent Internet search.

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If your signature is current, Capital One is "too big to fail" bank, and American Express carries "domestic systematically important bank" designator which is basically the same thing. 

Expressed as percentage, 40% of your accounts fall into category you cannot support. 

[SUPERSQUID]

That cap 1 card in your siggy is a midget among giants, lol

[SUPERSQUID]

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@Swatch wrote:

Talk me out of wanting credit cards with Chase, BofA, Elan, or Wells Fargo? Or should I ignore negative posts about these banks since it's a small percentage? (I haven't searched for negative comments on Elan.) I have not been too happy with Chase in terms of checking/etc, but they (and the other two) have some good rewards/signup offers especially BofA and Elan. I am trying to avoid banks which are going to annoy me with their customer service, being stingy, asking me jump through hoops, etc but I am also trying to get rewards/cashback, offers, etc. (I've gotten used to the great service with AMEX and Discover and certain newer or smaller banks.)

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One of the big banks you left out was citi. Years ago i had issues with citi regarding banking issues and moved my accounts elsewhere. then years after that i had 2 credit cards with them which they balance chased just because i took a cah advance and i was nowhere near the cl of the card but i only wished to make a cash private purchase of an item, this was around 2008. i promptly paid off both cards and closed them. before my bk7 in 2019 i thought cap 1 stunk because of the usual stingy cli's but this time around they have been pretty good so no gripes.