When the charitable folks at the Pew Charitable Trusts first suggested that banks could condense their overly complicated fee schedules from over 100 pages to one simple page, it seemed unlikely that any major bank would follow suit. But this morning, JPMorgan Chase announced it would do just that.
Starting today, Chase will use the Pew form to explain the fee schedule for its most frequently used Total Checking account. The bank says it plans on using the format for more of its account types in the near future.
“We are pleased to be the first large bank to adopt Pew’s simple disclosure form,” said the CEO of Chase’s Consumer Bank. “We set out to be as clear and concise as possible. This is another important step we’re taking to improve how we serve customers across Chase.”
Chase isn’t the only financial institution adopting the Pew form. Both the North Carolina State Employees’ Credit Union, and Pentagon Federal Credit Union will be using the pared-down info sheet.
“Often times, hidden fees drive people out of the banking system,” said the President and CEO of Pentagon Federal Credit Union. “Our more than one million members, many of whom are serving in the Armed Forces, now have the benefit of our disclosure document that fully lists our fees when they open their accounts. Our members can bank without the fear of being charged unexpected fees.”
The simplified form came as the result of a Pew study that found that the median length of disclosure documents at the country’s largest banks was 111 pages, “consisting of account agreements, addendums to account agreements, fee schedules… Many of these documents are not user friendly, with much of the text densely printed, difficult to decipher, and highly technical and legalistic.”
“Far too often essential checking account information is buried in more than 100 pages of disclosure documents. This can present a challenge to even the most financially savvy customers who are looking for new accounts or to responsibly manage the ones they currently have,” said Susan Weinstock, director of Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project. “Account holders need an easy-to-read disclosure document so they can be aware of the terms, conditions, and fees associated with their checking services.”
You can see a full PDF of the Pew disclosure form here.
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PEW PEW PEW
Sorry that everyone had to see that…. I just had to get that out of my system.
I never fart. But sometimes I’m next to a dog that does.
You sound like my wife.
“I stepped on a mouse!”
It’s those exotic Barking Bullfrogs at our house.
Heh… and I have accounts with both NCSE FCU and PFCU. (PenFed is a really great CU, has bizarrely low auto loan rates, and anybody can join; if you don’t meet their “regular” criteria, you can just plunk down a $10 fee to join.)
The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. I might actually like Chase if they went the rest of the distance, and reduced the pay of upper management, stopped bribing our politicians, stopped stealing from the public with generous, interest free bailouts and huge tax loopholes, and stopped playing the stock market and wrecking the economy, and holding us all hostage by being Too Big To Fail.
Confucius say, man who fart in church sit in own Pew.
Any link to the Chase 1 page doc? I’m interested in seeing it.
The link they promote is
http://www.chase.com/ClearBanking
and the actual PDF can be seen at
https://www.chase.com/online/services/document/chase_total_checking_guide.pdf
Hmm. The Chase form doesn’t look anything like the Pew model. Not just typographically, I realize that they’d need to conform to Chase brand identity, but in structure. It’s also not one page but three. Yes, much better than 100 pages of disclosure agreements, but still nowhere as clear as the prototype.
Hmm. I guess as I look at it, the same items are generally in the same order, so I guess it’s pretty close. The fact that they split sections up from the Pew example threw me off.
There is more stuff. The 3rd page is almost entirely additional information, and also the most interesting for the financially savvy. Chase doesn’t seem to be able to handle foreign checks without an expensive collection process. Wells Fargo can deposit Canadian checks for $1.50.
Also non check drafts are expensive at $25. My credit union handles them for $10.
There’s still 100 pages of disclosures, they just only send you the first one now.
Saves money on paper.
But will they make it easy to find on their web site? It’s nearly impossible to find this information now.
How large will the print be?
The reason disclosure statements are so long is because of YOU! Yes YOU! Specifically you who file class action lawsuits because some bank didn’t tell, i.e., disclose, something to you. Every lawsuit adds more lines of text to the disclosure statements to cover ever eventuality.
If YOU would stop looking for the tiniest of loopholes so as to sue the bank, they would not need to have 100 pages of legalese to cover their arses.