Have a Chase card with a good payment history? You're about to be screwed.

[Neecy]

Scary stuff in this Kos diary.

This has to be the most depraved banking move I've seen since I've been writing about the economy, which has been quite a while.

The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act, set to go into effect in February 2010, will restrict credit card issuers from raising interest rates on cardholders' existing balances, charging certain fees, and imposing unreasonable penalties on consumers. As a result, banks are now scrambling to immediately raise interest rates and fees, cut credit limits, and impose higher balance transfer fees.

But no bank is more outrageous or deceitful than Chase Bank (a bailout recipient) which is now owned by JP Morgan (a bailout beneficiary). Beginning in August 2009, Chase (the second-largest U.S. bank) is demanding that consumers pay a minimum of 5 percent of their current balance each month rather than 2 percent (the normal industry standard).

This will likely destroy the credit of millions more Americans, provide a profit bonanza for Chase, and damage the United States' global credit rating. It's going to impact all of us.

This will more than double the monthly minimum payment Chase requires, which will cause an immediate financial crisis for many Chase cardholders. Chase will NOT bend on this new payment requirement. This is a must-read diary. These bastard vampires won't stop until they've picked us clean.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/26/747241/-Warning:-Banks-Preying-on-Consumers-before-Credit-Law-Starts

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. K&R

:wow:

[no limit]

2. Wow I have a card with them and I hope this isn't true

I can't afford to have my minimum payments almost tripple right now, that would be insane.

And the only reason I even have chase is because they took over wamu cards. Bastards

[Neecy]

4. the notifications are going out now

So check any mail you get carefully from Chase.

What's so sad about this is that Chase offered a low-interest line of credit for good customers to consolidate their loans. Now that people have done this, Chase is hitting them with this huge increase in the minimum payment which will be just impossible for people to meet. They would have been better off without the consolidation.

[CTyankee]

9. If I pay off my balance each month, will I be affected?

I know my "rewards" will be changed (i.e. reduced) and I will get back less than I did before for using the card. But I am assuming that since I don't carry a balance, nor do I do balance transfers, I'm not stuck with anything too bad.

They probably hate people like me...

[Neecy]

11. no

Although Chase is also cancelling the accounts of people who don't carry a balance. Check out the comments in the diary.

[fujiyama]

22. If they're doing that

Fuck them. Fuck them with a rusty fucking rod. I'll cancel it myself. Motherfuckers. I hope those greedy fucking CEO bastards fall out of the sky from their fucking private jets.

Not one of these Goddamn fucking credit cards will get a cent of interest from me. Bastards.

Excuse my language, but this really is pissing me off.

[JustJeking]

26. Yeah - they canceled my card a few weeks ago

It was paid off but I kept it around for emergencies. Asshats.

[CTyankee]

28. Well, then I'll just go to cash. I currently use the Chase card for gas purchases

and car maintenance and repair. It's an easy way to quickly track my automobile expenses each month to help me budget for the future year. The reason I used the card for gas is that I got money (albeit only a little) toward my gas purchases. As long as the card paid ME and I didn't have to pay any interest it worked fine.

I do not fault anyone who has been forced to use credit for medical expenses or were laid off and needed to buy groceries, but for others who got in over their heads I urge them to consider setting up a budget and counting EVERY expense. It is eye opening and also it is liberating. I do my budget manually on a yellow lined pad, altho I do think a computer program with pie charts would be cool. I also suggest that you star budget categories where you have some discretion, such as clothes, entertainment, appliances, vacation. If you find you need money to pay for the unstarred, fixed expenses you just look to the starred columns and pick items to save on or eliminate altogether. It's a very helpful system...

[Cha]

45. Coincidently, I just made my last payment

to Chase last month and now will be cancelling my card..thanks for the headsup, Neecy.

[Native]

47. You'll get screwed too . . .

Chase canceled our card (never late on a pay't). Sent us a letter to that effect (reason they stated, "You have more than one credit card account.") The letter also said they'd be sending us a check for any reward balance we'd accumulated. They owe us $200. We've yet to receive the money, so I called. The rep I spoke to said it doesn't matter what the letter says, I won't be getting that money. The next day, I heard something on NPR urging consumers to be cautious if they've got any rewards coming & to cash them out asap because banks will be closing accounts to avoid paying them out. Bottom line - no one is immune.

[CTyankee]

56. I've been getting these credits all along for many years so I never expect a big check.

Now they are offering me money back when I charge instead of money on gas purchases. I don't know what I'll do when it goes to the new system. I may just put everything on my LL Bean Visa card. I get free shipping/returns and points on clothes when I use that card. I pay that one off in full each month so I don't incur an interest charge. I watch what I put on it, tho, like a hawk...

[Mrs. Overall]

5. Yeah--my mortgage was with WaMu and is now under Chase--

can't stand them.

[tabatha]

20. They are bastards. Dropped them several month ago.

Can you transfer your balance?

[dixiegrrrrl]

38. Most other cards charge fees and higher interest for transfers

BUt you may be able to call and negotiate the fee or the interest amount if they think you are going to transfer. I would definitely call first.

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

:kick:

[liberalhistorian]

6. Well, hubby has one (used to be WAMU until they were bought

out by the Chase vultures), with a substantial limit, but he hardly carries any balance at all on it, less than a few hundred. I'll make sure he continues that, 'cause this is absolute bullshit. However, when it comes to Chase, I'm not surprised at all, unfortunately.

[Madrone]

7. I'm actually relieved after reading this.

I can live w/ minimum payments being increased as long as they don't decide to retroactively double my interest rate like Citibank did. I never make a minimum payment anyway.

My Citibank card will be canceled when it's paid off. Bastards.

[HughMoran]

17. I agree

Having people pay off their balances will actually force people to think before they spend.

[cliffordu]

8. I love having a credit- free life.

Screw all the credit card companies.

[mike_c]

+1....

Yep. I'm thankful that all the times I thought "Wouldn't it be nice to use a credit card to buy that shiny trinket," I didn't, in the end. Of course, no one in this country actually lives "a credit free life"-- we're all co-borrowers in the national debt (to the tune of, what? $40,000 per person?), most of us finance automobiles, etc, but CONSUMER BANK CARD CREDIT is the most insidious scam of all.

My gawd, the interest they charge! It's criminal!

[Webster Green]

24. I'm 62 years old and have never had a credit card.

I won't ever get one either. Cash works fine for me. :shrug:

[cliffordu]

33. Yep. Cash is good.

[cutlassmama]

21. Me too. It's a great feeling. n/t

[wileedog]

44. I buy EVERYTHING with a credit card

Why?

Reward points.

Over a 2 year period Citibank bought me a free 42" flat screen TV. Thanks credit cards and Citibank!

Plus if you have a dispute with a merchant they will almost always rescind the charge if someone tried to screw you over. Can't do that with cash.



p.s. just always pay your entire balance off...

[Native]

48. Better cash in any outstanding rewards! n/t

[drmeow]

58. Same here

in my case its both cash back and travel awards. I've flown across the country for a free a bunch of times thanks to my credit card (no black-out dates, no airline restrictions - its a great deal).

Plus it makes it MUCH easier to rent a car or to travel anywhere.

Like you, I pay in full every month. The main card is with a credit union - far less likely to screw me over.

[Democracyinkind]

10. I hear there are eerie similarities between the credit card market and the housing market.

sounds bad, but I haven't read it all right now. It does seem like the credit card industry isn't headed to a very rosy future, better fleece the people some more before the bailouts come.

[napi21]

12. I have a chase card but I pay the balance in full every month.

It has cash back rewards and I just got a check for $150 the other day. I agree all the CC's are scrambling to suck as much out of you as they can before the new rules go into effect. The best answer of course is to not charge any more than you can pay off each month. If you can't control that, it's best not to use cc's at all.

[ananda]

13. I'm canceling my Chase card in July.

Fortunately, I have another card with Visa
through a credit union which pays a percentage
to Wheatsville Co-op, which I think is really
cool.

[Flaneur]

32. You must be in Austin.

I remember Wheatsville at, what, about 30th and Guadalupe?

[backscatter712]

14. I'm so glad I got rid of them.

I had a car loan through them, which had a rather outrageous interest rate. I finally paid the damned thing off, got my car's title, now I can give Chase the finger and never do business with the fuckers again.

[Warpy]

15. They're doing some folks a favor

by encouraging them to pay those puppies off. The 2% monthly minimum was a joke, designed to keep people paying interest for 30 years until the damned thing was paid off, if it ever got paid off.

Living in debt is hell. You soon realize that while your income might be unstable, that damned debt will always be there.

This is just the latest in a series of wakeup calls. We can't live our lives on credit. It's time to demand wages keep pace with inflation.

[HughMoran]

19. We criticized them for keeping people in debt for life, now we criticize them for not doing that?

Somebody tell me which way is up? :shrug:

[Neecy]

23. Changing the terms in midstream

is hardly something Chase should be lauded for. If they want to set a 5% minimum payment on new accounts, that's fine. But read the letters in the diary from people who are being hit with almost triple minimum payments, and try telling them how dandy Chase is for not keeping them in debt for life. There's no margin for error left in many people's budgets thanks to stagnating wages.

[HughMoran]

29. i agree that is unfair

Let's hope there are alternatives for those who carry a large balance. My brother jumps on those low introductory rate transfers periodically (I haven't carried a balance in 20 years).

[fishwax]

25. it will help some, but it will force others to miss payments

Some people will pay their balances off more quickly as a result, and that's a good thing. Others, though, will find themselves having difficulty making the minimum payment. I believe the average household credit card debt is around 8k, and on a Chase account the minimum payment for that balance would go from 160 to 400. It's not always easy finding an extra $240 in a given month.

[Warpy]

27. No kidding

and some will have their whole financial house of cards topple into bankruptcy, losing everything they have.

This is a huge wakeup call for everybody else: debt is poison.

[lindisfarne]

37. I agree - except there are some who carry balances now and can't pay the increase. For those who

carry balances and can't handle this, have you ever looked at those websites where people lend money? The interest rate is higher than the lenders can get, but lower than you pay the credit card company. Many people generally lend the money, thereby spreading the risk. It's a win-win situation for people who had trouble and are climbing out of it.
Can't remember the names of those websites but I'm sure someone here can.

[sarcasmo]

59. Bingo, living in debt is a Hell.

[Speck Tater]

16. My Chase nightmare story ---

I had a card through WaMu. Then Chase took it over when WaMu crashed and burned. I had my next payment, paying off the entire balance, already scheduled on the WaMu website for automatic withdrawal from my checking account. Then they shut down the WaMu website and hit me with a $30 late fee because my already scheduled payment did not get processed.

I sent them a hand-written check for the balance I owed and told them there's no way in hell I was going to pay them that $30 penalty because it was their error that caused my payment to not get processed on time. I also informed them that any further correspondence from them would be forwarded to the shredder, unopened.

Needless to say I cut up the card and burned the pieces and then pissed on the ashes.

[Hawkowl]

64. Ditto

Same problem happened to me. Both me and my girlfriend closed our accounts and switched to a local credit union. EVERYONE needs to pull their money out of Chase, BOA, Citibank, etc and roll their money into their local credit unions.

I've come to believe that this is even more important than complaining and writing our elected representatives. Cut off the wealthy's source of bribery at the source.

[Gormy Cuss]

18. "Requiring higher minimum payments is good for consumers. "

I predict that will be the P.R. spin on this because it's true, as long as the customer can afford the higher minimum. The higher amount will reduce the balance and therefore reduce the amount of interest paid over the long haul. People who don't have huge balances will see that this is a good idea.

The problem here is that Chase is pulling this switch on the low-interest rate, balance transfer subset of customers and they're the ones who are least likely to be able to afford the switch because of their enormous balances. I suspect that what Chase is really trying to do here is divest its of these riskier accounts or if not, at least collect more on balances and lower the risk to Chase.

I don't carry balances but if I had a Chase card I'd cancel it and tell them the reason is if they're screwing other customers this way I don't want to wait around to see what they have in mind for us "deadbeats."

[lindisfarne]

39. It actually is - except people who are used to paying just 2% are getting caught up in it. Minimum

payment used to be 1%, it was raised to 2%, and should probably be raised to at least 10%. It's really stupid to carry a balance. I know some people have unavoidable expenses - but never put medical expenses on a credit card if there's any way of avoiding it. You can get much better treatment working with a hospital's accounts receivables dept and work out a payment plan with them (interest rates are almost always lower than CC).

[Beaverhausen]

30. My Chase card gets me miles on United and I have no annual fee

I usually pay it off every month so I don't plan to close this one.

The fact that I have no annual fee is a big plus for me - I don't know any cards without one now. And I do like those airline miles.

[marmar]

36. I hate Chase with great passion......Crash and burn, mofos.

n/t

[Native]

49. They're closing accounts with accumulated miles too - so they don't have to pay them out.

[Beaverhausen]

65. but does Chase pay the miles? I just thought they were the bookkeepers for United

Not sure what the bank has to do with my frequent flyer miles on United. I will wait and see how this plays out.

[Riley18]

31. Capital One also has raised their rate more than 10%. I called them and was told

it was because of the economic downturn. I can't pay them $60.00 more per month.

[Vinca]

34. I got the same notice in the mail and figured it was fine by me.

Once I get the bastards paid off they'll never see a dime of interest from me again.

[chatnoir]

35. Ugh, I have a rainy day savings account with them

that was set-up thru my old work. If I knew of a better place to keep the $ I would happily close the account and never deal with them again.

[lindisfarne]

40. Any co-op banks around? A lot of co-ops now allow anyone to join. The money tends to benefit the

local community more with a co-op.

[chatnoir]

50. Is that what to search under, "co-op bank"?

I'll def be looking into it. Thanks for the tip! :hi:

[islandmkl]

41. these f***ers know they need to grab all they can NOW...

it reveals their 'faith' in the system's ability to recover...NONE

...they will kill the golden-egg-laying-goose for one big meal...

[onethatcares]

42. open an account at a local credit union

get a visa from them, or a mastercard and transfer the balance. Fuck Chase, capital one, wamu and the rest of the big boys. Keep your money local, buy shares of a business in your neighborhood instead of a giant concern in Dubai.

Unless we all do it, we'll never win.

[marlakay]

43. I got letter from B of A that they are raising theirs

starting in August. I only borrowed some money from them for a few months and will pay off in August or it would affect me.

The main card I use is my Amazon card which is done by chase. It will be interesting to see what they do but I think they sent me something a month ago.

Since I always pay off end of month with them I haven't really paid attention, this summer is first time i can't do that.

Try to get one from credit union, my card with them while they don't give high limit has never changed.

[laylah]

46. The Diary is very

unnerving; however, although I haven't had a Chase card for YEARS, and ex-boyfriend did. He has now defaulted on his account and those bloodsuckers have HIS negative information under MY name on MY credit report. I have called numerous times, to no avail. Bloodsucking bastards:mad:

[anigbrowl]

60. You're supposed to deal with those things in witing

what you do is write to the credit bureaux. Calling the bank about it is a total waste of both your time and theirs, because the bank is not directly involved in calculating your credit score, and has no way of knowing whether you are for real or not.

Detailed instructions here: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/repair/Repair.shtml

[hfojvt]

51. higher payments are not all bad

My own monthly payment is 100%, so this does not seem to affect me.

[Kurovski]

52. I know someone who is utterly doomed...

this will finally get them to go into bankruptcy, which is what should have been done four years ago.

Yipes.

[and-justice-for-all]

53. Glad I do not have that one...

I have Discover, and two Visas, which I will be eliminating shortly. Keep the Discover, lose the others.

[roamer65]

54. I'll keep my Chase card.

The "cash back" feature is mainly why I will keep it. I use it for almost everything, but mostly pay it off each month. It is a great card to use in the old "American Express" style.

[roamer65]

55. ...and in the "long haul" I think higher payment percentages are good.

All of this "easy money" needs to stop. It is too much of a temptation for people who cannot control their finances.
If people cannot make the higher payments, I recommend they make use of the bankruptcy laws. CC debt is unsecured debt and bankruptcy will wipe most if not all of it away.

[Occulus]

68. Those laws were changed under the banking law that was passed, what, last year?

Credit card debt isn't wiped away any more, IIRC.

It's interesting that, whenever this subject comes up, some DUers instantly go into banking defense mode. What we're talking about here, today, is the fact that people who were paying on time, people who were able to afford their payments, people who didn't miss payments, are now suddenly going to be forced into bankruptcy.

"It is too much of a temptation for people who cannot control their finances."

Go read the link in the OP. These new policies are targeted toward people who were in control of their finances, people who were able to make their payments on time. IOW, this will hose Chase's most loyal and most reliable customers. This seems to mostly affect the very same people who have been called "responsible borrowers" here in the past.

I would also suggest you take a look at the 140+ pages of complaints referenced in the link at the OP. Some payments are rising from a couple hundred dollars a month to well over a thousand dollars a month.

These new policies will financially ruin millions of customers who simply don't deserve it, and it has the potential to undo what good has been done by the bank bailouts. Chase could well be putting it all back to square one with this atrocity.

[NikolaC]

57. I Have A Card With Them

and have not been happy. I had plans to pay off the bulk of my card next month and just leave a minimum balance on it. I would love to just pay it all off and cancel it, but my credit took enough of a hit when I did that with my Bank of America and Sam's Club cards.

Edited to add: On second thought, it is foolish to keep the card after all of that. I will just pay it off and do as others have suggested, open an account with a credit union, and be done with the scam artists once and for all.

[realisticphish]

61. my minimum payment with them isn't too bad at the moment

and I usually pay 4-5 times the minimum anyway, but this is still enormously fucked up.

I'm thinking about cashing out a lot of my leisure rewards; I know that's with the check card, not the credit card, but I'm still uneasy.

[CoffeeCat]

62. Why in the hell did our politicians...

...give these banks all of this time...to screw us?????

This new Credit Card Accountability Act doesn't go into effect until 2/2010. Every damn politician
knew exactly what these greedy companies would do---screw us all to the walls and find ways to
bleed us dry before this legislation kicks in, in 2/2010.

The fact is...this is the perfect sequence for the banks. Think about it.

Fifteen years ago, the banks wanted relaxed regulations that enabled them to extend credit to anyone with a bank account
and a pulse. Congress gave them what they wanted. Soon, everyone had multiple credit cards and they were maxing them out.
The money was flowing like Niagara.

Then, the bottom drops out on the economy. The money flowing into banks is now a trickle. People are defaulting,
getting behind on their payments and they're not being hoodwinked into getting new cards.

Game fucking over.

So, what happens? Our government feigns "I'll help the consumer against the big bad credit-card companies!" legislation.

Who in the hell are we kidding? The party has been over for a while. We're bled dry. We've been run over, and backed
over and run over again so many times--and now they want to "protect" us???? We don't get any help with this bullshit
legislation. The banks get the windfall.....once again--this time in the form of a window.

A window of several months to screw us royally...do whatever the hell they please to us. They can raise rates,
call in a greater percentage of the balance...hell, they can call in all balances in full!

This Feb 2010 legislation would have meant something--had it occurred when people were morphing themselves into debt
victims. This legislation is a joke. It protects no one. It does however, give the banks many months to bleed us
dry of what little left there is--as we stare down horrendous personal economic circumstances.

[johnaries]

63. I have an Amazon card that is a Chase card.

Luckily, it has no balance. Guess I'll be canceling it.

[donco6]

66. I don't keep a balance on any card.

And the faster you can eliminate it, the better.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

67. Waitasec. How screwed up must a person's life be to have difficulty paying 5% of CC balance?

Other than being unemployed? Do people buy their house on the card or what?

Ah... medical bills, right?

[adamuu]

71. then they shouldn't have offered 2% min in the first place n/t

[AngryOldDem]

72. Don't you think 5% is a bit punitive for responsible customers? n/t

[whyverne]

75. I'll tell you how screwed up life can be.

I lost everything to divorce including the house I owned before I got married.
I lost my business when the economy went south and all my clients canceled their contracts.
I'm now 60 with a 13 yo. autistic son. I drive a delivery truck and cut grass for money.
Yes I'm in debt. Excuuuse me.
I had to buy food on credit. I had to buy a thousand dollar pickup truck on credit. They gave me the credit and now they want to change the terms.
I pay them every month. But they keep raising the bar.
Well they're not going to get it. Cause I don't have it.
So go ahead and blame it on me. I tried my best. I went to work everyday. I paid my taxes.
I'll probably even get some a-hole saying that I shouldn't have the Internet. I write articles for 2 bucks a piece to pay my $25 a month internet bill. It's all I have for escape and entertainment. I have nothing, I don't go out, I quit drinking beer. I eat the cheapest stuff I can get.
I do what I have to do to survive. If that means going in debt, so be it. If it gets really bad and I can't feed my kid, then I'll start stealing.
I didn't create this mess. The greedy bastards who ripped up the social contract did.
The Republicans made the middle class fair game for every shyster out there.
Morality in this country is going right out the back door because the big shots can get away with most any scam they come up with.
I have to stop now. Heehee.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

76. A person's life being screwed up is, of course, not necessarily that person's fault. -nt

[AngryOldDem]

69. I hate Chase with a white-hot, burning passion.

I have my accounts with them and I am this close to pulling them. I never go into their lobby anymore because I feel like I'm being high-pressured into doing more business with them -- more business than I WANT or CARE to do -- credit cards especially. I spent a fucking half-hour with one of their customer reps when I went in to reorder checks. **Never** had to speak with a customer rep about that before. I had to be almost rude to the man so I could get out of his cubicle. Often they get on this jag where they call me at home, wanting me to set an appointment to come in and "talk." I've taken to ignoring the calls. What's especially galling is that their sales pitches are all so full of shit that you can see through them like glass. Yet they persist.

There is no way on God's green earth that I would EVER take out a credit card with them. I barely trust them to hold my cash.

I trust Chase about as far as I can pick up this computer desk and toss it. Actually, the desk would go farther.

[adamuu]

70. It's impossible to get away from this mega bank

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPMorgan_Chase#Acquisition_History

[warren pease]

73. Just say no...

Then lift both middle fingers, turn your back and walk away.

Pretty soon, a lousy credit rating will be no big deal. It might even become a badge of honor.

Do you really think the credit industry in this country is going to turn its back on more than (pick a percentage -- 1/4, 1/3, 1/2?) of the potential market for its so-called "services?"

Get real.

Tell them to fuck off and they'll come sniveling back like Harry Reid in full Stockholm Syndrome panic mode.


sf

[jazzjunkysue]

74. Sorry, but, 5% is no crime. If you can't do that, don't use it. My accounts are all 0

every month.

It's a LOAN. They get to decide the terms, because it's their money you're using.

If you don't like the terms, don't use their money.

This country thinks credit cards are a right of birth. They're not. They're pre-approved loans.