Rising credit card minimums: Fair or foul?

I am one of the many here who was offered and who accepted special low-rate-for-life financing by Chase. For several years, and up until just over a year ago, my mailbox was inundated with such offers – from Chase, as well as from many other banks. The offers came with checks to use in any way I chose; in many cases, the top check was already filled out for a large sum – clearly, to entice me to borrow a large sum of money. When I finally made the decision to accept this low-rate financing from Chase for my own personal reasons, I did so ‘knowing’ that I could easily make the payments based on the terms, and that those terms would never change unless I paid late.

Nowhere, in any of those offers, did Chase disclose that the minimum payment requirements in place at the time could be raised at the bank’s discretion. I want to believe that any court of law would be inclined to rule that Chase’s failure to include this disclosure along with the offer (not just bury it in my original card member agreement) implies that the minimum required payment currently in effect will be maintained.

Regardless of how you may feel about the wisdom of using credit cards as a long-term financing or debt solution, I would urge those who feel the need to key in their (in various cases uninformed, ignorant or self-righteous) critical opinions about other peoples’ financial decisions, to remember that the topic here is the sub-group of Chase customers whose debt was targeted for higher minimum monthly payments. Only those with the best credit ratings and best credit histories with the banks were given these offers to begin with. Such people typically have a history of making sound budgeting and financial decisions that have worked for them.

Most of us live and have always lived in a credit-based economy – that is just a fact. Numerous intelligent, educated people understand that the use of credit can be a smart decision in many cases. It is incredibly narrow-minded to speak about people who carry balances on credit cards as being deadbeats, when our own U.S. government and, therefore, we as American citizens, are the largest borrowers in the world. Borrowing money is an integral aspect of the economic system of which we are all a part.

Prior to the recent financial meltdown, the banks – in the heat of the raging economy – were ferociously competing with each other to gain market share. Bankers were pressured to make as many loans as possible as fast as possible, and the banks’ Corporate Managers encouraged the lowering of qualifications standards and requirements on the issuance of mortgage loans in order to help them do so. The banks blatantly disregarded the long-term effects of these actions, because they knew they would turn around and quickly sell those loans to an eager and greedy market, and someone else would be left holding the bag. In the end, of course, we are all paying for it. So, of course, no one is off the hook, and no action can be taken without consequence.

Important to the process of creating intelligent, fair solutions, is for everyone involved to acknowledge that the economic mess we are now in is ultimately the result of individual decisions on the part of those within the banking industry, as well as in the mortgage markets and elsewhere (in addition to individual consumers). Those posters who are still inclined to say that the individual consumer who chose to accept credit from a bank should be willing to accept without complaint that ‘the bank’ may change the terms of that credit (specifically, to require them to pay 2-1/2 times the amount they were previously required to pay each month, without giving them the option to opt out), conveniently ignore and indirectly condone all of the bad behavior and poor decisions made by the countless individuals that make up the institutions that we deal with.

Why do some people accept that these “institutions” don’t care about the customer? What are institutions if they’re not made up of individual people? Why should they not care? Are we not all in this together? Once an individual joins an “institution”, are they then given carte blanche to act immorally and without integrity, and to hide behind the wall of ‘the group’ that makes up rules that only benefit them? Should those who do not have a group to hide behind just shrug their shoulders and say it’s OK? Each of us can and must strive to do better!

I do not refute that many individual consumers have acted irresponsibly by taking on more debt than they reasonably could afford. But to a larger extent, it is the banks, en masse, yet made up of individuals, which have acted irresponsibly. And the government (therefore, We the People) allowed it by not demanding tighter regulations to prevent the inevitable fallout.

It is human nature to want more – that will never change. What needs to change is a system that allows institutions to become larger than the individuals involved, and which subsequently allows the feeding frenzy that comes with unchecked greed (hiding behind the façade of an institution, and lacking the proper safeguards to disallow its own destruction). To point fingers at the million or so Chase customers who are now being used as cash cows by Chase to squeeze as much money as possible out of their most viable consumers (before the next guy gets their money), and then to say that those customers were irresponsible, is misguided.

The bottom line is, it is not OK for any bank to change even the implied terms of a loan in the name of tough-love (for that term to even be used with regard to the motives and actions of an international bank is ludicrous, and worse), and then without even offering the choice to opt out. I do not need any person at any bank to decide for me what is best for me. I simply expect the bank (which means the individuals who make the decisions at the bank) that has chosen to make a loan to me at a certain rate and under certain terms, to uphold those terms and act in accordance with fair credit practices.

In summary, many of those who made the decision to accept the offers of low-rate-for-life loans from Chase felt and believed they were making a wise and informed financial decision. It is not for anyone else to judge otherwise. The banking system in this country is completely out of control because it has been ruled by laissez-faire economics that, due to innate human greed – along with its inherent behavior – is allowed to hide behind an institutional personality which is not expected to act in accordance with the behavior is demanded of the individual, and which has been proven in the long run not to work. There have to be more protections in place to ensure the stability of our credit-based economy. One small protection should include the requirement that customers that accept credit under certain terms be given an opt-out to ANY proposed changes to those terms. And this is necessary only because we cannot legislate integrity – integrity which would dictate that the implied terms not have been changed in the first place, and especially not in the name of tough-love or some “we know what’s best for you” gobbledygook).

Why didn’t Chase offer an opt-out on this new policy, enacted for this group of selected customers? Was it because they knew that a large a percentage of their best customers would close their accounts in order to maintain their option of the 2% minimum payment? (Wouldn’t any responsible borrower want to maintain all options that are in their favor)? I believe that Chase, out of desperation to increase cash flow, adopted an unfair business practice by raising minimum requirements for these select customers, and I look forward to the day that our legislators (or a judge) order(s) this practice be ceased.

I do not feel that Chase should be required to pay these customers any remuneration, nor do I feel any penalties are in order. In this case, a simple injunction is all that’s called for. As for the arguably naïve concept of individuals within organizations being expected to behave according to a common sense of fairness and integrity, and to resist the temptation to jump on the bandwagon of greed – that is not easily legislated in a free market economy. But we all have the choice of which of those roads we will choose. And if more people will think a little harder before disassociating themselves, and understand that taking personal responsibility also means not hiding behind, nor accepting the inevitability of others hiding behind, the façade of an “institution”, together we can create better, fairer, friendlier institutions.

Unfortunately I too, was a victim of Chase. They offered a 4.99% interest rate to consolidate from "other high interest rate bills" until the balance was paid in full. I took advantage of their offer. Come on, an offer of 4.99% interest until paid in full, is an offer you can't turn down. I am enrolled in paperless statements. In June of this year, I noticed that I had never received an email that my statement was available on line (was this their way to get me to default on my agreement with them?). I called to inquire about this and was told that there wasn't a payment due for the month of June because it was "their way of helping out their good customers during the bad economic times, to skip a payment so that the customers could use the extra money". My first thought was how considerate this company was. However, shortly afterwards, I received a letter stating that my minimum payment due suddenly went from about $318.00 to about $972.00 a month. When I called to question this, I was told that "due to the bad economic times , they needed to collect their money as soon as possible". The same "bad economic
times" that initially enabled them to offer their good customers to skip a payment. I was appalled. My credit is excellent, I always paid more than the minimum amount monthly and on time. In accepting their offer, I took this as, to my bank making an offer to take out a loan to be paid back in however many months it would take to pay back. I find it very disturbing that a credit card company can raise the monthly payment to this extent, especially when 2 weeks prior they offered me to skip a payment "to help out their very good customers". Thanks to God that I had a savings of about $24,000.00 for emergencies,to help my son if he should need it, health problems, or in case of a job loss. I paid them the $16,000.00 I owed them immediately. Unfortunately for me, I lost my job of 10 years, a month later. I felt I was being very responsible by saving money for anything unexpected that should arise, never did I think I would have to use it to pay off a credit card that didn't keep their word. How can any company "reward" good customers with a skip payment one month and then raise their payment by 3 times the next month? Chase is one of the "Big Banks" to receive bail out money from taxpayers, the same taxpayers that are now being screwed for being "good customers".
I have not cancelled my credit card, that has a credit line of $25,000.00 because doing so would hurt my credit, but I guarantee you, I won't be using their card ever again. It should be against the law for a credit card company to go back on their word, probably forcing many customers into bankruptcy, or having to make a choice of making their mortgage payments or their credit card payments. Which would you do? I wonder what Chase would do if the government asked them to pay back the taxpayer bail out they received, even worse, asked them to pay it back in full and with interst within a few months.
By the way, lucky for me, I start a new job on Monday.

Retired, scores 800+, Chase more than doubled payment of 4,800 Balance, from $120 – to $250. – never missed – always paid more then minimum – this is a hardship – fixed retirement income – slammed in our retirement investment and home value – and now this! Have destroyed my card – and will recommend everyone else to the same!

Chase recently raised my minimum payment to 5% on an account that had a locked in rate of 4.99%. I have not made a late payment or missed any payments on any of my cards in a long, long time.
So I called and asked about the changes. All they had to say was that they sent letters out. Big help, right?
This is just their way in making as much money as possible before the laws change next year. Plain and simple.
It's disgusting and the timing couldn't be any worse for a lot of folks out there. Write your state reps and senators, let's get them to do something for the little guy for a change.

I have had a Chase Credit Card for over 10 Years, my credit score is perfect. Last Month my interest rate went from 7% to 15.99% I have never had a late payment. When I called they wouldnt lower my rate and could not give a reason, but they are doing it to other people I know too.. I had canceled my card at that time. I will never do business with them again, I dont care if its 0 percent What they are doing to people with good and bad credit is unfair especially since the lending rate to them is so low.

Gayle from Austin, TX, wrote:
"Everyone blames chase. It is all credit cards…."

No, it is NOT all credit cards, Gayle. Please re-read Ms. Fried's article above. Ms. Fried did NOT state that ALL banks are raising the minimum monthly payment to 5% on "certain" customers. Nor has any other article alleged such a thing. Nor does this flyer (a bit of early fruit from the seeds sown by Chase) state "ALL bank customers beware":

http://changeinterms.com/pdfs/Chase-BEWARE-Squeezing-Existing-Customers-HARD_ElectronicVer3.pdf

Gayle from Austin, TX, wrote:
"Chase paid back the TARP Money and plus other monies, still thriving, still adding new credit cards…."
Indeed, you are correct, Gayle. For example, Chase is launching a new "Sapphire" credit card:

http://www.changeinterms.com/2009/09/01/chase-to-spend-30000000-to-launch-new-sapphire-credit-card-targeting-wealthy/

Even if I made $120,000/year to qualify for this card, I wouldn't bother applying for it. Surely, another bank of better reputation would have an equivalent product if I wanted such a card.

Gayle from Austin, TX, wrote:
"How can you say Chase has sown the seeds of its own downfall. Chase paid back the TARP Money and plus other monies, still thriving, still adding new credit cards, still loaning money."

Seeds contain embryos capable of germination to produce new plants. For example, an apple seed can, with the passage of years, grow to a mature tree of considerable size. That Chase is CURRENTLY doing well, having paid 1,144 employees annual bonuses of $1 million or more, is hardly surprising:

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/wall-streets-million-plus-bonus-club/?ref=business

By attacking its most creditworthy customers, Chase has indeed sown the SEEDS of its own downfall. Unfortunately, the eventual fruit of these seeds will prove toxic for Chase.

Steven W Houston

How can you say Chase has sown the seeds of its own downfall. Chase paid back the TARP Money and plus other monies, still thriving, still adding new credit cards, still loaning money.

I think you should do more research.

Like I have stated it. Everyone blames chase. It is all credit cards, but Chase do not do it on the low down.

I thin all of you all complaining put yourself in that situation you have no one else to blame.

So easy to blame everyone self but your own.

Think all card companies should make the card member agreement in BOLD HUGE font, and come right out and say HEY we can change Min payment instead we can change the terms so those who think they know everything will see it all up front

The wheels of justice grind slowly, but exceedingly fine.

In response to the following lawsuit, Chase lawyers will now attempt to get the case thrown out, and, failing that, they will try to settle or persuade the jury that Chase can, in fact, as several people below have asserted, do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, however it wants, for any reason, or for no reason:

http://www.girardgibbs.com/chasenewcomplaint.pdf

In Mr. King's memorable parable, Mr. Dufresne prevailed over The Sisters' Bogs Diamond, and he ultimately prevailed over ALL of his other malefactors, including Warden Norton. By its aggressive actions against its most creditworthy customers, Chase has sown the seeds of its own downfall.

Chase's administration of "tough love" to its customers too closely resembles The Sisters' administration of "tough love" to Andy Dufresne.

Ok folks its get EDUCATED on your Cardmember agreement that 99.5 % of you DO NOT READ!!

1. Credit card companies are not changing the terms of the Loan if they increase the Mim Payment.

You still have that 2.99f APR or 5.99 F Apr for Life of Loan

2. WHAT IT IS CHANGING and follow the BOUNCING BALL is your Mim payment which in your CARDMEMBER agreements
states it can.

You folks really need to get off your HIGH horse and can not blame the Credit card companies for EVERYTHING. Blame yourself.

You need money that bad go to the bank take a Loan, home equity, 2 mortgage whatever pay your debit that way.. OR WAIT don't use a card if you can't pay it back.

You folks blame the BIG BAD bank, and Yes Universal Pricing still exist, don't let them fool you, they disguise it. However you wouldn't have to worry if you didn't LIVE with a credit card

Two points:
-Some commenters are confusing running a balance month to month on purchases with accepting an offer (for a fee) to transfer balances or deposit a check at a low fixed rate FOR THE LIFE OF THE LOAN. The latter is not irresponsible depending on the specific circumstances.
2) Why, oh why, are these kinds of changes not required to be included ON THE STATEMENT before they take effect? These stealth mailings (which I am SURE I did not receive since I have been specifically looking for them) are the FIRST thing Congress should have changed.

I had paid off about 90% of my 3.99% loan since Chase CALLED ME with the offer three years ago. I had begun paying a smaller amount over the minimum in the last year as I worked down some other debt. Ironically, the hardship of the 5% minimum payment will cause me to pay the Chase debt off about 2 years later than I had planned.

Tell everyone you know not to do business with Chase. They have no banks where I live so I can't join an onsite protest. My loss but I do have lots of well-paid friends with Chase cards. I am recommending that they get another card and then cancel their Chase card. (No ding to FICO score – another scam.)

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/amexcardmembersprotest/index.html

Site did not come through for some reason. Here it is again.

All American Express cardmembers by now should have received the August 2009 letter from Amex stating the huge rate increase and the changes in the terms of the Amex contract. All members should be outraged at this despicable act by this company prior to the first stage of the Credit Card Reform Act of 2009.

There are many sites discussing this travesty by a company who as recent as April 2008 testified before the House Financial Services Sub-committee this would never occur. American Express Executive VP and GM of the Consumer Card Division spoke on behalf of Amex stated adamantly, “We do not increase an individual customer’s interest rate-or APR-for any reason other than the customer’s performance on that particular account.”

He also testified, “As you know, the capital markets are experiencing considerable uncertainty, which has had an impact on the cost of commercial borrowing. Even for well-capitalized, A-rated companies, like American Express, interest rate spreads are extremely high. This means that the rate reductions American Express has passed along to consumers have exceeded the reduction in our own cost of funds. As I mentioned earlier, American Express will not increase an individual Cardmember’s interest rate based on their performance with other lenders, or based on a change in our cost of funds.”

All Amex Cardmembers need to join together and loudly voice their objections to this act by American Express. I urge all cardmembers who are fed up with being pushed around and lied to by companies like American Express to sign the petition at;

http://www.ipetitions.com/peti…..index.html

Sign the petition and be a part of a unified voice against American Express.

Monthly minimum payment increases should start with first time borrowers, not by baiting and switching people who were promised life of the loan low interest rate loans and were diligently paying down these loans.

The banks have deemed low interest rate loans as being toxic assets, and this is a dangerous precedent they have set.

Keep the pressure on Chase Bank. The more aggressive their actions, the more other banks will follow.

http://www.changeinterms.com
http://www.thecatwhoatechasebank.com
http://www.daily-protest.com
http://www.bloggersagainstchase.com
http://www.robotsagainstchase.com

In addition to a Chase balance transfer loan, I also have a low-interest U.S. Bank balance transfer loan. The U.S. Bank balance transfer loan's minimum payment was and STILL IS only 1.25% per month, because U.S. Bank never bothered to quadruple my minimum payment to 5%. While my minimum payment is only 1.25% per month, fully 80% of that 1.25% minimum payment goes to pay down the principal balance because of the very low interest rate. In other words, U.S. Bank sent me an attractive offer many months ago that implied that U.S. Bank was willing and able to make a straightforward deal with me, and that if I kept up my end of the deal, so would U.S. Bank. Lo and behold, I kept up my end of the deal, and so did U.S. Bank! Amazing! Yesterday, I ate at a Chinese restaurant, and, of course, I received a fortune cookie at the end of my meal. Instead of a lame prediction of my supposed fortune, I got a really good, philosophical one: "But for ugliness in this world, there could be no beauty." Unfortunately, there are no U.S. Banks where I live yet, so when I travel, I'm expecting locals to ask me something like, "Why are you taking so many pictures of U.S. Bank, as though it were the Grand Canyon or something?!"

starting with the premise that both lenders and borrowers are at fault….

The jump in minimum payments is meant to "encourage" faster repayment of a balance. Historically this has been a proven way to get balances paid off quickly. "Life of Loan" was meant to be the loan's lifetime, not the borrowers. For cases where the change to a higher minimum payment causes true financial problems there are programs available. Call the bank, ask *nicely* and see what can be worked out.

Banks determine credit lines and interest rates based upon what level of risk the borrower represents. Higher risk = lower line and higher interest.

RISK IS NOT BASED ONLY ON YOUR PAYMENT HISTORY.

If your debt hasn't gone down or has even increased your higher risk. If you continually pay late, yes, it's considered higher risk. If your overall debt to income is high, you got it, higher risk. If all your cards are maxed out, well, you get the idea I hope. Not to mention, no matter how good your credit hisory is, 20 and 30 thousand dollar credit lines are just absurd for an individual. What the heck kind of an emergency needs that much credit? Savings accounts are a much better back up – they earn interest instead of cost you interest.

A credit card is a loan. A large portion of the American public chose to use credit cards as a way to buy things before they could actually afford them. (Same thing with the recent mortgage debacle) The banks are required by federal law to state the terms of the loan, which they do in the cardmember agreements. Sadly, there is no federal law to require the American public to actually read the agreements.

There was a time in this country when a person owing money felt morally obligated to pay it back as swiftly as possible. Of course, there was also a time when we bought houses we intended to stay in for more than a year or two.

Things have changed. It's the banks' fault AND it's our own fault. They made it pretty attractive, but no one forced us to assume more debt than we can handle. This sort of financial fiasco has happened before and will unfortunately probably happen again.

Talk to your lenders, start paying cash or doing without, and maybe a little less griping about a hole we helped dig ourselves into.

I have a novel idea… the government should have put in the same terms and conditions as the credit card companies put in their terms and conditions to customers… then mirror exactly what the banks are doing to their customers (who are in fact the creditors to the credit card companies). Hmmm… imagine the windfall the government would get if they had to pay 30% on a 25 BILLION DOLLAR loan! Unfortunately for CHASE.. they paid off their loan early… IF THEY EVER GET IN THIS position again (making bad business decisions) and need a bailout… I would surely hope the citizens of this great country will have a VERY LONG MEMORY and tell CONGRESS…. NO WAY.. let them go under… or suffer the consequences!

"Tough love? I don’t think so!

You folks who are buying that story and blaming the struggling borrowers are missing the point. When called, Chase immediately offers to reduce the minimum payment back to 2% if the customer will give up the “guaranteed” low interest rate. This is simply a strategy to weasel out of its low interest rate promises. The irresponsible player in this story is not the customer who is paying the account as agreed, but the bank who sucked them in with a low interest rate guarantee, then looked for a clever way out when expected to live up to its agreement.

I suspect Chase may regret its devious methods when it finds they’ve accomplished little more than alienating its good customers, who will pay off on the accelerated schedule without giving up their low rates and never do business with Chase again, and provoking marginal ones into giving up altogether and failing to repay anything at all. Good move. I guess that’s why they get paid the big bucks.

Posted By Jason, Manhattan Beach, CA: August 31, 2009 2:21 pm "

Ypu are crazy DUDE CHASE IS THE WORST CREDIT CARD!! They bought the amazon.com credit line and disabled the internet payment for two days i was overseas when I got back they said SORRY but we will charge you anyway………..I tell you once thing if I am ever in trouble to pay my credit cards I will pay CHASE last and most likely I will leave them hanging in there SCREW THEM!!

"Tough Love" ?? What are you, high?!?!

Chase is only doing this to the people they promised 4.9 and lower rates, because they no long want to honor these rates. I think if you live up to your end of the bargain and pay your bill on time, they should live up to their end and not charge you more than they promised. If they were doing this to all their customers it would be a different thing, but that is not what is happening. They told me I could pay 2% of my monthly balance again if I would allow them to increase my APR. They are asking customer to raise their interest rates or face almost 3 times what they were paying. This is a scam to raise their profits, not a plan to promote responsibility, and it looks like some people are failing for it.

Tough love? I don't think so!

You folks who are buying that story and blaming the struggling borrowers are missing the point. When called, Chase immediately offers to reduce the minimum payment back to 2% if the customer will give up the "guaranteed" low interest rate. This is simply a strategy to weasel out of its low interest rate promises. The irresponsible player in this story is not the customer who is paying the account as agreed, but the bank who sucked them in with a low interest rate guarantee, then looked for a clever way out when expected to live up to its agreement.

I suspect Chase may regret its devious methods when it finds they've accomplished little more than alienating its good customers, who will pay off on the accelerated schedule without giving up their low rates and never do business with Chase again, and provoking marginal ones into giving up altogether and failing to repay anything at all. Good move. I guess that's why they get paid the big bucks.

Many people have stated that Chase Bank does not permit an "opt out" of the minimum payment change of terms. This is generally, but not universally, true. If you have an extensive relationship with Chase Bank (e.g., personal &/or business checking accounts, savings account, CDs, IRAs, etc.), Chase Bank will permit you to avoid the change in terms and return to the original agreement's minimum payment of 2%, if you request that ALL of your various accounts at Chase be liquidated and returned to you immediately in the form of a cashier's check if the 5% minimum payment is not rescinded.

I am just another person screwed by Chase. I "HAD" a near perfect paying record on a number of credit cards….well, not anymore!!!!

Chase raised my minimum payment, which was on a smallish balance which I could manage…but they also raised the minimum payment on a family member's credit card too. I had used this family member's card to consolidate all of my bills. This card has a $26000 balance.
The min payment went from $525 to $1299!!!!

Guess what Chase…I am saying "fu** it" to all of my remaining credit cards so I can keep my family members credit card payments current. And one of my credit cards is with Chase…i will NOT pay this card anymore.

These people are crooks…they change terms at will because "the old terms don't work for them anymore." Well, now when they call me I tell them "it doesn't work for me anymore to pay this bill anymore!"

I don't trust these credit card companies at all…I will NEVER deal with them again. Maybe our society will be better off without all of this credit. But, in the long run, the credit card companies my be hurting when people wont' use their cards….

I think that if you can afford to NOT use your credit card to buy things, then don't use it. This should hurt the credit card companies.

Maybe in the long run, all of the screwing with us will hurt them when we don't want to use their cards anymnore!!!!!

Other than how misleading this article is, what I find amazing is how CNN is selectively shaping the comments by deleting some of the anti-Chase messages. Come on CNN, show some balance here!

Like MANY of the people Chase has targeted, I transferred other debt to Chase due to their "Live Time" offer of 3.99%. I have NEVER been late and have not used the card for any other purpose (Chase made no conditions on future purchases in their offer).

Now Chase doesn't like the commitments and they are trying to run us off by increasing the minimum payment. O, they did offer to keep the minimum payment at 2% if I agreed to increase the interest rate to 7.99% for some time and then it would go to the standard rate, which is what, 20% of so. If they truly where trying "tough love" as mentioned in the article, then how would raising my rate to 20% and keep me at a minimum payment of 2% work for me?

Come on, use some common sense here! Chase is trying to get out of these commitments anyway they can without any regard to their customers.

Why are you deleting some posts? I have several friends who have documented their experiences with Chase and complained about the bias of this article and their comments either never appear or are deleted. This practice does not inspire confidence in CNNMoney.com

I'm 27 and have 5 credit cards two of them with Chase. The balances on these two accounts were to consolidate and pay down all my credit card debt. I haven't added a balance to these two cards in over 2 years in order to become debt free.

The Chase cards had rates of 3.99% adn 5.99%. The payments were affordable and I NEVER missed a payment. After they changed the minimum balance rules my payment went from $260 (for both) to $633 which wasn't affordable at all. I researched on the internet that Chase offered a loan to payoff the balance in 5 years which I opted for. I will now pay $252 over 5 years and be debt free (which I'm VERY happy about). However Chase will NEVER get my business again because I believe them changing the terms was not ethical.

Everyday I read the complaining about the Chase this and Chase that. WAKE UP it is all credit card companies. BOFA, Citi, Discover, Amex. Capital One and so fourth.

I have one Credit Card, My father instilled in me Many moons ago, If you can't afford it chances are you didn't need it.

I had a Citi Card and I didn't use it very much maybe 150.00 a month, they decreased my credit and raised my rate. I paid it off every month. I dropped them like a wet noodle. I have Chase, sure they had a change in terms for me. But I pay it off every month. No sweat off my back it happens.

Yes yes, I saw the post where one person mention the TARP money. If you read CNN faithfully you would of Read where Chase paid the TARP money back. If you Read CNN and other Financial Article, that some of the Banks for force to take the money to stabilize the Market or rather see the banking industry totally bellied up.

You know what is really going on here, is that some not all folks played a game. It is called take a low interest balance transfer, and played bounce the money, Bacically Gaming with money, move money from one card to another to another and what have you really achieved NOT a darn thing except had a debt.

Credit card deserve some of the crap they get cause they offered a low interest offer knowing it could hit them big time.

Basically you have a card that gave you the option of a loan it is a LOAN.
All of you folks with 2 plus cards and debt up the wazzoo why didn't you just take out a loan at a bank, you know the banks wouldn't of given you multiple of loans without collateral like 2nd or 3rd mortgage

What they card companies are doing is increase min payments takes less time to pay it off, yes you have a huge min payment but what do you expect.

Maybe some of you should stay away from stores all together if you cant afford it

My 74 y.o. mother on a fixed income had no problem making her 181.00 payment each month and was paying down her credit card debt. Now, Chase is raising her minimum to over 440.00, and she cannot afford this. Where is the profit in all of the credit card defaults that Chase is going to receive? Will this not ultimately hurt the company? They will be losing untold numbers of customers. My wife and I are canceling our Chase card immediately and will have no dealings with this company in the future.

Watch out for Chase trying to raise interest rates again on a closed account (closed in 6/09 with opt-out due to trying to raise interest rate from 9.24 to 19.99%) , received new change of terms again, almost threw away since account was closed, but when I called if you don't opt-out of the new change of terms AGAIN ( on closed account)interest goes to 20.24% it changes 11/2009, so watch your mail if you have a Chase credit card, even if you opt-out before and closed the account, they are trying to sneak another one by the public. The account was never late or even near the limit so there was no reason then or now to raise the interest rate except for greed.The fine print says "regardless of whether your account is closed" So watch your mail and OPT_OUT again so they don't take advantage of the public.

I'm tired of people telling me to "live within my means." Our credit score is over 800, our cars are paid for in full, and for years I put over 35% of my net earnings in to safe investments. I haven't been to a movie since Titanic, and I haven't been to a Restaurant other than the occasional pizza take out or Micky D's as a treat for the kids for over four years. Most of my clothing is mended in at least one place, and coupon-clipping and scouring the weekly sales fliers has replaced the rare (less than one a month) social functions I used to attend. WHY?
Because I lost my job within a week of deciding to have our second child, and just keeping them fed, clothed, and healthy quickly depleted our savings, requiring us to use our once balance-free credit cards to do so, figuring we'd pay them off when I got a new job. My wife works full time and carries health insurance, but the co-pays have increased so dramatically we might be better off dropping the insurance and do our part to drain whats left of State and Federal social programs.
So I'm here at home, caring for my small children 24/7, working nights when I can find it, slipping into debt, despair and depression.

Well, guess what, I don't care about my stupid f&^%&#g credit report anymore, and I'm tired of living in fear of a # that means so much too so few. So my credit will suck SO WHAT!?

I suggest all true Americans, regardless of credit standing, stop paying their credit card bills immediately. Continue with your home, auto, education and medical bills and expenses as normal.
To be absolutely clear: All Americans, regardless of debt, or lack thereof, stop paying your credit cards immediately. It's the American thing to do.

As I sit down to write this, I ask myself what could I say that hasn't already been said 1500 times by countless other individuals feeling the same anger and desperation? The moment you read the word "Chase" in my correspondence, you are apt to stop reading because it seems unlikely I could offer anything new to the Mt. Everest size list of complaints regarding this unscrupulous, apathetic, financial
parasite posing as a money lender. After all, one doesn't become the
most complained about, hated corporation (by far) for no reason,
right? If this is the case, I would simply have to ask, how many more
complaints does it take before something is done about them? I'd like a concrete number so those of us being financially ruined have an
attainable goal to reach.

The fact is, there probably is nothing new I can add that hasn't
been said by nameless others who have been successfully paying their bills until Chase decided that they were not profitable enough under the terms of their previous 'lure-in' deals with their (host) customers. I can admit that I let my personal debts get out of control and I can also admit that changing the minimum payment terms is a loophole they can probably do legally because it was a abstract detail not discussed under their original terms. As a matter of fact, it's an unspoken detail that I have never seen discussed in 25 years
of credit card use with the MANY companies I have dealt with successfully. It's simply not a term that any potential customer would consider the bank changing on them (as long as they did their part and remained in 'good standing' on their debt) as I have.

One thing that I have seen discussed many times in credit card terms is the lender's proclamation that a late payment would cause a default change in terms and raise the customer's interest rate and/or would incur late fees as a penalty. if the customer is delinquent with their payments I could understand the contract between them being 'renegotiated' since the customer had not kept up their end of the deal. Chase's 'spit in the face' of prompt paying customers' policy is a new one on me and doesn't make much sense as a business model but hey, it's not like they had to have bail out TARP funds, right?

They are certainly allowed to make titanically bad decisions if they
want but the government also has NUMEROUS agencies in place to
protect consumers from unscrupulous, unethical and downright apathetic entities who leach off the very rare segment of credit consumers with high credit scores who pay their bills on time. Those of us on the short end of Chase's rope are anxiously waiting for those protective agencies to 'kick in' and do what they were enacted to do; protect the American people who pay their bills on time and hold up the economy. The same economy that seems on the brink of
collapse. Meanwhile the stories are abounds on CNN and other places
of them paying their executives big dollar bonuses and buying all new
corporate jets and a fancy new hangar to house them in. I do not want
ANY of my TARP tax dollars to help them BUY anything or line any
bigwig's pockets while they plot the american families downfall through these unfair practices. Even if they claim to not be using any of these funds directly, they use the bailout money for other things so they can use their own funds for these wasteful things.

My wife and I were lured in with promises of a low interest rate for
the life of the loan as long as we made payments on time. We elected
to consolidate other higher interest credit card debt and also build
onto our home to make room for our growing family since Chase promised the fixed rate if there was no default. With Chase (and for that matter all our other debts) we have made every one of payments on time and could continue to do so until the loan is paid off IF they hadn't chosen to raise our minimum payment 150% (from 2% to 5"!). We were able to pay our bills previously because despite our debt to income ratio, we were bringing in a relatively fixed amount of wages each week and it was enough to cover our debts and leave us a modest 'comfort zone' for emergencies, etc. Our budget didn't allow for a monthly credit card bill of 2+ times what our home mortgage
is! Personally I don't know anyone whose budget COULD compensate for
that kind of increase. Certainly not the class of person who has to
use credit cards in the first place. (After all, aren't those people
the ones who keep the economy going?)

In closing, we are considering ending 25 years of spotless credit and defaulting on Chase since it is unsecured debt and according to
their representatives, they are 'insured against default and will get their money either way'. With all the class action suits currently in litigation against them regarding this matter, I'm certainly not the
only individual that is considering this radical 'tit for tat' with
them. They certainly do not care about a tiny individual like me or
even my considerable debt to them but maybe they will care about
their 'bottom line' when so many people default that their insurance
company refuses to cover their mountain of losses. I certainly hope so.

It would be nice however if those aforementioned protective agencies
finally 'stepped up to the plate' and took down the 'big, bad wolf'
before more families were destroyed by Chase's greed and other 'would-
be' imitator banks follow suit in these unscrupulous practices . With
the middle class under attack, the American financial system will
soon follow suit.

This is a pain. My car blew a gasket and needed repairs to the tune of $2600. They didn't take American Express and we don't have the money saved for such an unforseeable circumstance, however they DID have a Chase card that I could apply for. Well, we had to out of necessity. Now they want to raise my rates again to 29% and we're paycheck to paycheck already and have our first child on the way. Way to go Chase! I guess my only option now is to go to a bank or our credit union to secure a loan so I can pay them with a lower interest rate. Keep in mind people, not everyone who applies for a card does it to buy crap they don't need or cannot afford, so stop talking about shiny TV's and the like, because some of us need to do this because we had no other choice. I'm not saying we all shouldn't pay on time, etc because I make double my required payments and am trying hard to work it off, but with the increased interest now tacked on, it will make it that much harder to put food on our table and gas in our cars with the money provided in our paychecks because we're helping Chase out simply because they are requesting it. I call shennanigans!

You use the words "fair or foul" in your Chase bank article headline, but the terms used by MANY OTHER ARTICLES that have come before you are "Bait and Switch".

http://www.daily-protest.com
http://www.bloggersagainstchase.com
http://www.robotsagainstchase.com
http://www.changeinterms.com

A few years ago chase flooded my mailbox with promotional offers of 3.99% to transfer outstanding balances from other credit cards to chase via a convenience check. They indicated in their offer that due to my outstanding credit and payment history they are only offering this to their most platinum customers. After 8 months I took advantage of their offer, consolidated three credit cards to chase and brought down the balance by 35%. I have never missed a payment. The payment was comfortable up until the August statement I received from chase where my payment went up from $290 to $700 due September 1, the equivalent of a luxury car payment. The payment is outside of my budget and I cannot make the minimum payment. I cannot express enough how disgusted I am with their practices.

Chase Bank is extremely flexible on the 5% minimum monthly payment issue. If you are unable to pay the 5% minimum, Chase will gladly let you return to the 2% minimum payment, provided that you agree to have your interest rate doubled. Each time a customer makes a payment, more of the payment will go towards interest, and less towards the principal. Customers unable to meet the new 5% minimum payment will pay off their debt a whole lot slower.

I pay more than enough on my small balances each month to handle the increase that Chase is proposing, but to change terms on cards where the customer has complied with the original contract for which he signed is a shady business practice. It is within their rights, but the idea is clearly to force more cardholders into default so they can jack up rates more freely. I'm sure their lobbyists had this loophole written into the new law for exactly this reason.

Lance, this is not a holier than thou issue. But if you wish to make it one, I'll bet you one hundred dollars CASH that you owe your job to the same people you judge as being irresponsible.

Somewhere, somehow, credit is involved in you HAVING A JOB. Rather than judge others who have credit card debt, why not respect the fact that people WANT to pay down their debts, and are being forced off the rails by bankers like Jamie Dimon of Chase Bank.

For you Barack Obama supporters, Jamie Dimon is Barack Obama's favorite wall street banker and sadly, Republican politicians never met a banker they did not like.

http://www.daily-protest.com
http://www.bloggersagainstchase.com
http://www.robotsagainstchase.com

My interest rate went from 7.9% to 29.99% because I was late by 1 day! and my min. payment doubled. I called ant told them if it did not go down I wasn't paying it and they let me close the account and keep making payments at 5% with no ill affects on my credit score. Remember the new laws coming into affect, deem that if an account is 6 months late they have to value it at zero dollars; that means they cant sell that debt. So there is some room to bargain with. I personally don't care about my score for the next year or so anyway its not like anyone is lending any money anyway! I personally am not gonna be help hostage by these companies anymore!

This isn't about RISKS or Helping people out from under their debt. What Chase has done in raising the Min. Payment from 2 to 5% of the min. balance is to squeeze people out of their low interest fixed rates so they can loan that money out at the prevailing higher rates. I have a credit score over 800, my balance started off at about 15,000.00 and it is now down to about 8,000.00. Never late, always paid more than the minimum, and my available credit remains at 33,000.00 on that card. I AM A RISK? They enticed me to transfer all higher interest accounts to their wonderful 3.99 fixed rate then now abruptly raise my minimum payment from 173.00 to 430.00. If someone cannot pay the new difference in payment Chase will more than gladely tack on the new default interest rate of 29.99. Meanwhile my other 2 chase cards at which they raised the interest rate, they have kept my minimum payment at 2% percent of the balance. It doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to see what was going on there.

We have a Chase credit card and have no complaints about the changes in their payment policy. There are times when we overspend in a month. But, we always have the money available to pay our bill in full at the end of each month. If we don't expect to be able to cover the bill in full, we go without. The only exceptions to this are our mortgage, one car loan, and student loans. For everything else…we live within our means. Mortgage companies approved ridiculous amounts, banks granted ridiculous credit limits, merchants offered endless store credit cards. The bubble finally burst. The way many people have lived in the past cannot continue into the future. If you have a credit card that hasn't changed the terms, you should start paying your debt down before they do change your minimum payments. This will only benefit you in the long-run. I agree the timing sucks and it would've been nice for those who are struggling to have some more notice before the minimum was increased. But, bottom line…the writing has been on the wall for the last year. Was it really a shock?

Bank of American has changed all its conditions with my accounts, for their advantage of course. I have good credit and always pay on time, but they way they treat their responsible customers, who needs enemies. I'll be paid off next month – end of my story with them!

The credit card companies have done nothing wrong. Their statements clearly state that the terms of the agreement can change. Why should they get left holding the bag for poor decisions made by people who clearly live beyond their means? I wonder how many people who choose to berate the banks are still paying on a dinner they charged 5 years ago.

This is an attempt for the credit card companies to recover outstands quickly to allow them to have more money to lend. Also, by raising monthly payments on customers that have the promotional APR for the life of their balance to a level that they can not pay, it will put those cards in default, raising their rates and removing the intor APR. Nothing here is a benefit for the customer, and in the long run Chase will see additional losses from this attempt at deceiving the population.

Y'all borrowed cheap money when the Banks had a bunch of money. Now they need cash flow. Read the Terms and Conditions under which you borrowed the money.The Banks didn't get us here, the custmers DID. Borrowed money costs the borrower. I have no mortgage, no car note, no credit card debt. I shop at thrift stores and have done without for a long time, but I go to Europe every year for two weeks.This year we took the grandaughters to Paris for Spring Break. Manage your expenses. If you can't afford to pay cash, you can't afford it!

Chase is one of the worst credit cards to have. I closed my account with them about 2 years ago due to their policies. I never carried a balance, paid off every month and was still treated very badly by them.

Stop comparing mortgage debt and CC debt. Yes, you could say that having mortgage is living beyond your means, but (a) the terms don't change if you have a fixed 30 year, for example and (b) the loan is secured by collateral (the home) if you default, whereas with credit cards they have nothing to take back. So you're not really living beyond your means if it is in fact within your means to make the same monthly payment for 30 years. With other types of mortgages, this may not apply.
Credit cards are great because you don't need to carry cash, they take less room than cash in your wallet, you can automate recurring expenses, and you get a nice summary of your expenses every month. But, only buy enough each month that you can pay off in total each month. Otherwise, you are throwing away a lot of interest.

Live within your means. Consider all credit card companies your personal enemy. Live within your means. Get it?

Now poor Chase is spending $138 million to upgrade their Jets….Where did all of that come from????

I just want to know, What happen to 30 day grace period? The last 2 times I used my Chase Card, My payment due date was 5 days later.

Chase has fourteen (14) class action lawsuits pending against it in this 150% minimum payment increase matter for alleged violation of several state and federal laws. Read the comments below. If you were Chase, would you want to face the wrath of a jury and risk having to pay not only actual, but also exemplary damages designed to deter Chase and other banks from engaging in future deceptive solicitations and other predatory lending practices? I think not. There will be a settlement in this matter, but the major cost to Chase will be a loss of reputation.

it sounds like chase is doing this to customers that have a low interest rate?? is this true?

Well I am one of those that just got nailed by Chase and I had no idea that Chase planned on or could have even done this so abruptly. My $173.00 monthly min. payment that I have always PAID ON TIME and always MORE than the min. payment required, went up to $430.00 because it was a balance transfer offer for a fixed rate of 3.99 on a 8,600.00 balance that they would like to get rid of so they can lend that money out at a higher interest to others. I will struggle to make it but I really feel for others who might have to suffer a default interest rate of 30% because they ended up missing a payment due to the fact that they can't afford the difference in payment so abruptly. Wamu was always good it seemed, but since Chase took over, it turned into as much of a Loan Shark as any Banking Institution can get. But I am not taking this lightly. Next week I will take out all the money in my 2 Chase checking accounts leaving only $12 in each and open new accounts at another bank. I will then write myself a monthly check (since I have all these leftover checks) to my new Banks for $1.00 out of the Chase accounts as a constant reminder to Chase that I am using a different bank for my business now and still keep Chase's administrative staff busy with my FREE checking accounts. All three of my Sons will do the same with their accounts at Chase. Then I will balance transfer my other 3 Chase credit card accounts that are lower balances with higher interests to another bank. I read where banks said they are doing this so people can get out from under their debt. BS…. My other 3 Chase card accounts with a higher interest, their minimum payments didn't change. If anyone has suggestions on ways to protest these disgusting tactics of Chase to fatten their bonuses when people are desperately struggling to just survive in this economy, Please share!!!

Helloooooo! This is stimulus?? From what I can find out about the SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND MILLION DOLLARS passed out to the banks & insurance co's (my money that I had absolutely nothing to say or vote on), good ol' Chase and others decided to raise rates & payments and lower credit lines. Despite what you think about people who use credit cards, many of us used our hard earned credit to finance our businesses. This downturn is hard on most of us, because our income has been diminished, and we are trying to survive as viable companies.
What if your Mercedes payment went from $600 to $1800? What if your house payment went from $1600 to $4600? Would you feel betrayed by your financial company? Would you be able to pay the extra?
We who used our hard earned credit with our credit cards are being forced to pay and support these banks whose bad decisions have led to these financial problems. While they are passing out bonuses to the very people responsible for this mess, they are using the small business customers to pay for their extravagence and stupid mistakes.
These banks are going to the Fed window and borrowing money at 0.25%, then raising our rates to 14-20%.
We are all in this together: either we all prosper, or we all fail. Since government supports failure and punishes success, my outlook for the furure is not good.

It is simply wrong to change any of the conditions of repayment for existing balances when they are in good standing. I am in the boat but I can make the new payments. The credit card companies are able to do this now because our Congress allows them to. That's is also wrong. But your congressman wants those campaign contributions from the credit card companies so they do nothing!

"No crying or complaining.."
Chase is the one that changed the terms. In this time of economic hardship, when it is paying 0% on its funds, and not happy with making a good return, decides to wring out as much as it can out of the American consumer and economy. Benevolent? Thats why Chase has offered to reduce the payment back down to 2%, ONLY if you accept double the rate…and ONLY for a short term. Thats why Chase cancelled 2 million WAMU cardholders, most without notification. Thats why Chase, cut HELOC loans. Geez, maybe when property values go up, they will raise limits. Thats why Chase has their bait and switch low interest offers, so it can triple the repayment rate after a few months, forcing the consumer to default or accept the higher rate…WITH NO OPT OUT.You must work for Chase, or are deluding yourself.

What ever happened to accountability? This is one of the many reasons that our society has found itself in the situation it is in. Let me state that I am a consumer, with credit card balances, that has been affected by the increases. I'd also like to note that I didn't have the cash on hand to make the purchases that make up my current balances. I acknowledge and am personally accountable to the fact that without the help of a bank like Chase, I couldn't have had what I "needed" (realizing that "needed" is a relative term).

Bottom line: If you can't afford it, use a credit card. Just know, you are not the one calling the shots – the person lending you the money that YOU DON'T HAVE IS. If you want to get ripped off, try Beneficial or American General for 20-30% APR. Otherwise, stop trying to be a plastic millionaire and living beyond your means. It costs money to have all of the trappings of wealth. All of you that have commented negatively could close your credit card account with Chase and it would not even cause a blip on their radar. It is ultimately your responsibility to read and understand the terms and conditions of any loan – you shouldn't count on a business to look out for your best interests. Are you as a customer looking out for Chase's best interests?

Makes no difference to me. I pay my cards off in full at the end of the month, the way credit cards were designed to be used. If you carry a balance, you are asking for it. With the new legislation on credit card companies, you will see a LOT more of this.

Many banks have made me many attractive offers, and I have never had any regret in accepting those offers. My experience with Chase is quite different. NEVER bite on ANY seemingly attractive offer from Chase, because you can be certain there's a dangerous hook in the offer somewhere, written in the fine print somewhere or written nowhere, anywhere.

Ha. Nice way to find out my minimum payment just went up $60/mo. Ugh. I can't wait to get this darn card paid off and closed.

I hope we've all learned a valuable lesson about credit. Though I have never been behind and always pay more than the minimum. I am just done. I am getting it down to one card with a $1000 limit. What more does a person really need?

Thank god for the credit reform though. I worked for CitiCards' Collections Dept. for a while. It made me sick, I quit after 3 months.

Chase increasing the monthly min pay from 2% to 5% of the bal of 3.99 apr for the life of the loan accounts is not arbitrary to the terms of the agreement. The agreement clearly states that the min pay can be changed at any time by the bank. Consumers should want to pay debts off in a quicker fashion. Chase offers alternative options that will close the account and offer alternate interest rate options. Many accounts have outrageous balances in regards to balance to available credit ratios. The basis of the min pay increase is not on good pay history vs. non-good pay history. The bank is looking at customers high balances. These type of accounts need the bank to step in and say hey look mr. or mrs. consumer, you should be focusing on paying your debt off instead of what else can i purchase next. Chase provided you the credit card and it's your responsibility to pay this debt on the banks terms. No crying and complaining. Take resposibility for your debt. Period. You created the balance, not Chase. Chase has even established a site called chaseclearandsimple.com to help customers better manage their finances.

Chase's actions are not to surprising. "When you play with snakes, eventually you're going to get bit." Regardless of what a Chase Customer Service Rep said over the phone to get your business, the actual hard evidence is in the original credit card agreement (which naturally is a nightmare to read/understand) and it contains language that lets Chase pretty much do whatever they want. Is it immoral? Absolutely. Does it screw over their customers? Of course. Do they care? Not as long as they make their profits.

Chase did a great job of attracting customers with their low rates, knowing all along that they could change nearly any condition of the terms at any time. Now that Congress is going to force them to be more clear about changes next year, they're changing everything now to beat the new regulations.

If you are mad, take that anger and apply it to paying off your debt and the best way to "regulate" companies like Chase is with your money by never doing business with them again! Unfortunately, a lot of people took Chase's terms at their word and never read their contractual terms (a big mistake considering Chase has no morals or honesty). It's a tough lesson to learn for many people. Time to return to doing business with local banks and credit unions and let the heartless big banks and their lack of morals go under by consumers choosing other alternatives.

Does anyone know if there are any reputable credit card companies out there anymore?

I had a Chase card for 7 or 8 years. I paid it off last year and kep tit for emergencies. Since I didnt' use it I got a letter in the mail stating that Chase in it's infinite wisdom decided to close my account since I hadn't used it in over 12 months. Talk about losing customers. I was never late on any payments to any credit card carrier and have excellent credit but I guess they only want customers that carry balances and never pay them off. Oh well, another accoutn closed in good standing, never paid late.

Get rid of your credit cards and you won't have to worry about this issue! If we cannot afford it now, why do we in our society think we should buy it now? We cut our cards up 21 months ago and it was financially the best thing we ever did. Things you buy are far more enjoyable when they do not come with a payment.

Someone needs to ask why a business that can cahrage at least 12-14% interest on unpaid balances has a hard time making a profit and uses this as justification to rasie interest rates to the 18-30% range ?? Something is wrong here, if the financial institutions are incompetant or have excessive cost structures they should eb allowed to fail. Plenty of local and reagional banks make money on loans with interest rates under 10%.

Rxactly what is going one here ??

I think its a great move, credit card companies will have less risk, customers will pay off their debt alot faster in addition customers can start to live within their means and not overextending. Higher payments means that consumers will spend less to avoid the bigger payments. Its a win win situataion for both the bank and consumers, it will help bring this country back to reality.

American Express does offer a card you can hold a balance on, and many users are receiving rate increases… WITHOUT AN OPT OUT OPTION and just prior to the new law going into affect. This doesn't sound like a company interested in being loyal to their customers either. However, Joe is right. The pay in full every month card will keep you out of trouble/debt.

ARRGGGGGHHH!

Being forced to pay off lower interest rate debt FASTER than higher interest rate debt is not Tough Love, its Robin Hood robbing from the poor to give to the rich.

http://www.bloggersagainstchase.com
http://www.robotsagainstchase.com
http://www.daily-protest.com

Capitol one tried a similar stunt with me – in addition to TERRIBLE customer service – that caused me to close the account. I should have the balance paid off in less than a year and then I will NEVER do business with them again – and I do mean NEVER. It is exactly because of this type of behavior that I have switched all my credit card purchasing to American Express. You have to pay the balance monthly so you can't rack up a balance, and their customer service is among the best – in any industry. If they would quit charging businesses more in processing fees than any other card more places would take Amex and they would be perfect. Oh well, just goes to show just about no American company has the brains to take the long term view and treat their customer right so that they will remain loyal, life time customers.

Carla Fried, the author of the article, wrote: "Hmmm. Unfair? I’m not so sure. Unfriendly, absolutely."

Why would ANY potential customer choose a bank that is "unfriendly, absolutely" and possibly unfair?

Chase Bank is one of your advertisers. For job security, Ms. Fried, I think it would be an excellent idea for you to retract your comments.

I received my August Chase bill just last week. I paid this account off almost a year ago, and now pay the full balance of the card at the end of each month. My August statement included a notice that my interest rate would be adjusted beginning 1 Oct from its current 9.0% fixed APR to a variable Prime + 12.99%, for an APR of 17.99 for October.
Thank you Chase for rewarding a responsible customer with such a rate increase. You just became the OTHER zero-balance credit card that I will only use for an absolute emergency only.

Despite the many complaints, I have been a happy chase customer since 2002. However, this year they raised my rate from 9 to 16% even though I have never been late or over my limit. I think they did it because of the new laws coming in. Regardless, I changed to another card and paid off Chase.

Author Carla Fried: “Hmmm. Unfair? I’m not so sure.”

Could you visit changeinterms dot com and read at least one of the fourteen class action lawsuits filed against Chase Bank in this matter AND get Chase Bank's response? After you read about the allegations against Chase AND get Chase's side of the story, perhaps you could be more sure. In any case, we readers would be very interested in reading your well-investigated report. Thanks.

The fact of the matter is, Chase's credit card division is losing money and Chase is trying to break its agreements with good customers so it can charge sky high interest rates in order to make up the losses.

Here's the sequence of events in my life (short version).

Two years ago, Chase offered me a promotional rate of 2.99% interest for the life of the loan (this part was in writing), monthly payment 2% of the balance (this was what they told me over the phone), what I had to do to accept was pay a 3% balance transfer fee and transfer any balance I wanted to transfer. I had big medical bills from my daughter's chronic illness adn this looked like a good deal, so I accepted, used the promotional checks to pay off $40,000 of medical bills, and made all payments on time, reducing the initial loan balance to $34,000.

Then Chase notified me that they were changing the terms of the account to increase my monthly minimum payment from $ 680/month to $ 1700/month.

I wrote back and told them I wanted to opt out and close the account. They wrote me back and said no opt out was available but call their "proactive solutions" department if I was unable to make the $ 1700/month payment.

So I called the "proactive solutions" department and we negotiated a split-the-difference repayment schedule: I would keep my promotional rate and pay approximately $600/month for five years instead of having the monthly payment decrease. They required me to let them take a one time payment from my checking account, ahead of the due date on either account, as consideration for the new agreement.

They deducted the one time payment and then notified me that, on second thought, they aren't going through with the proactive solutions deal and I still have to pay them $1700/month.

Or I could call to "explore other solutions to my situation." The
"other solution" turns out to be, I give up my promotional rate and accept a variable interest rate about 10% per annum higher than my promotional rate.

To sum it up, they agreed to a promotional rate, this turned out to be a bad deal for them but by law they couldn't raise the promotional rate because I'd paid 3% up front to lock i the promotional rate (a binding contract), so they deliberately raised the monthly payment so high that I would be forced to default and then "kindly" offered to help me with my "financial problems" by charging me an extra ten percent per year interest.

I looked into arbitration because I thought maybe an arbitrator would side with me in this mess and it turns out I can't get arbitration because their arbitration clause was fraudulent – they were requiring everyone to use a collection agency as an arbitrator and the Attorney General of Minnesota caught on and forced them to stop (google National Arbitration Foundation and Minnesota Attorney General and you'll get the details).

I'm pretty close to bankruptcy anyway due to all those medical bills and I don't have any assets they can seize (it's all homestead and retirement account), so I'm just going to default and see what happens. I know one thing – they won't be able to force me to arbitrate …

The idiots in the Chase credit card division have now made two agreements with me and broken both agreements. I was perfectly happy to repay the loan on the original terms and I would have felt absolutely terrible about defaulting.

Now I have no shame. They have turned a dependable customer determined to repay them into an angry customer whose view is, "Sue me and prepare to defend the counterclaim."

The people running the Chase credit card division must be incredibly stupid.

Author Carla Fried: "Hmmm. Unfair? I’m not so sure."

When Chase Bank lures a customer to sign up for a "life-of-the-balance" loan and FAILS to notify the customer that the loan repayment rate can be accelerated from 2%/month to 5%/month, 10%/month, or even 100%/month, at Chase's sole discretion, with a month's notice, that's unfair. It is wholly insufficient for Chase to induce the customer to sign up for a loan without getting the customer's INFORMED consent.

Author Carla Fried: "Increasing the minimum payment rate by 150% means Chase customers will pay off their debt a whole lot faster. That’s a boon for their personal balance sheet as well as saving a bundle in interest costs."

Would you think it's fair if your mortgage company increased your mortgage payment by 150% and informed you that if you didn't pay it, you'd be in default and would be reported to the credit agencies? Sure, you'd pay less interest IF you could do it. More likely, it would not be possible for you to consistently pay your normal mortgage payment in one month, then pay AGAIN your normal mortgage payment in the same month, and then ADDITIONALLY pay half of your normal mortgage payment in the same month. If you could do that consistently month after month after month, you must live in a house trailer, or CNNMoney dot com must be paying you too much, or your rich dad must be giving you plenty of money!

To all the self righteous "spend within your means its your fault crowd", I hope you dont have a mortgage, you own your car, have your kids college tuition paid in cash. Because if you dont, you are living beyond your means. Now, if you have some of these, I hope you think its ok when your mortgage company doubles your payment, with no opt out. And maybe, your kids tuition doubles, with no opt out. Or, maybe your boss halves your salary, because he wants you to be more responsible…

I received my chase bill in the mail noticed the minimum payment increased from $300 to well over $700. I have numerous credit cards outstanding and am stretched to thin to make any additional payments. I called a local bankruptcy attorney to exercise my opt out option with credit cards. Chapter 7 here I come. Im thankful all of my assets are held in another entity, otherwise, I would have had to file chapter 13 and pay back all the debt. Now the banks will take their losses from my default.

1. For everyone that keeps talking about opting out, closing the card and paying under the old terms….There is NO OPT OUT OPTION…It is either pay the 5% or pay the balance in full. Most credit card company's allow and opt-out but CHASE is saying NO WAY and this is why so many cardholders are upset.

2. The proof that this is GREED ONLY is in the offers to let you keep your 2% minimum payment and in exchange you agree to give up your promotional
locked in low rate for a higher APR that could be bumped at anytime. Excuse me but who does that help?? oh yeah….CHASE!!!! So don't tell me they are doing it to help you payoff your debt sooner, It is the complete opposite if you fold to that offer!!!

3. THE NEW REG'S DO NOT STATE ANYWHERE that CC company's are required to raise minimum payments. As a matter of fact effective Aug 20th 2009 the reg's state that they CAN NOT increase the minimum payment by more than double…..WHY do you think CHASE implemented this change prior to Aug 20th?????

Chase is plainly dishonest. I agreed on a 3.99% life-of-loan rate at a 1% minimum monthly payment 5 years ago. It was a good deal then, and a good deal now. But Chase no longer thinks it's good for them, so they just changed the rules. This is no different that your mortgage company arbitrarily re-amortizing your home loan from 30 years to 15 years. This is a watershed in American business and Chase will pay the price (or worse, the U.S. taxpayer will).

Chase payment went from 250 to 625. That may not be much to some but that's school clothes, supplies, savings and Christmas for us. So when you see the articles that people aren't spending, you'll know why. The kind of people who qualified for these offers to start with WILL pay it back somehow. Over 800,000 accounts got this increase; 400,000 earlier in the year.

Our $$ circumstances haven't changed so not sure why Chase all the sudden considers us a risk. Have over 750 credit score and a fixed low rate, never late. Have heard some are being offered to stay at the 2% payment if they give up their low fixed rate. Pure bait and switch.

For all of you who keep suggesting we opt out read the whole thing and you will realize there is NO opt out which is perhaps the worst insult of all.

Chase has raised minimum payments 250% under the guise of doing its customers a favor! With no consideration what hardship it has brought upon them or the economy. It has also launched a campaign to rid itself of 2000000 Wamu cardholders, by simply cancelling their cards, most of time with no notice or warning. More "tough love". I dont think so. Chase was flush with bailout money, which gave it the momentum to rid itself of most of its credit card holders. With cash, it doesnt need the liability of cardholders. With increased collections, its cash flow looks much better. What Chase doesn't realize, is that it has destroyed its future customer base when the recession ends.
Tough love? I am sure Chase will encounter some "tough love" in the future when it is looking for credit card, heloc, student loan, and business lines from the millions it has abandoned.

This article by Ms. Fried leaves out the important fact that Chase Bank is raising the minimum payment by 150% ONLY on life-of-the-balance LOW-interest (less than 7%, usually 3.99%) balance transfers. One would learn much more about Chase's accelerated minimum payments by visiting YouTube and searching for "Chaise Diet." This video is intended to be humorous, but it's factually correct and does not gloss over the fact that Chase advertised these balance transfers as a way to save money and consolidate other credit card debt. Anyone who took up Chase's offer is now at risk of default due to the increase in minimum payment, which was not revealed even in Chase's solicitation's fine print. In other words, Chase baited with an attractive, deceptive offer, the consumer accepted, and now Chase has applied the "switch" part of bait & switch.

I urge anyone with rising Chase rates to go to the about.com link in this article and go to the link in that to file a complaint with the FTC about Chase. It only takes a few minutes to do using the assistant. We may not be able to stop them with raising our rates, but maybe if they get enough complaints someone will look into it. I have been with them for 15 years with excellent history and a fixed 7.9% rate that they want to raise over 14% variable. They will not ever see my business again.

Why anyone would carry a balance on a credit card is beyond me. Why would anyone want to pay an additional 20% or so on something they most likely don't need. Personally, I pay my card off every month and save my money. The car I just bought last week was paid for in cash because of this. Igot the car cheaper, and I'm not paying interest which allows me to save again. Pay cash people!!!! The only debt you should carry is your mortgage. Believe me, if you pay off your mortgage on a regular monthly basis, pay your electric, water, gas, and all the other normal bills in a timely regular fasion, you'll still have good credit without having to pay the money grubbers to get it.

I never understood the logic of the credit card to the common holder.

I just sent the follow letter to Bank of America today. Americans need to stop doing business with these insidious national banks. Live within your means. Do business with local banks and credit unions:

Please close my credit card account as set out above. The main reason I am closing my account is because of the way Bank of America abruptly notified me (a cardholder in good standing) that my interest rate would double. Although I was afforded the opportunity to opt-out and received an opt-out letter on condition that I not use my credit card, I no longer want to do business with Bank of America now that I have paid off my credit card account.

What Bank of America had done to me (and millions of their other credit card customers) is what I consider an unjustified for profit move on its part, especially at a time when it has taken tens of billions of TARP dollars to bail their bank out. Moreover, after receiving TARP monies, Bank of America saw fit to give its CEO a gluttonous bonus when America was in the middle of a staggering financial crisis brought about mainly by mismanagement, fraud, and greed.

I no longer trust Bank of America, and when you’ve lost a customer’s trust, you’ve lost everything.

Sincerely,
signature

cc: Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Chairman
United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
534 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-0001

P.S. Please acknowledge to me by letter that my MasterCard account with Bank of America has been closed, at which time I will consider my business with Bank of America wholly and forever concluded.

I have decided to end my personal and business associations with all of the large, national banks. They are too impersonal and difficult to work with. We are moving all of our accounts into smaller, local banks. If you dislike how you have been treated by Bank of America and Chase then I recommend that you "vote with your feet" – there are plenty of excellent local banks in this country.

Chase decided to drop me after I would not agree to their strong arm attempts to raise my credit limit from a fixed 7.99 to 14.99%. I have been a great customer in good standing with them for 20 years. Business must be good to tick off good customers, wish I could say the same about my businesses..LOL. I'm quite happily using my Capital One M/C still at 7.9% fixed. Chase can kiss my ruddy cheeks ! I'll never have another dealing with Chase again.

Come on now. These banks execs must find ways to bring in cash to pay their huge exec bonuses. Why is anyone shocked that they would pull such a bait and switch? Loan you money on x terms then suddenly change to y terms at a time when you cannot refinance out. These same execs would cry if their bonus plans were changed after the fact which is exactly what they are doing to their customers.

It seems most of you do not realize that all of this was induced by our government changing the ways banks can do business. This law goes in effect next year and banks will have to comply with this new law and new way of doing business. Before that happens, banks will CHANGE most of their customers terms prior to this new law so they can maximize their revenue. I do not feel sorry those that used their cards and your houses as an ATM… you should have been living within your means and not better than the Jones.

Chase raised my interest rate from 7.9% to 14.25%, six years I had this card, no lates, no defaults, a "good" account for them. I cancel the card, I guess Chase needs to know, something is better than nothing.

My problem is with Chase credit card. I agreed to a credit card with Chase based on a 9.99% interest rate. At the same time I agreed to a debt roll over based on a 2.99% for the life of the loan. I paid $100 for the roll over. The problem I have is that I stupidly made a purchase after the roll over. The charge was placed at the rear of the loan with the higher accrung interest rate. I asked to be able to pay off the charge but was told no. In order for me to pay off the charge with the higher interest rate I would have to pay off the entire loan. To make matters worse Chase has since raised the interest rate of the higher from 9.99% to 13.24%. I took the creit card because it was supposed to be a fixed interest rate. Chase continues to charge me a rate that I never agreed to. They are charging me a charge that they will not allow me to pay off. I believe this is as crooked as if I had borrowed the money from a loan shark or the mafia. I would definitely advise anybody against using Chase for thier credit card needs.

Excuse me, but what if you were the bank and loaned the money and people were late paying you or never paid you? What would you do? Exactly what the banks are doing, not loaning money and demanding more up front from the people who owe them money. If they had done this from the beginning, perhaps our country would not be in the mess it is now! Because, as we have witnessed, many American consumers cannot and will not take responsibility for their own finances. It is always somebody else's fault. Perhaps if we had taken responsibility, people would still have jobs and stocks worth a dime.

Quit buying fancy cars if you truly cannot afford them and maybe you would not have CC debt.

My husband and I each have a Chase card but fortunately have not seen any increase in minimum required payment but did see the big increase in APR last month. Chase said that we could keep our original interest rate and close the card or the increased interest rate would be imposed. Closing the card would have a negative impact on our credit so it is really frustrating to be forced to take the new rate. We are going to pay off our cards next month and never use them again. Alienating customers does not seem like a friendly way of doing business so we will take our business elsewhere.

Chase isn't doing anything massively wrong in raising minimum payments. After all it was their money in the first place and when the account was opened some person agreed to pay it back on some terms. There's a lot of fine print in the agreement for the credit card – hasn't anybody realized by now that some of that fine print declares the right to increase the minimum payment? Too many people literally live off of credit cards and eventually due to financial hardship of some kind or irresponsible spending they can't afford to make payments. That's the reason minimum payments are going up. So many people are just picking up and walking away from all their debt.

And anyone trying to compare credit cards to home mortgages don't even try. There's a big difference. With a home mortgage the terms are concrete. Either fixed or variable APR and the term of the loan is a fixed period of time, where with credit cards the term of the loan isn't defined.

I can't say I don't have debt myself, cause I do. But I won't cry on the day I'm asked to pay it back. In fact I'm preparing for it right now – by paying that debt off before spending irrationally.

This could be a violation of the FDCPA (fair debt collections practices act)
If you would like to sue them and settle their debt contact Rudy at the illinois law group. We have over 20 years in the experience and have success in all 50 states settling debt through FDCPA litigation. WE do not charge any up front fees, and charge a flat fee upon results. Thats how confident we are.
773 634 8700

i am not opposed to interest rates increasing. I am opposed to interests being raised on purchases bought under an agreed upon interest rate. When I received my credit card I agreed to a specified interest rate. I think it is not only wrong but crooked to be able to change interest rates on purchases I bought under that agreement.

Best to just get rid of Chase Credit Cards and never return as a Customer. I was a customer for 15 years, they never helped my any.

I fixed them…. I stop using my credit cards. I have a high credit score and laugh at the idea I should be paying 18% interest. No thanks!! Cash is king!!

In the end consumers vote with their business. Today Chase has the upper hand, tomorrow the consumer will have the upper hand. My thoughts are that this move will cost them long term business. I've already gotten another credit card with another company because of their jacking me on the rate of the card I had. I'd had that card for over twelve years and never thought about replacing it. Now their card has a zero balance and I won't do business with their bank. That is the way of business…

Chase customers still don't know the bitterness as bad as being a Bank Of America customer. BoA opted for increasing monthly payments by arbitrarily boosting everyone's credit APR's to 14%. If their motivation was to get my balance to zero ASAP in order to close my account, they succeeded. I've now been a happy Chase customer for four months. Albeit keeping a low balance (<$500) precludes this particular move from adversely affecting my debt situation too terribly.

I'm pissed too, My minimum payment went to $10 dollars thats ten percent of my balance, and they moved my due date out an extra week so I had five weeks to get them my $100 i owe them this month. You all need to suck it up pay your bills and stay away from credit cards, they were never meant to be used to live on from month to month.
The reason interset rates are so high is because so many people default on them so the rest of us have to make up for the difference. Just paying the two percent minimum will just keep you in debt longer.

Chase's "new terms" could have ruined me financially. I had to take out an unsecured loan with my credit union @ 8.9% and had to have my boyfriend cosign. I have never missed a payment, always paid on time, and always paid more than I was required to pay. I could have gone the bankrupt route after I got stuck with all the marital debt accumulate by my ex and me. But, I tried to do the "right thing". Just kept plugging away, paying on time every month. My payments went from $423 to $1040. I am living on a pension. And this is only the credit card nightmare that Chase thrust upon me. You ought to hear what they are doing with our mortgage!!!!!! Chase Bank is a heartless, greedy, company that cares nothing about their customers. They just came up with a plan to help themselves so that's what they did. They could are less about the burden this places on it's customers in such a trying time anyway.

If Chase tries this they will force a number of good credit risk customer to have their credit ruined and possbly into bankruptcy.
The banks are going to push tne envelope one to many times and they are going to cause a revolt within the US. If this would happen the top management of these banks would flee the country then leave the regular employess to face the onslaught.

No one is talking about those who can't afford the higher payment. Where is congress!!!!!!!!! Another example of corporations ignoring the poor. Hey folks we will all pay for the increased defaults that are going to happen as a result. Wake up America this is corporate warfare. What a deal they get. We give them money to survive so they can survive and stick to us. We Americans deserve what we get for being sooooo stupid.

A side affect of this change will be that some peoples credit score will actually be LOWER as a result, which may result in higher interest rates. hmmmm… is that their goal?

I always pay 3%-4% of my balance and make sure it is more than the minimum because (1) its a good idea (2) it affects my credit score positively. Now if I only pay the 5% minimum, I will not get extra "brownie" points.

Fortunately, I don't have a Chase card, but I suspect they will be trendsetters for others.

A better idea might have been to phase in changes with 3%, 4%, 5% over 3 years.

I think way back 5% was the standard anyhow.

When the customer first receives the plastic card one also receives the agreement for the account. Somewhere in the agreement the customer agrees that the bank will change the rules to suit the bank.
So why are people upset? That is what the customer agreed to.

It's seriously time to fight back against these bloodsuckers. This is why I read the blog at debtbeat.typepad.com for ways to pay these balances off and deny these companies their profit. maybe then they'll learn to quit running their customers off a cliff.

I explained to Chase customer service, by phone, that the change from 2% min payment to 5% min payment was a breach of my reliance upon their customer service rep who established the original loan. At that time when the loan was first established, the CHASE agent explicitly stated that the loan was based upon a fixed APR AND payment at 2% of outstanding balance. This would NEVER change provided I pay on time. I kept up my end and now that representation has now been broken by Chase. I took out that loan with the understanding and good faith reliance upon their agents representations. Furthermore, I never recall the agent making any disclose or condition to the contrary, meaning the minimum payment might change and that the 2% is subject to a "unilaterial" change by CHASE. The recent customer service response was they are trying to "help us pay our loans back faster!" I explained that is like changing someone's 30 year mortgage term to 12 years. I truly believe they have broken the good faith understandings established during the onset of the loan and that the changes to the minimum payment due provision is only applicable to CC charges that revolve and NOT promotional offers. I am outraged by their bad faith in doing business.

Yes, my payment was doubled this month, do I like it, NO, can I pay it, YES….they offered to raise my rate and keep the payment, NO WAY….I can pay the amount asked, I also like the 2.9%…the funny thing, they are still sending me the 2.9% checks, but now they only last 2 years….they should have thought about that sooner. I wont need the checks….STOP SENDING THEM TO ME CHASE…..

By the the comments I have been reading, it is clear that most of you do not understand what has happened to thousands and thousands of Chase Bank's most loyal and in-good-standing customers, which I am one of them. They have targeted this group because of the low interest rate offerings (1.99% to 4.99%) provided to them for the life-of-the-loan.
If you manage your debt well, it can make financial sense to utilize this type of offer instead of a used car loan that could be 8% or taking out a line of credit on your home to make improvements.

If you pay your payments on time and as described in the original terms, the rate remains the same — and that is the problem. They are not making enough money on these accounts. As a result, they have changed their original terms to pay 2% of the outstanding amount to 5%. Consider how you may fill if your Mortgage company said they are going to change your monthly payment from $1000 a month to $2500, simply because they can. Chase did not provide an opt-out or close your account option to avoid the increased monthly payment.

This is not a case of 'tough love' but an outright betrayal for their best clients. I can only imagine the problems their 'not-so-best' clients have with this pawn-shark-like company. I look forward to not being a customer of Chase Bank or any of its affiliates – ever.

Unfortunately, the article did not elaborate on what really was happening. Please, before you post comments, get the facts. Now, there are several websites dedicated to Chase Banks unscrupulous behavior, simply type in: Chase raises minimum payment from 2% to 5%

Are Country Lives on credit I own two business and we have to use are line of credit to make payroll thats just a fact of life so if my bank were to just yank it away or change the terms this will effect 25 people…..We pay are LOC in full every month on time by the way this is how most small business operate….and trust me we are in no way living beyond are means…

I think there is an underlying plan… Many people set up their payments to pay automatically or just pay a certain amount every month without looking at their statement. With this change, they will be charged with a late payment (which Chase wants) and default so the terms of the card can be changed (especially on zero or low interest terms… which Chase wants). We should have let them fail instead of bailing them out!

This is just another reminder to myself not to ever get another credit card.

Raising the min is good – its been too low for too long; raising it quickly on existing balances is bad. The increase should be limited to new charges or raised slowly on existing balances. Raising the interest rates and the min payment at the same time is very, very bad.

I can't seem to understand all the people here who seem to look down on somebody that carries a balance on thier credit card. Some times things come up and have to use it, or you just plain wanted something. So if you budget to make the purchase and pay it off over a period of time (based on your account terms) how is that wrong?

By that thought process, everybody that carries a balance on thier mortgage is a bad person, right? If you couldn't buy a house with cash..then you shouldn't own a home?

What if the mortgage company that holds your loan..sends you a letter one day, saying that in order to help you out of debt..its asking for the full balance owed to be paid in full? I guess you'd be a whinner for complaining about it?

There's to many hypocritical idiots out there that stand on thier soap box, and are to quick to judge others.

So to all those "idiots"..do you have a mortgage?..is so, then you are also "living beyond your means"!

Hows it feel?

All said and done, people should be responsible while spending. Easy credit doesn't mean they go beyond their means. But for people without jobs or those running a tight budget, this could be a big blow. Chase should have considered that. But from their view point, they got to run a business and hence reduce their exposure as much as possible and recover as fast as possible. Besides individual horror stories, I think only time will tell whether such steps by banks helped recover their debt or pushed consumers into bankruptcies on a larger scale.

Not being able to afford a 5% of the outstanding balance minimum payment on your credit card isn't a problem, it's a symptom of a problem…

Why is it only at 5%? It really should have been at 10% already…

My interest rate has more than doubled on my card, my minimum payment has doubled, and my credit line was slashed by 60% (granted it's still higher than I'd ever use in any given month) all in the past 6 months. Thank God I pay my balance in full every month or I'd be hurting. If it wasn't for the cash back points, I wouldn't use the card at all.

I am certain that if the banks raised your mortgage interest or shortened the term from 30 years to 20 and upped your payments accordingly we would all be complaining. Changing the rates on current charges is just wrong and it makes it impossible for someone living from paycheck to paycheck plan. mIt's theft supported by Capitol Hill losers.

I think this was a very stupid thing to do to some of Chase's better customers as myself. We have a 790 credit score, never missed or been late on a payment since we opened our accoutn with them in 11 years, but they still raised our min. payment from $250/mo to $625/mo or would have if I didn't transfer the balance. Now before you start telling me about living beyond our means, I'll just say that we have no credit card debt. This balance was from a car purchase, which Chase said I could get it @ 3.9% until the loan was paid off. Try getting a used car loan anywhere else at that rate. I always paid over the min. payment, yet they still raised the min. payment 150% on me. I think this is totally unfair and unwise to treat your customers like this. Fortunately, I was in a position to transfer the money to a different accoutn, but many do not have this option.

This plan is OK, I think, but the timing couldn't be worse, and the increase by 150% really could catch a lot of consumers off-guard. They probably should have considered increasing the minimum payment incrementally, little by little to 3 then 4 then 5, if they were going to try this new plan.

Credit card issuers should ease with a 1% increase each yeare. Instead, they are pressuring consumers with higher payments, soaring interest rates, and rising fees. And they expect default rates to come down?

I think its wonderful, as someone who has to pay five to ten percent more for what I buy thanks to the dumb folks who use credit cards.( and actually think that they are smart) I have to ask all the genius that think they save so much money by using credit cards, how do you think visa, mastercard, and american express make so much money? It is not by interest charges, but by charging retailors and those that accept credit cards fees. These fees are then passed on to all consumers. ( including those of us who are smart enough not to use them) So frankly anything that will deter credit card usage will save all of us money. GO CHASE!

Companies sometimes forget how long memory can persist. People will bite the bullet and pay off their cards at the new, higher minimum, but will they dare risk putting any new purchases on that card? Probably not. They will turn to other companies that may treat them "more fairly" as they see it. So yes, while this may generate cash in the short term, how many renewals of purchasing will occur once those balances have been zeroed out? It's a bad idea all around.

The credit card companies are going to regret this time period in a couple years. They are just flat pissing customers off, customers that, in a couple of years they will need for growth and profitability. They are also doing it to customers they should not be doing it to – solid ones. I'm seeing more and more checkbooks pulled out lately than I have in a very, very long time.

Let's remember what this is really about. It's about you buying something and then financing akk or part of it. You have a set interest rate and then the bank(crooks) come along later and jack the rate and your payments up. How can anyone plan when this type of thing goes on. Thank you Congrees. Maybe Chase will donate more into the political campaigns of their buddies on the hill. If they were doing this to mortgages you would hear it then.

This raises the 'minumum' required payment. This takes the control over people's person budget out of their hands and into the credit card company's. This is a horrible time to increase the burden on people's wallets, and reduce their monthly cashflow.

In February, new laws will go into effect to protect consumers for credit card companies. In the meantime, issuers are running around like crazy to turn the screws as tight as they can before the game changes. I hope Chase goes bankrupt and is bought out by a credit union.

I Can't believe 40% of the people say it is good to raise the mimumin but bad timing. So much for the government setting up new guidelines to regulate Card companies. But didn't go far enough. What if my house payment went doubled could I pay it? The jury is out on this one. Chuck

I just submitted my complaint. I had a balance of $4,500.00 and my payments were $250.00 for the month of June and Jul, so I sent a payment of $1,525.00 for July payment thinking the payment would at least be in the mid $80's or $90's for August. I just received my on Friday for August and payment is $275.00. I also receive on Saturday notice decreasing my limit.

Consumer spending cannot improve as long as the credit card companies continue to bite the hand that feeds them.
It's across the spectrum: whether you used to pay $50/month and now it's $100/month OR you used to pay $500/month and now it's $1,000 – all consumers cut back on spending in order to pay the bills.
Credit card companies will now be able to report that defaults and late payments are increasing……duh.
The econmony cannot recover as long as more money is going to jacked up interest rates and minimum payments.
I am systematically closing all of my accounts and I won't be back. I suspect many other consumers feel the same.

This part will lead to increased defaults, but I am sure they are hedged so they will probably turn a profit at the expense of customers credit rating. The most obnoxious move by the scuzzballs was a few months ago we received notice that our apr was being moved from prime +3 to prime +8.99. when I inquired why ( we hadnt been late, 770+ credit, 2 incomes, no lt debt) we're told simply due to profitability. I have no problem anyone charging me whatever they want to borrow money. it's my right, as is there not take them up on it. the obnoxious part is they hijack your existing balance to the new rate. that part, which will be illegal in a few months is the infuriating part. I paid off the small balance, and has part of my job, reviewed our relationship with JPM and decided we could do without their services. I hope me paying off a 6k balance helps them make up for the multiple six figure acct they lost…

I paid off an account last December because the bank kept instituting new fees. Because of the time it took them to process my final payment, they charged my account $1.27 in interest, but never billed me for this. They then charged me a late fee of $39 the following month for not paying the $1.27 on the closed account, but never sent me a statement. Eventually, they reported me to a credit bureau for owing over $150 in late fees, interest, and interest on late fees stemming from that $1.27. The first I knew of any of this was when I saw it on my credit report. I'm still fighting it.

Raising rates is one thing, but I once had a credit card that charged me late fees two months in a row, even though I made a very large payment in between the two months. Their story – the payment was after the first month's due date, but it was processed before they sent me the second month's bill, so it doesn't count toward either month's minimum payment. THAT is the kind of thing that NEEDS TO STOP. Needless to say – I cut up that card immediately and switched to one with no late fees.

Tom:

You think 18% is high? One of my wife's cards changed the due date of her payment, and shortend the interval between the new statement date and the due date. She paid three days late, as a result, and they jumped her interest rate to 33%.

We usually pay off our balances monthly, but she had a very high balance that month due to some travel. I wonder if the bank intentionally flags high-balance accounts for this treatment.

We got the rate dropped with one phone call after threatening to remove all of our banking and investment accounts from their clutches.

Increasing minimum payments should follow by reduced interest rates as the card companies are minimizing their risk.

My guess is those with low interest rates are the first to get higher minimum payments while they may not care to raise minimums as much on those who have higher interest rates…they want to string the higher interest rate people along to get more revenue over a longer period. I'm paying 5.5% (locked in by contract) on a transferred balance so of course they want me to pay back faster.

Open a Credit Union or Community Savings bank credit card and Transfer your balances. Credit unions and Community Savings banks do not have stock holders and most of them do not play the sleazy practices game that banks do and most people can join a Credit Union.

@EP in Greenville: Obama did not dictate that Citibank raise your interest rate to 26%. That is a lie told by Citibank and perpetuated by you. What Obama did say is that the credit card companies are no longer allowed to retroactively charge you higher interest rates and that they have to inform you of all fee increases without sneaking things by you. Obama helped you. It is the banks who are screwing with you. Don't put the blame in the wrong place and don't believe Citibank lies.

My goal, as a responsible consumer, is to always pay my debts on time. That being said, I do have a Chase CC and I am not one of the targeted folks who've had their min payment raised.
I do carry a balance but it is not an large amount. This is just what I believe, is it fair, yes but probably would not have current customers opening up new acocunts int he future.

One of the areas that seemed to be skipped in this article, is that the increase in the minimum payment appears to be for lower interest rate transfers(those that last for the life of the balance).

I have one at 4.99% and they just hit me with the increase. As for it being a boon to my personal budget, let me make the choice. In this case, because I knew of this coming advance, I have already canceled other purchases and will be adjusting my budget accordingly, including less contributions to charities. This also means less money for the local economy.

This is simply about Chase violating the covenants of good faith to try and get their money back from loans where they are making less profit, so that they can loan it to people at a higher rate(just before this, they changed their universal default rules).

I planned my budget, make all of my payments, and Chase is trying to wreck that. Though, in my case, I will have the last laugh as I will still repay as slowly as possible, switched my normal spending card which was with Chase($2,000 to $3,000 a month, paid in full each month) to another card, and will be rolling a retirement IRA out of their clutches.

Some people need to stop being so righteous. Lets see your outlook after being laid off, sold your home and used up the little money from that sale and your savings to keep current on your credit, only to have the credit card companies raise your rate to 31.99 percent along with the minimum monthly payment. Mark my words bankruptcys by years end will hit a record. When you are unemployed, the new bankruptcy legislation does little to effect chapter 7. That means the credit card companies will get zero for their nasty consumer policies.

Got out of the credit card game about 7 years ago and I'm glad I did! Things have only become much worse in the land of the in-debited! Sorry for those who live there. I know what its like. But if you leave, it is a much nicer, peaceful place…

Balances? There are people who carry balances on their credit cards?
– a Deaedbeat

Back in 2005, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency recommended that banks increase the minimum payment on cards to 4% of the balance – anything less than that means the cardholder is baiscally only paying finance charges and no principal. Unfortunately, it was only guidance, not a rule, so banks left it at 2% for competitive reasons. Anyone whos is only making the minimum payments based on a 2% rate should not have a credit card.

I lived within my means and I'm in debt to losing a very high paying job, taking a job that paid me 60% less then the other job and this was after looking for 8 months and having very little success in the inbtwn time. I took whatever job i could find to help feed my family, pay the car payment, house payment, etc…

I want to pay my debt off but they are making hard. Not everyone plays and just spends money like it is water. I am a very responable person just have fallen on very hard times.

My biggest issue with Chase and other credit card lending organizations is the very idea of raising interest rates on existing balances with 1 month of warning. This is happening to credit worthy customers paying reasonable payments and on time. For this they deserve to lose these valuable customers. I have cleared balanced and cancelled cards both with Chase & HSBC. Rediculous rate increases we no basis. Now they are marketing me to utlize their products again!! Not going to happen.

Leave the current balance terms alone Chase. Nothing wrong with changing the payment amount on future purchases or for new card applicants, as long as, those terms are clearly spelled out.

The question should be….
What should be a correct minimum payment?

Is higher better? Is lower better?

Ultimately, if you're doing it right, you would be paying off your credit cards each month…

If you're cash poor, then the lower payment is better…

It's hard to increase a minimum payment in this poor economy.

Chase is doing it only to customers who transferred balances to a low fixed interest rate. You can opt out by agreeing to a higher rate and closing your account to any more charges.

So if they set the minimums low so as to be affordable they're criticized for setting cardholders up to be paying their balances off for 40 years, but when they make them higher they're criticized for making the payments unaffordable?

Let's look where the real problem lies in this situation – people borrowing money that they just can't afford to pay back. When did personal responsibility disappear from American society?

I actually like my Chase card.
I don't care what the minimum payment or the interest rate is, since I always pay off the balance at the end of the month. They've even sent me $750 in cash back over the last couple years.
I hope everyone else keeps carrying a balance and paying the high interest rates, so I can keep my free card with the great cash back program…..

The card companies who raise payments will push struggling consumers closer to bankruptcy and when they file the card company will not get paid at all. This plan harms the consumer and in the long run will harm the card companies too.

Since I pay off my balance every month I didn't realize until I just looked that my interest rate was back up to 18%. That seems ridiculously and funairly high. Making people pay back more of what they owe does not. At the end of the day the problem can be boiled down to banks are greedy and people have no self control. Not sure why this is still surprising anyone.

Credit card debit is one of the things that has lead us into this recession that no one really is focusing on. People need to re-learn how to spend money. Chase is actually helping people get out of dept (if they can pay the new minimuns). I have always paid off my credit cards monthly. I find it easier to pay with the credit card for the things I need, along with getting the rewards from the card company. I just have a budget I stay within for the things I buy.

Well, I, for one, will be discontinuing my business relationship with Chase. Each month they seem to institute a new fee, surcharge or other ludicrous practice. I was with Wamu for nearly 20 years and was happy with them until Chase took over. The level of service has plummeted.

People need to take some personal responsibility and stop the bitching. Pay your bills dead beats. I am tired of carrying the load. Your "living on money that I ain't made yet" lifestyle has weakened this county. Shut up, get a second or third job and PAY YOUR BILLS.

Good grief, all this whining. Did anyone ever hear about living within your means? If you use a credit card pay the balance every month and your interest rate is 0% and Banks hate you because they make less money and can cancel your card because you are a paying customer. So, you don't like banks? The best revenge is not getting in debt…no whining about upping a your 'minimum payment'

Oh, and just wondering; Where is all the junk you bought that caused this high balance you can't pay off? Do you use any of it? Or was it for dinning out and vacations?

We got a notice from Citibank this weekend raising our apr to almost 26%. It's funny, because we have good credit and no open balance on this card. We pay all of our credit card balances in full every month. I called Citibank and asked why the huge increas and the rep told me straight out. It's because of the new rules coming next year that were implemented by Obama. They don't even try to explain it away. I feel sorry for those who have balances on these cards. How terrible, minimum payments are being doubled or going even higher, fees are being raised and interest rates are going through the roof. Obama and congress really screwed the people.

Sure, lets double or even triple the payments on customers who pay their bills on time, potentially forcing them into bankruptcy……..that'll get the card issuers their $$$, NOT! All this will do, is make the economic downturn worse.

I have two cards with Chase and they did this to one. I was able to close the card, reduce the payment and continue to make payments. They have not yet raised the other all though I am expecting it.

As far as the comments about being responsible, there are many of us that were but situations arose and put us in a place where we never thought we would be. We owned a small business and lost everything as my husband attempted to keep it afloat. I lost my position in a restructuring and took a 30% reduction in pay. Increase in insurance premiums went from $150 a month to over $400. In the past 5 years we have spent our savings to continue to live and not above our means, just live.

Where have you people been? The Chase swine did this months ago to their customers with fixed-rate cash advances. They also tried to add a $10 monthly fee to the so-called "fixed" rate (effectively increasing it) but had to withdraw it under Congressional pressure.

Chase offered people a fixed-rate cash advance with a 2 percent minimum monthly payment for the life of the loan, as long as you stayed current. Now they want to turn around and change the terms of the loan.

People took out these cash advances because they knew they could manage the payments under the terms offered. Now Chase wants to change the deal and impose steep penalties for failing to abide by their arbitrary new rules. This is loan sharking, pure and simple.

data just out today – "Credit card defaults rise at BAC, COF". well duh!! what did they expect jacking up people's rates now when many people are barely hanging. This was a mathmathatical certainty too occur. The people running these banks continue to show they have no clue how to run their businesses. I owed 4k on Chase card, have 790 rating. HHave never been late or missed a payment. They jacked my rate from 6.25% to 12% b/c in their words "I was no longer profitable" for them. well guess who didn't get a chance on my mortage when we purchased a home recently??

It is a contract you enter into with the credit card company. They should not be allowed to change the terms you agreed on when they offered you a card. If all I can afford to pay is $100 a month payments; they shouldn't make a change that will cause your payment to jump to $250. I don't live beyond my means. But sometimes emergencies happen that a credit card is they only way to resolve the financial part of the problem. Just like my transission went out, cost me $1800 to have it rebuilt. I put it on my card and didn't use my card for anything else until that was paid off.

Banks and credit card companies are not a not-for-profit business! Quit whining that they don't care about you, neither does any other company, they care about their shareholders. When people stop paying, the good payers suffer. You used their money, if you don't like their terms then pay the money back. You should be more concerned with companies that aren't raising your minimum payment so they can keep you in debt longer.

It is a good move by the credit cards cos. How many times have we seent eh lenght of time it takes to pay off the credit card balance if you just pay the bare minimum. Having an increase in the minimum amount due will hopefully allow others to pay off their debt quicker. It is an obviosu way to make people budge better.

It's the consumers fault for trusting their banks. I feel that the terms shouldnt change, if you borrow on 5% interest and Chase changes it to 20% because you have a high balance that is absoulately ridiculous. Banks get away with this because we the people allow it. People please save your money. Remember those bank slogans-"your neighborhood bank, it turned into your neighborhood thieve". Lets save our money and do not allow banks to make money, dont borrow for things you dont need. Honestly American people should only have 1 debt only and that is a mortgage. Some of us pay 600 every month to credit card-think about it you add a couple hundred more and you could own a home!!!! I have learned one thing during this recession, job is not guaranteed, banks won't help, income not guranteed, the only thing that is guranteed is your savings!!!!!!

Americans have gotten so used to cheap credit that every move by banks and card issuers is becoming a pain. I am sure those who manage their finances responsibly wont even bother to open their statements and look at interest rates, minimum due etc…they know what will be in there…

Yes, it is bad to be in debt to where you can only afford minimum payments on credit cards. Yes, one will pay his or debt off sooner by raising the minimum from 2% to 5%. I do not think there is a person in this post who would not like to get rid of their debt quickyly…

The problem is that Chase is only raising the minimum payments to those people who locked in a really god interest rate at 3-6% using abalance transfer option. The rates promised were for the life of the loan. Because of these balance transfer deals, many have very large sums of debt on their Chase cards as a result of debt consolidation.

What Chase is doing is only raising the minimum for these folks, not everyone. Additionally they are changing terms without the option to opt-out. This is unfair.

Let's say that we are not talking about credit card debt. Let's take a car loan for a Prius, or some other reasonably priced vehicle. Let's say a person put a down payment of 15% on the car and set up a loan that required payments of $300 per month. What if that bankl decided that instead of having this $300 payment that they were going to raise it to $750. All of you nay-sayers on this post would be upset if this happened to them, and they would complain saying it is unfair practice.

Chase is on the brink of another class action lawsuit for this. Check out

http://www.gslawny.com/lawyer-attorney-1383679.html

about a current class action lawsuit against Chase that may also include this exact issue. Chase will be sorry they did this and may even revoke the change.

It's terrible (and scummy). They are blatantly front running the new legislation that will outlaw this in a few months. Yes, people became too dependent on credit but now is not the time to increase rates/minumum. after getting massive bailouts, these practices should be investigated

If you want to get back at these big bad banks, pay off your balance so you are not endowing them with their loanshark-esque interest rates. Chase is doing everybody a favor by raising the minimums as it will force people to pay down principle. Having huge credit card balances is step one on the road to financial ruin. It is amazing how much one can save when you actually track expneses.

The amount of whining in these comments is incredible. People need to take responsibility for their own finances…live within your means. Save money for when you potentially get laid off…stop making excuses

I worked at the retail level for this bank and one other for a couple of years. They (the bank) would try any tactic to get people into a card, regardless if it was right for them or not. The uneducated tended to be the ones that got themselves into trouble the quickest. I agree, some people just lived beyond their means, but some just didnt understand the terms and conditions and the actual impact it could have on their finances. I no longer work for either, but am stuck with Chase unfortunately on many fronts as i worked with them and wrapped my finances up with them with attractive deals at the time.

I imagine a one trick pony here will blame the government for this decision of Chase's but, really, it became inevitable as soon as people used CCs, not for convenience, but to spend money they didn't have. Now they want to use them to spend money they are not going to get. The timing is bad, yes, but what is "tough love" if it's not tough? Chase, via its self-interest, is making its cardholders do what they are too weak to do on their own.

How many people here that are now considering bankruptcy have a nice shiny flat-screen TV in their living room? Be responsible for your own actions.

Banks are in the business to make money. They'll all be back at us to borrow eventually. However, my memory is long and I will never again do business with the big banks again. Local small banks, here we all come!

First of all, it's your debt. Americans seem to "need" a lot of things that fall in the "want" category then complain when they have to pay it back.

I use the AE. Yes, I pay $80/year for the charge card. But it's good for me because I know I have to pay it in full each month. I know exactly what I'm getting into and I'm comfortable with that. It's called discipline – something many of us lack (and clearly fail to pass on to our kids).

It's ironic that many people who complain about health care reform – including a government option (key word: option, as in you can choose not to do it) – are the ones angry about credit card companies raising minimums. A program that would increase the health of all its citizens is a much better use of money than fees paid to credit card companies. And people's selfish "me, me, me" outlook shows the narrow mind that fails to see that the better the population as a whole, the better the individual. (It's funny how people like Rush, et al. who don't have to worry about health care are the ones against it.) As an aside, Australia's health care system has no waiting period for anyone with life threatening conditions. There may be a wait for elective procedures – which for those who can afford it, can go to a private hospital and be first in line. So no, it's not socialism and one can still get botox without waiting in line. But some will still opt to pay interest rates rather than using that money to help society (which probably would lower crime rates).

So pay your taxes, help your fellow citizen, stop giving money to credit card companies by paying your debt, and remember that you don't really need a lot of the things you think you do.

But these will fall on deaf ears because I guess it's better to spend money on fees than for health care for all.

Are we forgetting that with each purchase you put on your credit card, you are BORROWING the bank's money to pay for something?
Since when does the bank owe you anything?
Not happy? Live within your means, put that plasma TV back on the shelf and pay cash for your purchases.

lol, I just got a new credit card from Chase, I know how everyone here is pissed off but if you wanna play the game, you gotta know the rules and the risks. I know how to play with these bastards, and they'll never earn an extra penny from me. In the end, they are the winners since there are so many players in the game who forgot the rules.

If you're carrying a balance every month, then you're living beyond your means. So I have no sympathy for the people are complaining on such grounds (excluding things like job loss because I'm not completely heartless). That's not to say occassionally carrying a balance is a bad thing. If you make a big purchase that is a necessity and you know, and plan for, ahead of time that you'll pay it off over X months.

Living beyond their means is the whole cause of the financial troubles we're current in… If you were too fiscally irresponsible to know that when you bought more house than you were able to afford via an artificially low ARMs that it was a bad idea then I don't feel sorry at all. I do feel sorry for all the people that were doing the right thing, were financially secure, but then lost their jobs because the afore mentioned financial idiots sent the country into a downward spiral. ARMs are (or at least they were until the real estate market went to hell) a perfectly viable mortgage option if they were used correctly by people. Mainly real estate investors that had no interest or intent to keep the properties past the first reset date. Leaving anything like buying a home that you plan on living in/owning for a long period of time up the the uncertainty of ARMs is completely irresponsible at best.

The solution is easy…transfer your balances to a Credit Union credit card. Credit unions typically do not participate in the sleazy practices that banks do and most americans qualify for memebrship. Credit Unions are not for profit and interest rates on Visas usually hover around 11%.
You have options…you don't have to take the abuse that the banks are dishing out.

With Govt Finace avaialble to creedit card companies, the act of raising APr so that they are adding as much as 25% to the basic rate and then upping the minimum payments is loan sharking/extortion. We the consumers have no control over this except for the ultimate power of paying of the card and then cancelling it. Keep the cards that stay at a lower rate and do not increase minmum payments. let the rest go broke!!

It is simply unethical. The customer borowed the money with a certain set of terms and conditions. This includes the minimum due. To arbitrarily raise it on existing balances changes the terms of the loan and the customer has no recourse. If they want to do it for new loans, that is fine but to arbitrarily change the min due on existing balances is not ethical.

By the way, Chase is not raising the min due on credit card balances with high interest rates. They are only raising the min due on the loans they gave to customers with low interest rates in order to get them to pay it off faster. I even got an offer that I could keep my 3.99% interest rate and pay 5% or go back to 2% min due if I agreed to raise my interest rate to 9%. I will keep my interest rate and the 5%, pay of fthe loan and stop doing business with Chase.

This has nothing to do with the customer. This is all about more money for the banks

I know things happen, but it's about time Americans stopped saving instead of spending. There is no reason, barring medical emergency, any gainfully employed American should be barely treading water. That this move will affect a ton of people shows how financially out of shape we are.

My girlfriend makes about 2/3 what I make and has student loans that I don't, but she still has about 10x the savings I do. And she has lived in the same expensive city I have since graduation. It's not what you make, it's what you keep and how responsible you are. I think this is a good thing for the country- in the long run.

This is more than unfriendly, its good business for Chase. They are actually "trying" to collect defaults, and toxic assets. Once doing so they can ask the government for more money to pay off the bad loans, same way the mortgage companies are doing it. The Government reimburses them, (with your own dollars, of course) and they not only get their money but the government will get their money when it is paid back. Only loser here…YOU!

It's just a way for Chase to attempt to raise revenue. For the few that can afford the increase then Chase loses, but for the likely higher majority they will either renegotiate a higher rate or, and this is their main hope, someone will default and then they can charge their ridiculous 30% rate . Their veiled attempt to state that they are "helping" customers reduce their debt is ridiculous.

Imagine the debt relief the average taxpayer could have done with the bailout money going to those people with credit card debts, student loans, mortgages — instead of going to the banks first. Taxpayers could have used the money to pay down debt and free up monthly cash flow — and the money still would have gone to the banks through paid off loans and debts. But no….the money went towards merger deals and executive bonuses.

Think about the last 10-20 years. What has been driving the consumer hasn't been gains in incomes. What has been driving them is easy credit and rising home values. And the fact that their home price was rising and they could borrow against that through home equity lines or loans or refinancing, it augurs for a very different economy going forward if people don't have that option.

Our whole economy for the last years and years has been a facade given to you by banks and lenders and them reaping the rewards and hanging the bag to the taxpayers when the gig/ruse was up.

I use the mafia loan sharks for my credit. At least they don't change the terms, although I may lose a couple of fingers if I don't pay on time.

Chase has already proven itself to be the least customer/client friendly bank out there.
I have heard many friends telling me horror stories about their experiences.
Not to mention my own problems with them charging bogus late fees when I proved they received the payments on time and any hold up was there problem, not mine.
Bottom line is they lost 20k by making me want nothing to do with them since I now won't bother trying to pay them and their usury fees and rates.
Now they can take thier fees and shove it!!!
They wanted to screw me and others over and no amount of explanation or proof will change their practices, so to hell with them.
Now they get nothing from many people and don't expect any sympathy from us!!!
They made their bed, no lie in it!!!

They are going to push a lot of people over the edge. We are very close and I just got my statement. They dropped the limit too causing the minimum due go up 500%. I guess they would rather push people over the edge than work with them. Very very sad. I think the credit card fallout is going to be far worse than the housing crash.

This is clearly an abusive and predatory lending practice. Chase extended credit in bad faith. It offered credit at low rates and, since it was slapped down for adding an unlawful fee last year, now it is defacto raising the rates by increasing the minimum payment due.

If Chase wants to raise the minimum payment it requires on new credit extended, fine, but raising the minimum required payment on credit it extended through cash advance checks is unethical, at best. To do so with accounts that have been closed and paid as agreed is even worse.

Get Chase's attention by filing complaints with the NY Attorney and Federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

I totally don't get why someone would think it is unfair. You borrow money from someone, and then you have the nerve to turn around and say it is unfair to ask you to pay back!? If you can't afford paying 5% of the debt, you should not have spend that much, especially on a credit card. Borrowing money is not a right.

Oh, this is GOOD! People don't like it, GOOD! Bite the Bullet people……CUT THE DANG THINGS UP NOW! I DID! And I did credit counseling, and I WON'T go back! EVER, if I have to go out and eat weeds, and rag pick I will! If I can't afford it…I just can't buy. Today, I don't owe what I can't cash out and pay off with 6 months cash to spare. And if I totally liquidate… I can trade down and have a ten year buffer. It's hard and it ain't pretty, but if I can do it (living pay day to pay day and buying only recycled and made in the USA to boot) You can too! Give UP the credit….Most of us read what Jesus did about the "Money Changers". Have Faith! CUT THEM!

It's not like you don't have an option. If you don't agree to the new terms you have the option to close your account and pay off the terms under whatever agreement was in place.

Guess I won't my Chase card will maintain it's $0 balance.

so i take a credit card and buy a flat screen and now i cant pay it off. maybe i should and negotiate for a lower balance.
what happened to ethics and honesty? since when did it become morally acceptable to choose to take a loan and then not pay it off?

Not long ago, policitians and activitist organizations pressured banks to raise the min pay. Finally, the banks are now doing it. Why crying foul again?!!!

Good! Too many people are out of control with their credit cards, this will teach people a lesson about buying things they can't afford!

This is just a plan to drive the mid & lower tier clients (aka working class folks), and only (mostly) keep the higher end clients. Figure they already calculated the percentage of clients that will default, the ones that will leave and the ones that will remain unaffected. It's actually a pretty brilliant long term strategy since they are in a 'strong' enough position to take the hit in the short term, and super beneficial in the long run. But doesn't make it any easier for a lot of their customers, and it really does not help our current economy.

Banks are trying to reduce their risk and make a larger profit all around. It would be ok if those were the plain english terms when you signed up (not the fine print terms) but trying to tap out the month to month earners in this market is horrible. Glad Colonial fell, more bankers losing their jobs the better we should feel.

WE DONATED TRILLIONS TO THESE LOOTERS?
they get rewarded for their crimes? We can play that game too.
Cut your credit cards up and send back to the corp with a NO PAYMENT note. Then, like mortgagees mailed in house keys and walked out of their houses- walk away. Let them recoup it from the bailouts they stole from us and the billions in bonuses. If you go along with their latest rape- shut up and dont complain.

Chase is just not consumer friendly. I had a credit card with Chase for several years and had no balance on it and never had a problem. I refinanced my house into a Chase 7 year ARM, and things were fine – no late payments, no balance on my CC. Then two months ago I refinanced into a local credit union for a 30 year fixed. Transaction went fine. A month after the transaction was complete I get a letter from Chase saying that they were cancelling my CC because I was not credit worthy for the CC. I had no balance on the card, no change in balances on any other card (nothing out of the ordinary compared to when I had the Chase card). When I called and asked them about it I was told it was up to their discretion and there nothing much I could do about it. Since I had no CC balance, and I took my mortgage away from them they were not making any money from me so they dumped me. No big deal to me, but what a crappy way to treat a loyal customer. Citibank has always been friendlier and more “fair”, and American Express has always been an excellent company to work with. Dump Chase and go elsewhere for a better experience.

Long Live Discover Card! I have never been unsatisfied with them… EVER.

We were crushed in the first bubble – the stock market bubble of 98-00. Shorted NASDAQ at 4000 and got crushed. Fast forward – we were carrying a huge debt load for years. Things got tough and Chase started calling in '09. After talking to this greasy car salesman rep from Chase (they get grosser and "tougher" after each set of calls), I realized that I could pay off debt for 5 to 7 years and effectively have no access to credit anyway or keep my money and file Chap 7. I'm not being "chased" anymore and I feel much better. Jump in, the waters fine.

All I have to say is don't get mad at the credit card companies. Blame your congressmen who approved the CARD Act. As outlined by the government, credit card companies are now REQUIRED to increase the miniminum payments to "help" the consumer.

It's unfortunate for many people, and most of all probably the folks that work for chase.

By increasing the minimum payement, Chase is actually reducing their interest fees from increased borrowing.

Folks that have the minimum raised, will pay off their debt faster.

Chase will have less debt outstanding, and less money to pay their employees.

Anyone that can't pay 5% of their credit card bill in a month, should probably file for bankruptcy.

We should change the banks terms for borrowing from the tax payer's. I say 29.9% and a extra fee for being a member LOL

Hmmm. Let's see. No raise for three years, higher rates, higher fees and now this. I'm barely keeping my head above water. Can you spell personal bancruptcy? Terrible timing.

The "loving" way to do it would be to apply the 5% rate only on new purchases. Doing it on existing balances is just a way of racking up late fees and pushing borderline borrowers into default – or over to other banks' cards.

The summary of all the fee and minimum balance hikes is that credit will be very expensive for people to afford. People's mentailty is going to change where consumers will start using cash and/or debit card than using credit. Asia used to have cash/debit culture and now things are reversing. I now see cheaper credit available in Asia and its becoming expensive for Western world.

yes we should not have been in debt, and Im glad that most people that post on this web site have no sympathy for the state of the nation, even though we have bailed out these scumbags. trust me, when I get my finances paid next year I will NOT be using credit cards for very much. this is about greed and taking advantage before the credit interest rate freezes. this is the worst time to do this, and wont help reduce risk. if you really think doubling a minimum payment on a credit card is going to reduce credit card risk, your sorely mistaken.

I can't stand Chase. All these credit card companies have raised people's interest rates during this recession. Then they have the nerve to take stimulus money to stay in business. I decided to stop paying back on all my credit cards. This may sound crazy but we all deserve a second chance and I do not plan on applying for credit cards ever again. Lesson learned.

Then dump Chase or AE or BOFA, I believe it kills their business when a lot of americans go default.

If people realized that if they quit paying on their cards and started negotiating balances. They can take a $5000 credit card and turn it into $1500-$2000 lump sum pay off. The first thing you've got to do is quit paying and supporting their bleeding you dry financially, especially if they've got you in "penalty interest".

Lets get something straight.

Credit is DEBT. Period.

The best thing EVERYONE can do is get rid of their Credit Cards and start trying to live DEBT free…trust me, it's a great feeling to not be indebted to banks.

Honestly, I wish they'd get rid of credit cards all together..it only promotes people living beyond their means and the people who need them and abuse them are the people who shouldn't have them.

If I didn't need one for my credit history (pretty funny that your CC is used for history, not other bills you pay on time), I'd get rid of the only 1 I have.

This is long overdue, it would help people avoid building up large balances then take years tp pay them off. The minimum payment should be between 4-5% of outstanding balance (perhaps 5% of prior balance plus 4% of the latest months charges) resulting an a 20-24 month payoff. Customers would feel the pinch long before running up large debts.

It's true. Credit card comapnies can do whatever they want in regards to restructuring the terms of credit card agreements. They can jack up your interest rates on existing balances, change the minimum payment due, and increase late fee payment amounts. That's why the government was asked to step in to pass laws to prevent some of these abuses that usery laws once protected consumers from. Your best bet is to see these companies for the scam artists they are, get rid of the debt, and don't ever use them again.

I fought Chase for 3 months because they did that at the first of the year and charged me $10 a month to keep my "locked rate" of 3.9% interest. (It caused my monthly payment to tripple!!!!) – Long story short I canceled my card with them (gladly) and they gave me 2.9% interest with set payments until pay off.

I'll NEVER use Chase again if I can help it.

Well, I use to have a credit card with WAMU with a $3000 limit; after Chase took it over they cancelled it because I wasn't maintaining a balance on it, because I would pay it off when the bill arrives. I guess they don't make money if I don't have a balance, so they would rather you leave a balance and have you pay the outrageous interest rates. I should be upset, but I have a Citi Card that has a $6000 limit which they seem to don't mind when I paid off a $6000 balance last month. Chase seem to want you to have a balance and possible not pay they back than have a great custom that can actually pay off their balances.

The collapsed sub prime loans were 10X better than any unsecured credit card term in America today. Every Credit Card company wants you to enter into a Credit Counseling program from today up until 02/10/2010 to place everyone in a 5 year repayment plan + interest. If you don't sign up your rates will all come back after 02/10/2009 when Obama drops the hammer on them if you are less than 90 days late. The biggest problem today is that credit is scored by available credit and most companies are dropping limits to whatever is owed forcing scores to tumble down into the 400's, all for a 30 day late for someone who paid their bills on time for ages. You have to change the algorithm for Equifax, Experian and Fair Issac before anything gets fixed. Remember they pushed their cards on the public which is obvious when you look at a sale giving an extra 10% off for using their card. The backbone of retail is the Credit Card. Not the public's, these companies built their deep pockets with money from hard working Americans who bought into all of the advertising.

Folks, this is the result of unintended consequences of government interference.

The doo-gooders in Washington passed a law that keeps the credit card companies from jacking up the rates on people stupid enough to carry a balance. So the credit card companies jack up the payback rates to get their money back sooner. Then they can re-lend it again at higher rates.

I am a firm believer that you should not charge to the absolute maximum that you can stretch the minimum payments to. However, when the banks more than double their minimum payments at a time when millions are losing their jobs, taking cuts in pay, or having to take on the additional burden of caring for others in their families that are less fortuneate, I believe that they actually increase their own default and charge off rate. I believe that they should honor their original contracts and raise minimum payments on new card issues.

What people aren't seeing is that in many cases the minimum monthly payment does not even cover the previous months fees and interest, so by paying only the minimum due they are sliding further into debt. They are effectively paying the card issuer extra to carry them for another month. The credit card issuers can not afford to carry consumers in this way any longer because of the risk they will file bankruptcy so they have to start demanding card holders pay off their balances sooner. The days of easy credit are over, at least for the time being, so get ready to do some serious belt tightening and devoting more of your income to repayment rather than to getting further into debt.

Chase customers already got their "fair". They presumably read the terms that came with the card, no one held a gun to their head to accept that credit card. Just because you don't like it, doesn't make it "unfair." Just because it will be even harder to pay your bills, doesn't make it "unfair".

You had the opportunity to turn down the terms and the card, but you didn't. Carrying a balance on your credit cards is gambling, the house will always win. I don't think that gamblers every got an "unfair" deal just because they lost big.

They can't change the terms on you without you agreeing with them. If you don't agree with them, then you close your account and keep the 2% minimum payment fee. If you want to keep dealing with the company, then take the 5% and stop complaining. I hate these companies, but at the very least, you have an option to back out.

I am not aware of any other financial agreement where one party is allowed to change the terms of the agreement without the consent of the other party. Imagine if your mortgage company tried to do what the credit card companies are doing. While I wholeheartedly agree that consumers have a responsibility to live within their means, they entered into a financial agreement under certain terms, i.e., interest rate and terms of repayment. For the credit card companies to RETROACTIVELY change the terms of the agreement, that is, to make the changes effective on the existing balances, is simply ludicrous.

No one seems to understand the concept that it is the credit cards money, they can do whatever they want. They lent that to you so you could do what you want when you want with it. Either get out of debt which I highly recommend or deal with the consequences.

Funny, I can't believe that it's only Chase bank that's going to do this. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that they all do, so then all the anti-Chase jerks will have to cough up the cash anyway. I learned a long time ago that although I want that stuff that would require using credit, I can get it if I pay into my savings first. And I can pay cash, which saves me the interest payments. So get with the program people, the idea isn't to screw over the banks, it's to pay your debts. Otherwise, we'll just be in this financial crunch all over again. It sure wasn't the people who paid their mortgages and loans on time that caused it the first time. WE know that.

We don't carry a balance on our cards, but one thing Chase has done is instituted an annual fee for our "Chase Freedom" VISA. So we got a card from Capital One and will be canceling our Chase card.

I don't have too much sympathy for people who have been living beyond their means by maxing out credit cards. But this is going to impact some people who are financially responsible but were laid off, etc. That's too bad, but Chase has never been a "customer-friendly" business.

The timing may be bad, however if you can not afford to pay back 10 percent or more of a purchase you make on credit you should have never bought the item in the first place. We have to have it all and right now. It's time to grow up and be responsible.

When these idiots change my credit terms and won't discuss the issue with me, I just opt out and cancel my card with them. I no longer have cards from Chase, Citi, or Bank of America and I won't be getting any of their stuff in the future. I've always paid my bills and then they turn around and treat me like a piece of meat. I'm down to two credit cards I like which is just fine with me. They can take their bailout money and shove it.

It's called a CREDIT card for a reason!
Changing the Terms on EXISTING balances, just because you can, seemingly legally, and causing hardship to people who obviosuly need the money (or they wouldn't have borrowed it in the first place), is in my book is called "bad for business" (or maybe worse) and I think this will NEVER be forgotten by the CHASE customers (and others) who have to cough this outrageous extra money each month now! I thought the Government lent them money to help us…so much for this Governments promises and so much for me ever trusting CHASE again. I lived up to my end of the deal and its seems to me they just didn't! Also seems to me Obama just gave them a "window" to do this to us in. Thanks for nothing. Obama and Co. better start performing instead of just talking! I'm looking for another bank and maybe another President next time around!

If you don't like new terms, you can always opt-out. All you have to do is call credit card company and tell them that you do not accept new terms. They will close your credit card and you'll have to repay existing balnace on old terms. Of course you won't be able to use this card any more, but if you're in trouble with credit, that's going to help you anyway.

Of course it's good to pay off the cards ASAP, but asking consumers to pay hundreds of extra dollars a month is an impossible request for many who are already on a tight budget.Minimum payments have been 2% for years and years; Chase only gave about 6-8 weeks notice (1 or 2 cycles)which is not enough time to make such a large adjustment.
This simply is a move to force card holders with low rates for life to renegotiate terms at a higher rate through a Debt Management Program, in order to keep a lower monthly minimum.

Live within your means, folks, and cc use is not a problem

It would be the best of people stop using chase as a bank

When you get a loan on your car, you expect to pay a certain monthly payment and budget for it. Everyone would cry foul if your bank or credit union suddenly raised the payment on your car loan. Credit card issuers may legally have the right to change the rules mid-stream, but it's not right or fair.

It is time to pay off the debt. You can not roll over debt for ever. It will always come back to bite you. From the investor side(the guy whos money you spent, it is not the bank's money), I may want to take my money out of Chase at any time, if you have not paid off your debt, I can not get my money back out of the bank. It is as simple as that. The investors take the risk, not the banks. If you can not pay off 5% every month, then it is a problem for me.

Chase and the other banks don't care anything about customers or the economy. They are completely out of touch with the people in this country. They are in it for themselves and try to cloak it by saying they care. BULL! We reallo don't need banks that big out there.

That is why I transferred 4800 bucks to my US Bank Credit card from Chase. So now Chase makes nothing from me.

What if a cardholder simply cannot afford a larger minimum payment? The timing could not have been worse because a lot of people loosing or lost their jobs. Pay it off sooner? Whoever wrote this article must assume that people can just pay more whenever needed. Many banks including mine have already doubled interest and upped minimum payments this year. I partially blame this for the sudden spike in foreclosures this month. People lost their jobs and were surviving on their credit cards and savings to make ends meet. Then the card companies upped everything making it even harder for people that have not found a job yet. This concoction could not have come at a worse time in my opinion. It's a decision that will bite them in the end. In better times.. maybe not such a large increase in minimum payment but an increase would be ok, in better times though. What gets me is the unprovoked interest increases, BOFA doubled my interest rate for no reason, just because they wanted to. And Obama's consumer credit law came in too late because the damage is already done or it will be done before the law goes into affect. It is completely useless by that time

The banks which are the credit card companies should not have been bailed out. They should have been told to sink or swim. I DONT SEE THE TAXPAYER THAT BAILED THEM OUT GETTING ANY BREAKS. Every one should be bailed not just a select few. Where is the justice in all of this?

easy, I am barley making it now, but i do pay all of my current bills, and every slowly my balance drops. but now they are raising the interest rates and the minimum payments. Guesss what ?

I will sit down and have the thought of bankruptcy . I pay every month on time, and then get rewarded with a huge jump in payments ! How about no money ? is that better ? If I could pay more I would be doing that on my own.

Generally the higher minimum payment will only apply if you charge something new on your card after receiving notice of the change. The minimum payment stays the same unless you accept the change by charging after the change.

It is generally a wise idea not to keep a balance on a credit card. However, many people with credit card debt are overextended. Many people use the credit card to increase spendable income in the first place. This means the minimum payment is probably all people can afford and increasing it could start a ripple effect and lead those affected into bankruptcy. Because of the undeterministic nature and lack of fixed loan terms, a credit card is a bad choice for consumer financing. Even worse are pay check loans (400-600% interest) and store cards (30-35% interest).

lol. I cash advanced and stopped paying Chase a year ago.

I’ll take the 7 year ride.
In NC credit card debt is uncollectable.

Posted By north carolina: August 16, 2009 10:36 am

Thanks for being part of the problem. What goes around…..

Carla is incredibly dense and not worth reading.
Chase is engaging in a predatory practice. A contract is a contract and changing the terms at their pleasure when the consumer has not defaulted nor been late is greed run wild.
I do not carry credit card debt. I am however a credit counselor. The customers whom Chase is pulling this move on have the low 1-3% interest for life rate. It can be a smart move to hold your debt at 1-3%.
This is going to cause families to suffer. It is not tough love, it is greed.

Banks control terms of the contract- anyone ever read the fine print?

Maybe people should learn that credit cards should only be used for convienience – never for credit. If you can't afford something at the time-then don't buy it.

Changing the rate on EXISTING amounts is not fair, increasing the rate on new charges is OK.

There's hardly anything unfair about asking a cardholder to pay off a mere 5% of their balance each month. If a cardholder can't do that, then he or she has simply run up more debt than was reasonable. I realize that not all cardholders got into debt by buying pointless consumer goods and that many have used cards as emergency loans for medical expenses and such, but it's not Chase's job to fix the cardholder's health insurance woes.

If the C terms do not preclude changing the repayment terms there is nothing to be done. It may drive more people to file bankruptcy or use CC services to try and negotiate down debt.

It will certainly curtail use of CC's to purchase items which may have a dampening effect on the economy. I would expect that the administration would not like this type of move.

Given the historical repayment patterns is it reasonable that consumers would expect continuing terms and thus plan their budget accordingly? Since there is no notice requirement (in advance of a change to the terms) then it certainly will be seen as unfair.

Perhaps the best action is for people to change banks? That would send a clear signal to Chase and perhaps alter their actions.

If increasing the payment reduces the issuers risk, perhaps cardholders should see reduced interest rates to reflect that.

Unfair!!! Nonsense.

Americans should get used to the fact at some point they ability to get credit will be reduced. Thinking that somehow credit is a birth right should stop

health care is an easy fix stop lawyers suing docters and three strikes your out for the doc then insurince will come down easy a.

They have the right to bump up minimum payments – but when default rates skyrocket, they should also take the blame and not go running to the government for bailout goodies.

lol. I cash advanced and stopped paying Chase a year ago.

I'll take the 7 year ride.
In NC credit card debt is uncollectable.

The issue here, of course, is not "tough love," but rather the continuing saga of the banks vs the consumers of the banks' products.

Far too often, these entities – Chase especially – change the rules in the middle of the game to their own benefit. Raising the minimum payment isn't the most egregious practice; cutting the credit limit far below the current balance (and then tacking on huge over-the-limit fees) probably is.

Nevertheless, I have a huge hard time with banks being handed loan guarantees under various alphabet soup programs, and indeed outright gifts and grants under those some programs (to the tune of $23 TRILLION (yes, "trillion," with a T), while providing no debt relief whatsoever to the consumers who must pay for that alphabetical relief.

The cost of money for the banking industry in whole is a little more than 0.25% per annum. The cost of money to you and me via a credit card averages something like 15% per annum. In effect, we as taxpayers, are forced to subsidize our own demise at the hands of the banks.

Pretty neat deal if you can get it. I think, in payment for the Obama largesse (remember, $23 trillion of YOUR MONEY) the banking industry ought to be required to: a) declare an interest moratorium for 5 years on all debts – consumer, auto, mortgage until the loan guarantees are made up and (or) b) remit all profits – ALL – to the Tresury for the next 10 years, with any overpayments of the $23 trillion to be remited to taxpayers in cash.

It is time for the banking industry to be removed from its status as subsidized master thieves to the accountability that all other businesses must face: delivering product, on time, at a fair and just price.

Chase has very tough standard always. I found citigroup for friendly and I am not much dealing with chase.

The problem with a practice like this is if you are managing your budget to a $100/month payment as in the example. Not many people have the extra money to pay. So what really happens is they can no longer make their payment and default on the debt. Under normal circustances, this would be Chase shooting itself in the foot. Thankfully Chase (and other banks) they have the tax payer to bail them out. Write off the $5000 debt, get a business expense, a little extra cash from Uncle Sam.

No, this doesn't help consumers one bit, even in the forced payment option. This also isn't about Chase reducing their risk either. It's all about making risk free money.