One of the Many Reasons I hate Credit Cards – Thanks for nothing Chase
By glblguy
Proverbs 22:7 – The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender.
I have read this verse many many times, and thought until a few minutes ago that I fully understood it’s meaning. I received another harsh reminder today of how true this verse really is and how much wisdom it truly contains.
We (that is glblgal and I) currently have a Chase Visa card. Well, not true, we have a Chase Visa account, we cut the card up probably 6-months ago. The card balance is in my debt snowball and is the card we are currently working on aggressively paying off. The rate is horrible, 29.24%. It skyrocketed up from around 11% some months back, I am not even sure how long ago or even why. I have been calling Chase monthly to get the rate reduced, and until today, they always refused to lower it, nor would they tell me why it increased. They just said something about an adjustable rate and they are within the account agreement or something like that.
I made my standard call today to ask once again for a rate reduction. I was transferred to “My Rate Supervisor” (can you believe someone actually has a title of “Rate Supervisor”??). Anyway, I proceeded to ask her, very nicely I might add, to reduce my rate. To my surprise, she said she could, to a big 27.4%. She even sounded pleased. This constitutes a reduction of a whooping 1.84%. I informed her that her offer wasn’t sufficient and I wanted a rate in the low teens at the least and that her rate of 27.4% wasn’t even close to being competitive. Of course she informed me that 27.4% was as low as they would go.
At this point I became really miffed (or as miffed as the glblguy gets anyway). I informed her of the numerous convenience checks I receive on a weekly basis, and assumed that met they wanted to keep me as a customer. If she wanted to keep me as a customer than she needed to lower it…significantly. She still refused, politely of course, but refused.
I then informed her that if she were to look at my payment history, she would find that I had been paying far in excess of the minimum payment and was on a path to quickly pay the account off. Once payed in full, I would close it. She didn’t budge. I informed her that I would be paying off the account at this point as aggressively as possible and never be a Chase customer again. She asked me if there was anything she could further assist me with, and I hung up.
This is a perfect example of how Credit Card companies are crooks. For no reason, they bumped up my rate and throw me a bone of 1.84% to reduce it. This is all after making a killing on me over the past few months at the 29.24% rate! I think Dave Ramsey calls this “stupid tax”. Just wish my “stupid tax” rate wasn’t so high!
Oh well, just further commits me to being and living debt free. I also makes me that much more focused on educating people about crooked credit card companies and the dangers of credit cards.
Any others with similar experiences? Any suggestions for the glblguy to get his rate down?
July 19th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
It really does not make sense why they won’t tell you why they won’t tell you why the rate went up. Maybe it was a late payment. Even if you sent it on time they might have processed it late. That is just a bad deal.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:01 pm
Ok, now I understand where you’re coming from. :)
I really don’t know what you tell you. I’ve been a Chase customer for all of 3 months. But right now, they are my primary card and they give the most cash back of all my cards.
So, I keep paying off my card in full every month and racking up as much cash back as I can. That’s my way of sticking it the man for guys like you. :)
PS:
Why I got so many cards you ask:
http://www.lifeofbaz.com/money/why-we-need-so-many-credit-cards/
—
Baz L
Day In The Life of Baz
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I have had better luck lowering my rate with the credit card companies. I know a big chunk of this is based on past history, but when I have called in the past, I just kept on going “up the ladder” – If someone told me no, or offered a 1.5% difference like in your case, I went to their supervisor.
I too do not like CHASE very much, but by moving up the ladder, I have gotten pretty decent rate deductions –
July 23rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
@ChristianPF – See, that is what I thought as well, and I asked for a supervisor. She told me that it was her decision and that there wasn’t a supervisor to escalate to. I pushed and pushed, and she still kept saying that. Probably going to try them again this week. Might even start calling them daily until they cave ;-)
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Try asking for a decrease through the website…
The unfortunate thing is that all credit card companies stink — which one you hate at any given moment depends on who is giving you a raw deal.
Can you apply for a 0% card somewhere and transfer the balance?
August 3rd, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Good idea, I’ll try that. They stink and I hate them all…ok, well maybe not the one where I work (i.e. I work for a bank) but still don’t like credit cards!
Yes I can, and thought about it, but I should have it payed off REAL soon, and keeping it just makes me want to pay it off that much more. Heck, I get enough offers every week *roll*
September 15th, 2007 at 1:10 am
I wanted to mention that I just had an experience that precisely matched yours, for the most part.
Six months ago I switched from having my bill auto-paid by my bank (push) to auto-paid by Chase (pull). I didn’t realize, however, that it took a full billing cycle to go into effect, so when I checked the day after my due date the payment hadn’t gone through. Of course I manually triggered the transfer but the damage had been done. My $10k credit line was cut to $8k (just above my balance at the time — sitting at a lifetime 2.9% promo) and my rate hiked from the 12 or whatever it was to 29.99%.
At the time, I called them and after first confirming that it wouldn’t affect my credit report (12 hours late is apparently within 30-days, so I was safe) and working out why the transfer didn’t take place, they were COMPLETELY intractable in altering the rate, advising me to call back in 6 months.
By the next billing cycle closed I’d paid the balance on the card off (it was an arbitrage play) and I’ve kept the statement balance at zero every month since. After such good behavior on my part (and costly to them, I think — even 2.99% on $8k is better than nothing) I gave them a call just now.
Not only did they offer me the same fabulous rate reduction you got, but they had the nerve to say that my account “didn’t qualify” to even be sent to a credit analyst for further review. I tried explaining that I could apply for a new Chase card right now and get a reasonable rate, so it doesn’t make sense that I can’t get a reduction on this one that I pump and pay ~$5k a month through.
Aurgh, it was just so infuriating that I ended up searching for others who had the same experience, ended up here, and typed all this out.
While I can’t say that I won’t be a Chase customer, I can say that I will NEVER pay them a dime of interest ever again.
Cheers.
September 15th, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Wow, seems to a be a common trend then. Hope everyone reads our stories. I’ll never be a customer of theirs.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:19 am
Well, it’s 5 months and counting and still no problems with Chase. I guess they just don’t forgive mistakes. Sucks though.
But as I said before, they’re the best I could do in terms of gas and cash back.
September 17th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Hi Baz! You’re right, they definitely don’t seem to be too forgiving at all. I don’t expect them to forgive, but at least meet me in the middle on the rate and don’t insult me with such a low decrease.
Glad to see you’re still around :-)
September 17th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Yeah, I’m alive (barely). Work has been killer and I’ve been working on some freelance projects so my blogging and commenting has been suffering for a few weeks.
Nice to know I’m missed. lol
September 17th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
You’ve got mail :-)
September 18th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Sorry, but if you carry a balance on your credit cards you’re an idiot to begin with. You didn’t seem concerned about throwing away your money before, so why so concerned now?
September 18th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Last I checked, I don’t think (most) people carried balances on credit cards for fun dude. S*** happens and you use your CCs to get you through.
September 18th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Dan,
I’m not sure where you live, but around my parts money doesn’t grow on trees. When money is needed (or wanted), sometimes is is cheaper to rent it than it is to divert it, and faster to rent it than earn it. The decision to rent money can be distilled to pure economics and be well reasoned.
In my case, I was carrying a balance at 2.9% interest in order to earn 4.5% in a high yield savings account, netting me an after tax profit of .34%. I carried a balance, so by your definition I’m an idiot…or perhaps your sweeping generalization is somewhat less accurate than it is offensive?
September 18th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
Hi Dan, thanks for dropping by. A minor correction if you don’t mind: If by your definition, people that carry credit card balances are idiots, than I was an idiot. I of course still have a balance, but I am working diligently to pay it off. I’m also paying my “idiot tax” so to speak, but won’t ever again.
Regarding throwing money away, you’re correct I did. I’m concerned now because I got smart (“de-idiotized”). I had an earth shattering event occur in my life that caused me to look at a great many things differently, and thus here I am blogging about what I learned. Blogging in hopes that other people can read my story and not make the mistakes I made.
– The glblguy, a recovering idiot ;-)
September 18th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
Baz, made a minor edit to your comment. Marketing myself as family friendly, so hope you don’t mind.
Regarding using credit cards for when stuff happens, I prefer and emergency fund. Problem with a credit card is depending on the emergency, you might not be able to pay it back and end up carrying a balance. Better to stash the cash and use it instead.
As for not carrying balances for fun, I’ll back you up there, I’d rather get a root canal. Never ever again.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Oh, no probs. Sorry about that.
I’m currently carrying a balance on a CC for the second time in my life. The first time, was when I was straight out of college (yes OUT, after college). That was the period from when I graduated and was no longer eligeble to work on campus and before I got the first pay check (actually about the 3rd) from my new job. There were day to day things like groceries, rent still had to be paid, security deposit on new apartment, moving expenses, stuff for the new apartment…so that was then.
Right now I’m carrying a balance again. This one is because of choice though. The CC I’m using has a 7.9% APR. Although I could just pay it off from my savings account (5.05%), it would nearly deplete my savings. You never know when you need *cash* (i.e. need to write a check or transfer some money) when a CC just won’t do. If I’m caught with my pants down and need something like that, then I’d have to incur huge cash advance charges.
I’ll pay this off in one billing period however, but this was a personal choice: savings over credit card balance.
January 16th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Hello, just wanted to let you know that I have had the same problem with Chase. I had a 17% rate. I called and asked to lower it, and was given 15% as their best offer. I grudgingly accepted that, and then a few months later, they bumped it back up to 17%, for absolutely no reason. (I always pay my bills on time, etc.) I cannot wait to pay off this card. I will NEVER use it again.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Now, I see what you guys are talking about with chase.
Honestly, I’ve never even looked at my interest rate, because I didn’t plan on carrying a balance with them. If I need to make a purchase, I use my BoA card at 7.9%.
But Chase has got me at 22%. They recently bumped my limit an additional 1.5 K, so I thought that meant good things.
I called them up to ask for a rate reduction and I got the generic 1.5% drop. But what I was also told is that, there are “no specials available” right now, and that I could try back later. They told me that if I accept the 1.5% drop, then I’d be locked in for the next 6 months.
So I think I’ll stick to the plan of calling every week or so.
Yeah, they suck for rates, this is true.
Oh, BTW.
I have the rewards card with them, but I applied for the Freedom card (since u get 3% on the top 3 spending categories). I was refused (for some reason). No one can tell me what the problem is. They say it’s due to something in my credit report. After this, I checked my credit report and scores and everything is fine. My lowest score is 739.
I guess they don’t want someone who doesn’t carry balances as a customer, owe well…
January 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Hi Bonnie, welcome to Gather Little by Little. Sorry to hear you had a similar experience, but at the same time glad you wrote about so maybe other people can see.
Baz L – Hey! Haven’t heard from you in a while! Hope you had a Happy Holiday and a good new year. So they got you too. Maybe if we start calling them every day they’ll cave! I figured they wouldn’t be giving away “free” money for long. I seriously wonder how long these rewards cards will really last. Nice to hear from you.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
well i tell ya i work for chase and even i wouldnt have there cards, or any of there products for that matter. I’m looking for another job as well. Not only do they treat there customers poorly they treat there employees just as bad.
August 16th, 2010 at 9:20 am
While we’re tackling the subject of One of the Many Reasons I hate Credit Cards – Thanks for nothing Chase, The disadvantage of this type of mortgage could be that if the Bank’s Base Rate falls you will not benefit from lower payments.
December 9th, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Good God in Heaven,
i cannot believe i am reading such evil.
Is THIS what the world is coming too??
just bump up your credit card rate just because they can??
I am shocked! amazed & totally saddened by it.
I hate credit cards, I hate debt and I just cannot believe the amount of deception that accompany’s them……
get away – get far far away from them if you can….
and I don’t care what flack i cop off people..I HATE THEM!!