Screwed by Chase

November 30, 2007

I’ve had my Chase credit card for about 9 years, and they’ve always been fair to deal with, even helpful sometimes. So what they did to me recently took me completely by surprise. Feeling like I was singled out, I was glad to read recently over at Consumerist about other people having issues with Chase. as well as Gather Little by Little‘s issues with Chase

I’m not a big fan of credit cards and try to use them as little as possible, but occasionally a free 30 day loan comes in handy. My history with Chase goes back almost 10 years, and over that time, I’ve sometimes carried a balance and had to pay interest, but most of the time I was able to pay it off in full every month, and I’ve never been late on a single payment with them.

With my recent home improvement project, I was forced to use a credit card. The subcontractor I hired to do the framing on my new addition needed me to put a credit card on file with the lumber company, so he could go pick up materials when he needed them. I obliged, because he came highly recommended, and he was diligent in showing me the receipts and the material every time he had to make a purchase.

Soon enough the balance on my Chase card was about $6000, all lumber and material costs. I didn’t pay it off with my home equity line, because I needed to keep that free for remaining project expenses. Sure enough, I needed use my HELOC money for a new concrete driveway and electrician bills, so my Chase card balance remained, and I started to go about diligently paying it off.

I opened up my Chase statement recently, and noticed that my minimum payment was twice what it normally is. Looking over the statement, I quickly found out why: my interest rate had skyrocketed to 21%. I quickly got them on the phone for an explanation.

“Sir, we sent you a notification letter last month warning you of this change in terms.” Okay, I’ll admit, they probably did. I get junk mail from Chase all the time about account protection, travel rewards and other such nonsense that I promptly chuck. I most certainly gave this nondescript letter the same kind of treatment.

“You have two choices, you can close the account and we’ll set your rate back to 9%, or you can keep it open and pay the 21%.” It didn’t take me long to realize that keeping it open would cost me approximately$100 more per month, so I closed it.

I still don’t know why they pulled this on me.

• Did they check my credit at notice that I had almost maxed out my home equity line of credit? and thus deemed me a credit risk?
• I recently changed employers, could they have found out included that as a factor?

Maybe I should have called and said I never received notification, as the Consumerist counseled this reader. Maybe I can still do it, I don’t know.

Either way, after I pay the card off (it’s next on my snowball list) I’ll never do business with Chase again.

photo by Maulleigh

Posted in Credit Cards