[immtbiker]

What???

I have great credit, have always paid over my minimum and have always paid on time.

Is it legal to change a contractual agreement between me and Chase by such an insane margin? It must be, otherwise they couldn't do it, although I smell a letter 10 years from now stating that I am part of a class action lawsuit against Chase and I am owed $25.

I am not interested in any of the members here that say that "you shouldn't buy on credit and live above my means". That doesn't help me, and you're not my mother.

This is what I see happening. I have had a promotional interest rate of 3.9% for 6 years from when I took a balance transfer to pay off a higher interest credit card.

Good outcome - I will be forced to pay off this "weight on my shoulder" credit card debt, in about 14 months. And be finally done with it.

Bad outcome - I will never be able to make a payment every month that is 250% higher than what I'm paying now, I will assess a minimum payment "fee" each month which will also cause my promotional interest rate to rise from 3.9% to 17%, and besides being a pissed off, vengeful Chase customer, I will have to pay a lot more money in the long run than I ever bargained for.

This must be what they are shooting for, because if me and others in the same boat as me, pay off our loan much earlier than scheduled, then Chase will lose millions of dollar$ long term.

And you can be sure that all other credit card companies will follow suit, just like they did when the government forced the minimum payment to go from 1% to 2% 3 years ago.

Thoughts? Similar situations? Solutions?

 

[Gatto]

first off I'd like to say good luck with paying off your credit card debt, that can be really a really tough task. Unfortunately credit card companies are allowed to change your terms whenever they want to. Do you have a discover card? I got one at only 18 with no cosigner and they started me off with a nice credit limit and a low interest rate around 10%. They've always taken really good care of me and have actually lowered my interest rate to 7% because I requested it and always got my bills in on time, they've also over tripled my credit line since I got the card which is good in case of a financial emergency. If you don't have one I'd suggest you give discover a call and see if they can help you. I know they also have some programs for helping you pay down credit card debt at a pace you can afford.

 

[Billyk]

The minimum is going to 5%, and that is more than you are paying now although you are paying over the minimum?
Wow that really sucks. Can you put together a strict budget to make a couple of big payments to get the minimum down to a more manageable amount?

 

[immtbiker]

This happens at a time that the wife has been laid off for the second time in 2 years, and I am bearing the brunt of the household bills with a daughter starting college in 2010.

Your question is a valid one, because after 3 months worth of payments, the minimum will come down by more than $100/month.

But just picture this (hypothetically speaking of course). This is not a jump of 1% which would still be sizeable. If I were paying $300/month, that will now become $750/month. Not exactly chump change.
The wife used to give me "X" amount of dollars towards the bills. Now, that money is not coming in, plus I have to supplement her bill paying. So I get hit twice.

Can't get water from a stone.

 

[Billyk]

What I figured, darn.
My wife is a preschool teacher and gets laid off every summer, that's a few hundred bucks a month less. Can't say I am in the same shape but I sympathize. Sorry, man. Oh and I have two in college and one going in 1011!

 

[BradJudy]

Call them, explain that you can meet the old minimum, but not the new one and ask if they will lower it or help you out in some other way. (Of course, you already have a good interest rate, so you can't bargain much with that piece.)

In general, credit card companies want people to keep paying them, not get frustrated (or go bankrupt) and give up. And, they don't want you to transfer your balance to another company who will give you the terms you need.

 

[Todd R]

Screw Chase.
I'll never use them again.
I had been using them for my business purchases, paying on time and more than the minimum, and what thanks do I get for being a good customer?
Jacked up interest rate for no good reason at all.

Wife had trouble with them also.

I do the credit card shuffle about once a year and now have a Capitol One with 0% for 12 months!
Look into them. You'll pay a transfer fee, but it will be less than the interest Chase would have gotten.

 

[olblueyez]

Transfer your balance to a new card. May even be able to little or no interest on the transfered amount.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Go get a personal loan at your nearest credit union. Use it to pay off Chase, then screw Chase and never do business with them again.

 

[tenzip]

Yep, agree with the last several posts, call chase, ask nicely if they can go back to where they were. If not, tell them to cancel the card. They'll geek. They want your interest each month more than they want a bigger minimum payment.

And of course if they don't give in, then you use one of the suggestions above about line of credit or other card with better terms. You're the kind of customer the CC companies will get in fights over. Me, on the other hand, they have unflattering names for.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Time to try Wells Fargo? Other than sending unnecessary emails every now and then about programs you'll never use, they've never tried to mess with any of my family's accounts.

Well, whenever I'm by myself they try to convince me to sign up for these college aid things, but I just ignore them and continue with the transaction at hand.

 

[immtbiker]

The reason I went to Chase in the first place was to do exactly what you guys posted in the last half dozen posts.

But these are different times. As Todd had done to him, it's been all over the news that CC companies are raising interest rates on people who are good patrons.
What they are doing to me, has to be to force me to default on my minimums, charge a fee, and raise the rate. They are probably doing this to all customers who have a "low interest for the life of of the loan" because they are not able to benefit from a 4% interest rate.
They are only making $50/month on me, but change the rate to 17% and 120 out of every $300 paid back goes toward interest and not the principle.

Also, when I did this balance transfer, there was a maximum fee of $90. Now, it's 3% of the transfer, no maximum limit.

The days of my manipulating the rates, going from bank to bank is probably passe. These are different times.

I used to service all of Citbank's copiers in Brooklyn, and I just heard that they let go of 30 first line managers, many of whom had 25 or more loyal years of service.

I will give Chase a call and beg for a "good customer" gimme, and see what happens. I don't have much faith that it will have a good ending.

 

[MCC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheMarchingMule /img/forum/go_quote.gif Time to try Wells Fargo? Other than sending unnecessary emails every now and then about programs you'll never use, they've never tried to mess with any of my family's accounts.

Same here with Wells Fargo. They sent me all kinds of junk regarding life insurance and such while I was at school but now that I'm home for the summer it's stopped.

They'll give a card to anyone it seems- I went to the drive-thru to make a deposit, the teller basically said "hey, want a credit card?" and I said "sure", and a week later it came in the mail. That's quite literally all I did and I had no credit history at that point. I'm probably not their favorite customer since I've never paid a cent of fees or interest, but I've still been able to build up good credit with it.

 

[appophylite]

Another shout out for Wells Fargo. They've never changed up any of the contractual agreements with regard to my credit card that I got from them back when I was 18 (6 years now). In general, I feel that they are one of the better big banks around.

 

[BIG POPPA]

I have started to move my money to a local credit union. Loved WAMU, changed to Chase..... Lost my love real quick. They treat you like criminals. Can't stand it anymore.