New Chase account: Finally a bank account that is easy and quick to set up!

kevanp

Read the news this morning about the market-busting interest rate offered by Chase, so decided to take the plunge. It was a DREAM to open.

I have had a complete mare trying to open bank accounts in recent years, jumping through their arcane procedures to establish identity and eligibility. There was one a few months ago that required hard copies of two proofs of address, and two different proofs of identity. Seriously? When they rejected my submission because one of the documents had both my identity and my address, I gave up. Life is just too short. (And just to be clear, I am a UK national, with a clean financial record. The only complication is that I moved house seven months ago—after 32 years at the previous address.) And when you do manage to get an account open you then have to follow more complex processes in order to be able to log in to your account. 

Chase this morning proved that all these layers of exaggerated security are just not necessary, I downloaded the app, went through the simple process of creating an account—which included using the phone to scan my passport, and to take a selfie—and within ten minutes received a text saying the account was open. They are sending a debit card in the post, but meanwhile they asked if I wanted to add it immediately to the 'wallet' on my phone. I said yes, and voila, I have it on my phone, ready to use. I transferred money from two existing third-party accounts, directly into the linked Chase savings account. Didn't have to go via the current account. The only two slight hiccups: one, this account isn't set up to confirm the account holder identity, so you have to double-check the details and then override the warning from your existing bank; and two, you cannot make an instant payment in of more than £49,999, so my bank had to split the transferred amount.

As for logging into my new Chase account: i've enabled face recognition, so I just hit the app icon, look at my phone… and that's it. So simple

I wanted, just for once, to praise a financial institution for using modern technology to the full, and for not introducing completely unnecessary obstacles in the way of opening and operating an account. Full marks to Chase (whom, after 60 years of using a bank account, I have never used before).

Very, and unusually, satisfied customer

canaldumidi

kevanp said:

Read the news this morning about the market-busting interest rate offered by Chase, so decided to take the plunge. It was a DREAM to open. ...

wanted, just for once, to praise a financial institution...for not introducing completely unnecessary obstacles in the way of opening and operating an account.

But there are obstacles for some. Or maybe for many. That all assumes you have the right phone, running the right operating system, and meet all the electronic ID verification criteria....

Full marks to Chase (whom, after 60 years of using a bank account, I have never used before).

Well naturaly, since unless you've been living in America you'd not have had access to Chase for the last 60 years!

Archie_Duke

@kevanpVery, and unusually, satisfied customer

A scan through this thread will show plenty who aren’t happy, despite your glowing review here!
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79114860#Comment_79114860

Stubod

..the only bank I have ever had a problem setting up on my phone is Chase.....

...added just for a bit of balance  

Bigwheels1111

Another thumbs up from me Kevanp.
Easy setup and access via face recognition.
It took 16 hours for my account to active but they had 5000 plus signups on the day I joined.
My main bank First Direct were the main issue, First payment of £10 no problem after overriding account check.
Second Five figure payment no problem.
Third payment 8 hours and 2 fraud calls for FD, eventually went.
Google pay setup was great, card arrived today.

where_are_we

With such an emphatic headline I just had to give my alternative experience. I had to retake my passport photo and selfie many times before acceptance. It took days to be verified. I have opened many current accounts in my time and this one was the most difficult. I only persisted because of the 1.5% linked savings account with a £250K limit.

kuepper

How do I know which is the savings account, the 2 accounts don't indicate which is which?????? messaging is v slow with answer and keep getting signed out all the time

refluxer

kuepper said:

How do I know which is the savings account, the 2 accounts don't indicate which is which?????? messaging is v slow with answer and keep getting signed out all the time

The Chase Saver says 1.5% AER underneath it so it's very easy to distinguish from the current account. I can't remember what they were originally called, but I've named mine 'Chase Current' and 'Chase Saver'.

In my case, the current account is at the top as it was the first one created.

wiseonesomeofthetime

I made my savings account logos red too, just to make even clearer, then promptly hid them 🤣🤣

where_are_we

I am unable to activate my new Chace debit card. Nothing happens when I tap "Home" with the card as instructed. Any suggestions?

k_man

See here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/79096691/#Comment_79096691


You don't tap the physical card to the screen.... you select the picture of the card on the home screen.