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My startup banking story (2023)

mitchellh.com

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Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#31

Post by chao- »

gwbas1c wrote: post #20
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the whole story and I'm still struggling to understand what you did wrong here. You indicated many times "I know, that was a mistake" (or similar phrases), but each time I was baffled because I saw no mistakes. It was your business, and you had every right to move around the funds within your account. What gives anyone at Chase the right to say diddly squat about how you manage your business' finances?

TFA didn't really explain the mistake. What I think it was: 1: Chase's business account wasn't appropriate for a tech startup; nor was it appropriate for the amount of money Mitchell was handling. 2: When your bank calls you after a very, very large money transfer, you should take the call. That being said: In today's world where every other phone call is some telemarketer trying to scam you or otherwise sell you som…

Your answers are appreciated, but they beg further questions. Do you mind that I inquire further?

>1: Chase's business account wasn't appropriate for a tech startup; nor was it appropriate for the amount of money Mitchell was handling.

What properties make it inappropriate for a tech startup, specifically? What would be appropriate instead, and why?

>2: When your bank calls you after a very, very large money transfer, you should take the call.

He did take the call, but I take your answer to mean that Mitchell and Alex didn't have the right kind of conversation on the call. Is that correct? If so, what ought to occur on a call that follows a large transfer?

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#33

Post by bigstrat2003 »

chao- wrote: post #31
gwbas1c wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TFA didn't really explain the mistake. What I think it was: 1: Chase's business account wasn't appropriate for a tech startup; nor was it appropriate for the amount of money Mitchell was handling. 2: When your bank calls you after a very, very large money transfer, you should take the call. That being said: In today's world where every other phone call is some telemarketer trying to scam you or otherwise sell you som…

Your answers are appreciated, but they beg further questions. Do you mind that I inquire further? >1: Chase's business account wasn't appropriate for a tech startup; nor was it appropriate for the amount of money Mitchell was handling. What properties make it inappropriate for a tech startup, specifically? What would be appropriate instead, and why? >2: When your bank calls you after a very, very large money transfer…

> He did take the call, but I take your answer to mean that Mitchell and Alex didn't have the right kind of conversation on the call. Is that correct? If so, what ought to occur on a call that follows a large transfer?

I would echo this question. If my bank called me and asked if I needed help, why would I say yes? I got money, the bank is holding it, everything is going great! This really feels like Alex was trying to ingratiate himself with a big client but communicated that really poorly, such that the message of "you are a big deal so I want to give you top tier service" never came across.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#34

Post by dpkirchner »

mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

At what point does it make sense to sign up for private banking? I've been happy with our credit union for day to day stuff but we don't keep a ton of cash around (most of our money is in a brokerage account (ETFs)). Is private banking just for folks that want to have a lot of cash around but not have it in an easy to use account?

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#35

Post by righthand »

gwbas1c wrote: post #22
bdcravens wrote: post #16

During COVID, I took a major haircut in my day job, and ended up doing a lot of side work to stay solvent. All my banking was with Chase; I setup a new checking account for my side work. One day they just took about $900. No matter who I spoke to, they bounced me around and never gave me an answer why. I can only guess there was a fraud trigger or something, but to this day, I've never gotten the money back or even g…

Take them to small claims court. (Also close the account. No bank should lose money like that.)

I agree small claims would be an easy win.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#36

Post by CamperBob2 »

hankthecat wrote: post #15
mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

This is somewhat funny to read because if you were a JPM(chase) Private Bank client you wouldn't have any of these issues (zelle works, you can deposit checks, pull from any/all ATMs).

Or just plain Schwab One. Don't know about Zelle but ATMs and checks work just fine.

(Better than fine, in fact, in that they refund your ATM fees.)

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#37

Post by 0x3f »

dpkirchner wrote: post #34
mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

At what point does it make sense to sign up for private banking? I've been happy with our credit union for day to day stuff but we don't keep a ton of cash around (most of our money is in a brokerage account (ETFs)). Is private banking just for folks that want to have a lot of cash around but not have it in an easy to use account?

When you need the specialized services they offer, e.g. Lombard loans, unique mortgage products.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#38

Post by conductr »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #11
mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

I read the whole story and I'm still struggling to understand what you did wrong here. You indicated many times "I know, that was a mistake" (or similar phrases), but each time I was baffled because I saw no mistakes. It was your business, and you had every right to move around the funds within your account. What gives anyone at Chase the right to say diddly squat about how you manage your business' finances?

It's not even an indication of fault. It's actually their internal sales/marketing system that flagging these messages. When they notice something like a large deposit, it triggers a message because they want to sell you a new account. Maybe it's savings, a CD, or you're getting ready to buy a house and they can help you with a mortgage. The average teller or even customer service person can't turn off these notifications, although, you may have some ability to opt out of them. Unfortunately, I find opting into useful notifications also opts me into useless ones, so I just ignore the texts...

Your whole arrangement of having an operating account separate from your wealth accounts is highly regular.

Edit - sorry realized I replied to a reply! Put air quotes on You/Your

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#39

Post by trillic »

chao- wrote: post #12
mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

The fraud story is interesting, but something I had hoped would be addressed by the end of the post, wasn't. You wrote: >Someone out there is probably mentally screaming at me "you fool!" at this point. With hindsight, I agree... I was hoping the piece would end with what you would do now (or what should you have done) when Alex called you. Did I fail to understand something in the piece, and simply staying on the ph…

I would imagine this phone call's primary goal is trying to sell you higher margin financial products/services.

Re: My startup banking story (2023)

#40

Post by attentive »

mitchellh wrote: post #8

Funny to see this pop up again (I'm the author). The year is now 2025 and I still use Chase as a personal bank and I'm now discovering new funny banking behaviors. I'll use this as a chance to share. :) My company had an exit, I did well financially. This is not a secret. I'm extremely privileged and thankful for it. But as a result of this, I've used a private bank (or mix) for a number of years to store the vast ma…

What's the point of a private bank or do you mean investement/brokerage?
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