Random Thoughts

from way in the back of my amazing brain
 

The Chase Credit Card Weasels

…suddenly decided to raise their minimum payment from 2% to 5%.  In my case this meant that my monthly payment went from $303 to $744.  

I’ve never missed a payment, I’ve never been late…hey, I’m a model citizen.  This isn’t cz I breached any part of the agreement.

This is apparently because Chase is furious with us cardholders because, when several years ago they sent out balance transfer offers of around 3.9% fixed for life—-get this—-we had the unmitigated gall to ACCEPT

Well we ought to be ashamed, who do we think we are?  Can you blame Chase for trying to get back at us?  And as if that weren’t enough, not only do we go and accept their offer, we make it that much harder on ourselves by paying on time!  As agreed!

Well now we’re just asking for it.  Chase was provoked!  How can they make any money if we don’t ever miss a payment?  Why, if we’re never ever ten minutes late with a payment, then how can they kick in that 29% default rate, or tack on those $39 late fees, or shower us with overlimit fees, or underlimit fees, or processing fees, or arbitration fees, or incurring-too-many-fees fees, or anything like that!  Why, they’ll have to…(gulp)…

live up to the terms of their offer!!!!

We brought this on ourselves.  We backed them into a corner, what choice did they have? 

And, apparently, in this case, for some reason, you don’t have the option to write them and reject the changes to your agreement. 

I don’t understand.  I always thought that if you didn’t like changes a credit card company made to your account, you could write within a certain time and reject the changes, close the account, and pay off the remaining balance as agreed.  If that’s not true, if credit card companies really can change the agreement whenever they like, why have an agreement?  Why doesn’t Chase just say, “Here’s a card, now go put money on it.  Okay great.  Now when you get our statement, we’ll just put down any figure we want, and you just shut up and pay it.  This will save everyone a lot of trouble in the long run.  Well, us, anyway.”

     

So, in short, we, the American People, are screwed again.  Thanks so much, Chase!  You do realize that the economy sucks right now, and no one has money?  Even during good times I don’t have an extra $450 lying around. 

You remember this whole recession thing, don’t you?  I’m sure you must, I mean, you’re a big part of the reason no one has money, we ‘gave’ $50 billion of our money to you.  What?  What’s that?  Oh, that money’s spent already.  You want more money.  I see.

Well this is a great plan.  Good luck to you.  I hope every one of your customers defaults on their accounts.  As for me, if I end up having to stop paying someone I owe money to because of the economy, guess who it will be?  That’s right.  Chase will be the first one to get the shaft.

   

If you’ve been touched by this benevolent organization, here’s
Who to complain to:

  • OCC (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency)
    This is apparently an agency that all banks have to report to, and they don’t like it when people complain about them there, but since most people’ve never heard the OCC, it’s not that big a problem.  Me, I’m down with OCC.
  • Federal Trade Commission
    I had to use Firefox, Internet Explorer didn’t want to let me scroll downwards.  And be careful, if you take too long it’ll time out.
  • Senators and Congressmen
    Just type in your Zip code and you can find out who they are, then click on them to contact them.  I wrote them all.  What the heck.
  • Maybe the Attorney General in your state?

What else to do:
Well, I, like all of you, have around 40 Chase cards of various species.  They’re simply not going to get used any more.  So not only will Chase not get late fees, or default interest rate fees, or any of those other fees they weren’t quite able to charge me; now they won’t even get the fees they were charging to retailers every time I bought something.

It’s okay, because I have around 96 credit cards that aren’t Chase, so I’ll switch over to one of those, until it tries something crooked like this, then I’ll switch again, and so on; and when I get tired of all the switching, well, you know what?  Despite Chase’s efforts, most places I know still take cash.

Want to read more?  Here’s an article about all this that sums it up pretty nicely, and here’s another one—-be sure to read the comments from all the people who have been hurt by this.

11 comments to “The Chase Credit Card Weasels”

  1. AvatarTotoakaDorothysDog
    1

    I thought the new law stated that they HAD to give you the option of writing them, closing your account, and paying what you were all along.
    I received notice from Dell Financial Services (Citi) that they were changing the interest rate from 22% to 29%. If I didn’t like it, I could write, close the account, and pay at 22% until it’s paid off. What I don’t understand is that my rate is currently 14%. I have until 9/14 to decide what to do.

    P.S. We ditched all our Chase credit cards long ago. They are sneaky.

  2. AvatarAma Peel
    2

    If you are carrying a balance on your credit card It’s too bad you didn’t apply for a line of credit from your bank before all the financial stuff started happening.

  3. AvatarGotInk
    3

    Visa got me one time.
    The first time I ever paid on line and due to a type-o, I paid them $3 short. They discoutinued my 9.9% rate and changed it to 29% because I was “late” on my payment. I raised hell and got the 9.9% back as along as I agreed not to use it till my balance was paid down a bit. I haven’t used it in 3 years! Never will.
    Now, I only have a gas card and I pay it off every month. Bet they hate me!

  4. AvatarChris
    4
    Author Comment

    I thought they had to let you opt out too, but apparently since they’re not raising the interest rate, changing the minimum balance is considered a “minor” thing that doesn’t require approval. Oh yeah. It’s minor all right.

  5. AvatarThe Brother
    5

    My kids, oldest 7, have already been taught that credit card companies are of the devil. They can tell you why credit card companies are bad, and why debit cards are good.

    Last week after a visit to Fort Macon, a Civil War historic site, I taught them what paper money is, where the gold is kept, why confederate money went bust after the war, and what banks do as compared to what the devilish fiends do. Maryssa was fascinated. I’m raising little angry Dave Ramseys.

  6. AvatarChris
    6
    Author Comment

    Uh oh…I agree with you that credit card companies are bad, but I would say that debit cards are worse. Debit cards are just credit cards in disguise—they’re run by the credit card companies, plus they charge merchants a lot more to use a debit card than a credit card, plus there’s no system in place to dispute a debit card transaction, so when someone misses a couple of decimal points and takes out $5000 instead of $50, you’re out that money until you can get everything straightened out.

    This is my understanding, is it not accurate? I’m a Clark Howard zombie as opposed to Dave Ramsey.

  7. Avatark (sis)
    7

    “Me, I’m down with OCC” was awesome.

  8. AvatarThe Brother
    8

    Debit card charges (to the merchant) are cheaper. Credit card charges are higher. For example, the merchant bank may charge the merchant 2.9% of the transaction, plus $.30 per transaction… but for debit cards they may only charge 1.9% and waive the transaction fee.

    This is why many stores that allow self-swiping are set to ask for pin# by default.

    My tip: if you hate the service at the store you go to, run your Visa check card as a credit card and charge them more. If you like them, always offer to run it as debit, even if they don’t ask.

  9. AvatarChris
    9
    Author Comment

    So let me see if I get this…if you use a debt card AS a credit card, that’s when the merchant gets screwed. If you use a debit card as a debit card only, then the merchant gets charged a lower amount, on a par with a regular non-debit credit card. Right? My understanding is that debit card charges are much higher than regular credit card charges.

  10. AvatarShari
    10

    One of my co-workers ditched Chase. She had a balance around $1,500 and a limit of $10,000, and always paid on time and often paid in full and carried no balance. Her card was charged up from a vacation. That’s when Chase decided to lower her credit limit to $1,000 because she wasn’t using the card enough, ‘causing her to have to pay $500 immediately. Fortunately that wasn’t a problem for her, but still enough to piss her off.

    I always use my Check Card as credit (it still comes out of the same checking account, not REAL credit), even with merchants I like and frequent. It might cost them more, but it’s worth it to them to offer it or they wouldn’t. If I use it as a debit instead, then my bank charges me a fee each time. And just like the self-swiping machines prompting for the PIN for a debit charge that The Brother mentioned, many merchant cashiers are instructed automatically run it as a debit as well and ask for your PIN instead of asking “debit or credit?” first.

  11. AvatarChris
    11
    Author Comment

    I don’t think the merchants have a choice…other than to not accept credit cards at all. I don’t think they can pick and choose allowing regular credit cards but turning away check cards. The credit card companies force them to take all or nothing…take it or leave it.

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