This whole situation really is exasperating.
Just this morning, I received a notice from the BBB in Delaware to the effect that my complaint against Chase has been “adequately resolved.” The BBB was apparently satisfied that Chase had made an attempt to work with me because it sent a letter offering me a 7.99% rate (doubling the current rate). Never mind that Chase previously promised 3.99% in its promotions and correspondence directly with me. So, apparently, any answer from Chase will do as far as the BBB is concerned.
I would remark that the BBB has some really cool online software for submitting a complaint, even though I think it may circumvent any need for humans to engage in sense-making (on the part of BBB representatives).
Let me guess, will the OCC soon send a similar note: “We have determined that Chase can engage in deceptive marketing practices, lie to customers, and lie before Congress,” as long as it sends a letter informing you (the customer) that it will gesture with an “olive branch” and provide an alternative (screwing you, by doubling the rate)?
It still causes me to wonder, is there still a sense of “right or wrong,” anymore?
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on Jan 19th, 2009 at 11:32 am
You wrote: “…is there still a sense of “right or wrong,” anymore?”
In a word….NO.
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I think that there is a good chance that the BBB process was on “autopilot,” and if this is the case, for the sake of its own credibility, it had better check its software settings!
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I saw two letters to the editor of the Pottstown (PA) Mercury for issues with Chase. Hooray, people are starting to go public with their complaints. I don’t know how to contact these two women but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind having their letters reprinted here….
Even if you pay on time, beware of surcharges
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/articles/2009/01/13/opinion/srv0000004464044.txt
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 8:18 AM EST
I called my credit card company, Chase, because I wanted to know why my ending balance was more than the beginning balance by $10.
I had made no new purchases on the credit card. I opened an account with them only because they were offering a fixed rate of 4.99 percent on balance transfers until the balance was paid off. I took advantage of this offer and transferred some high interest rate credit cards to Chase.
I have not been late on my payments to Chase and, as a matter of fact, I often pay more than the balance due and even pay earlier than the due date each month.
The representative said due to the economy only card members who have a low interest rate were subject to the following new provision:
1. Pay a $10 surcharge each month
2. Elect to change your low interest rate to 7.99 percent to avoid the $10 charge
3. Pay your balance off in full
I was stunned; Chase is intentionally making only low-interest credit card holders subject to this new provision.
I wouldn’t be so enraged if this policy was implemented to all credit card holders of Chase. Why are low-interest rate members being singled out by Chase to saddle the extra cost? Since the economy affects everyone shouldn’t Chase be spreading out the cost to every member so I wouldn’t feel the pinch as much?
Chase is not honoring the low interest rate we were promised. My credit rating is excellent and I work very hard to maintain this rating. Like many people, I have had to make adjustments to my living habits due to the economy. It hurts me emotionally and I have to dig more deeply in my pocket because of Chase.
EILEEN BOYLE
Schwenksville
Credit card companies show no regard for good customers
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/articles/2009/01/21/opinion/srv0000004503678.txt
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 6:13 AM EST
I sympathize with Ms. Boyle in Readers’ Views and her issue with her Chase credit card. I have had my share of issues with these companies over the past year, first with Bank of America and then with Chase.
I too had a low interest rate card with Chase, but in my case, the card had a zero balance for a long while. It was a permanent 5.9 percent interest rate card and I kept it in reserve in case of emergency. I received a letter from Chase stating the account had been closed. No notice, just closed. When I called, I got no explanation whatsoever from the customer service rep. Basically Chase has the right to close accounts.
I had a legitimate dispute with a charge that appeared on my Bank of America statement from a purchase made while in Mexico. It was an obvious mistake and the vendor agreed but Bank of America would not go back to the vendor to get the overcharge, instead abandoning their customer. I was able to get a refund from the vendor after six months of back-and-forth and when the credit card was at a zero balance, I called to close my account. They had put my account on a “lock” with no explanation or notice. I had been a customer for five years who used that card for all purchases monthly and paid off the balance in full each month.
It doesn’t matter today if you have a good credit rating. These companies are hurting and are taking it out on everyone. My family is weaning ourselves off of using credit cards for purchases, instead going back to the good ole checkbook method. If you can’t buy that whizbang new thing with your checkbook balance today, you may realize tomorrow how much you really didn’t need it.
LAURA ALLEN
Collegeville
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
And “Hooray” for you, Peggy, for taking the time and interest to spread the word even further (thank you for letting me know as well). I think a lot of people may have missed the teeny little slip of paper in their statements a month or so ago, and now they are finding the “surprise” in the form of the actual $10 “finance charge” on their statements. I am sure that you and other site visitors will forgive me, if every time I see the words “surcharge” or “service charge,” or the like, I point out that the actual change in terms notice did indeed say quote, “finance charge”. I appreciate your detailed comment, very much.
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I was shocked when I saw my statement. The surcharge I can live with (don’t like it, think it’s unfair and wrong but meh….) but my husband and I can NOT live with the increased payment.
We went from $340/mo to a payment of $825!!!! If we COULD have been paying that don’t you think we WOULD have been?
Not only that but it appears that our due date has been changed somewhere along the way as well. What the heck is up with that?
My husbands company is trying to keep the men working but as it stands now we are taking in HALF a paycheck and this new stuff from Chase probably pushes us into bankruptcy.
I can’t tell you how dismayed we are about these sneaky changes Chase has introduced into our accounts.
Won’t they get LESS when they’ve pushed so many people into bankruptcy? I mean let’s get real here, Chase will be the FIRST company I put on my *do not pay* list, you know?
What jerks.
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Yes, Patti,
I am very sorry to hear about the “shocking” statement that you and your husband received from Chase. The experience you describe was similar, I expect, to the way I felt just before Christmas. I had been away for a few days, and as I was opening my mail. I read the change in terms notice that had arrived around the first of December. I am new on my job, and that is always hard. So, I was really worn out, and yet I knew the fight of my life had just begun. While I did not have the dollar amount in front of me printed on a statement like you did, because I received the actual notice (I am referring to the different way I learned about this…heart pounding, headache), I was able to calculate very quickly in my head (rounding): “5% of $12,000…OMG!, that’s six-hundred-dollars-a-month.” This is what prompted me to develop the site, and publish the “How Chase Card Services Stole Christmas” eBook.
Please spread the word about this site, especially anything like the eBook or T-shirt kit that people might pass along, and post on other sites that are holding discussions about Chase bank’s despicable behavior.
Do be sure to complain to the OCC and others (especially any member of the media who might pick up your story, locally, or nationally).
I wish you and your husband the best.
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Robert, I have complained and bitched about this credit card garbage most recently to my attorney generals office……to which they replied there was nothing illegal or wrong about the practice I had fallen prey to. (I had made a complaint about having made two payments submitted weeks apart which the CC company then posted to the earliest pay date. I was to be out of town ON my pay date so I paid about 10 days before pmt was due. Now because they applied BOTH payments, made weeks apart mind you, to the same earlier due date and NO payment was made on the current bill I was now *late* on my payment. How on EARTH they can get away with that crap I will never know.)
When a complaint to the attorney generals office is simply brushed off, lets just say I don’t have much faith in the complaint process. Be assured however, I will pass along the link to your site and continue participating myself.
Thankyou for your efforts and for setting up this website!
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Oh, I’m registered as “grumpy” but I’m also “Patti G”…..LOL thought I should mention that.
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I’m going to write a regular post on this, and expand with additional details, later. It is frustrating, and the complaints do seem to fall upon deaf ears. I get tired and discouraged, too. I have no faith in the notion that there is a “magic address,” where one might send his/her complaint and this will go away (the OCC is as close as it gets).
Chase is not even afraid of major media stories. It told an Associated Press writer, in response to a question about what it is doing with $25 billion dollars in taxpayers’ bail out money: “We have not disclosed that to the public. We’re declining to.” If you’re running a company that is so brazen that you can “blow-off” journalists with the Associated Press (that means articles are syndicated across many news outlets, in case someone reading this does not know), then you probably feel pretty invincible. And, on my days when I doubt myself, and I look at Chase as a Goliath that can do anything to anybody, in any way that it wants, it does make me sad.
But, then I think of the persons who fought back throughout history against injustice. When I die, this blog won’t live on (unless I get multiple authors, and that sort of situation arises), but my writings, and observations about what is happening in this time, in this economy, with people struggling as they are, WILL live on. As an author here, this work that I am doing is known as “consumer-business” writing. It’s an odd thing, universities don’t think too much of writing that serves the general public (“not scholarly — doesn’t advance the discipline”). This attitude changes, however, if an author creates a best seller, like the One Minute Manager. Then, an author of a popular work such as this gets offers left and right to guest lecture, be an adjunct at a top university (you get the idea).
Meanwhile, at this beginning stage of my academic career, I have to write “academic” works; it’s in my job description, and it’s part of the cultural expectation within academia. Good news: Case studies count — very good news, indeed. I can write and “get credit” for the kind of content that goes in text books, that are in turn used to teach generation after generation of students. My complaints, and yours, will live on, through them. If a case is really successful over time, it can teach a lesson to one heck of a lot of people.
More good news! As humble as my position in life may be, as a teacher, it’s my job to teach lessons. And I think Chase is going to learn a lesson that it (and this is VERY important — other banks, watching to see if Chase can pull this stunt off), won’t soon forget. But the complaints matter. No complaints — no “case study” about Chase.
Don’t stop. Take the long view.
P.S. I don’t blame “Patti” for being “grumpy” (I made the connection)!
on Jan 28th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Thanks. I figured you got the connection. LOL
As far as fighting back goes, it’s just so discouraging and yet maybe I don’t feel quite as alone, knowing that Chase has done this to sooooo many others. DH and I thought it was just us and that we had done something wrong to invoke the new terms foisted upon us.
Please keep us in your thoughts over the next few days. I’ve yet to contact Chase due to a serious case of laryngitis…..I hope to call them soon, but my due date is fast approaching (Feb 3) and I need to get this hammered out with them. I’d send them an email but you know how that goes…….a whole lotta writin’ but not much solvin’. This is scary.
I look forward to reading your regular post with the details you mention!