Yes, you read that correctly.

Chase Bank gave me some good customer service.

Of course it was in the branch, face to face, so it’s harder to be lackadaisical about customer service when the customer is right there.

Recently Chase announced they were implementing higher fees at lower thresholds for their basic banking products.

I have a number of checking accounts at Chase … and want to avoid fees entirely.

So I went to the Hoffman Estates branch to talk to someone about my accounts and what I could do to avoid fees or close accounts.

I talked to one of their bankers about the accounts … Bilquees M. asked me what I used the various accounts for.   I mentioned that one of the accounts was used for my small (very small) home business.

She asked some questions about the business (midrange.com) and suggested that I open a business checking account … and link my personal accounts to it.   That way I could get free checking without any risks of getting charged a fee.

The only down sides are that the ‘business’ checking account number has to change and I have to get new checks.   The account number changing is a minor annoyance, and Chase is going to give me 150 checks to start with.   I don’t write many checks anyways, so that’s no big deal.

In about an hour I had a new business checking & savings account (although I probably won’t use the savings account) and my personal accounts linked to the business accounts so they won’t incur any fees.

All in all I’m pretty pleased with the response I got from the Hoffman Estate’s branch personnel.