Banking Frustration

The world we live in is not yet quite as paperless as it could be.

J.P. Morgan Chase let's me do most of my banking online - moving funds between accounts, paying bills, an a few other things. I just looked at a credit card statement and saw something that I didn't recognize, phrased in a way that is ambiguous enough that I'm not sure if it is valid or not, so I called the credit card company, via Skype, to investigate further.

I was quickly connected with a man with an Indian accent. He wasn't able to give me much more information about the charge but offered to start dispute proceedings. He put a note in the computer system and then said he would mail me a form to complete. I quickly told him that I would need to receive the form via email, since I am in China and am not receiving ground mail. He doesn't have the option to send the form via email. Instead, I have to call back later, when the fraud investigation department opens, to discuss how to proceed.

J.P. Morgan has my email address. I know, they send me email regularly. I even had to agree that anything sent via email has the same legal weight of anything that would have been sent via U.S. postal service. Sending me a form via PDF should not be a problem.

This is part of why I do most of my banking with ING nowadays. They are much more electronically inclined. As an added benefit, ING also pays higher interest rates.