Comments on: Chase Drops Controversial Credit Card Fee

By: Justin Otherbanker

Justin Otherbanker — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 02:46:14 +0000

Mike, you are also so not getting it. A bank can not contractually promise certain conditions and then arbitrarily change them just because they are not as smart as they thought they were or that their assumptions did not prove to be accurate or financially beneficial. The customers only switched the account based on the “offer”. Reneging on the offer is just bad business and certainly gives the customer pause to consider legal actions. Seems banks just want everyone else’s money to use so they can charge interest, fees, penalties and every new possible mechanism to get money from the very people that make their business possible in the first place.

If we opened an account and it required a minimum balance of say $1000 for certain other benefits and privileges, would the bank be ok if we just reneged on this part of the agreement and refused to keep the minimum balance and would not pay any charges previously agreed to? I am sure that “the Bank” would have a very different view on that!

So, what’s fair is fair, you can’t just have it all your way, or eventually folks will realize that we don’t really need you at all and that there are other models and avenues for holding cash and providing loans that don’t involve being forced to deal with egregious policies and predatory behaviors. What if every single customer of your bank suddenly came to finally realize that you were part of this monumental financial problem and got fed up with your attitude toward the very people that provide the capital you require just to function as a bank, and decided to go to some other “not to big to fail” bank and do business with them? Just a thought in case you are getting to big for your own good.

Lastly, the most obvious lesson learned from this last financial debacle is that most everything that is spewed out by Wall St. or the banking industry is for their own benefit and it seems they care not whether it trashes the entire world economy as they are so sure the government will always be there with a soft cushion should they fail and need to be bailed out by the citizens. It is no wonder that the industry is so vehemently against any reform concerning regulations and consumer protection, as this is the only way to protect the bankers from themselves and protect the rest of humanity as well.

By: Maximara

Maximara — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:58:07 +0000

Mike, you really don’t get it. Life of the loan means LIFE OF THE LOAN. If anyone else did this they would be in court for breach of contract so fast that it would make their heads spin and lose big.

By: Chuck W

Chuck W — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:06:24 +0000

Mike, I think you overlooked the fact that the customers had a contract which specified that the low interest rate was to be kept for the life of the loan on balances transferred. Chase is not the first bank who has tried to weasel out of honoring a contract similar to this.

By: Mike M

Mike M — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:10:37 +0000

People really need to learn about their ability to legally opt-out of changes. If they’re presented with such a change to their card agreement, they have the right to opt out of the changes, with the understanding that the bank then has the right to choose to close down the account.

Nothing would have prevented Chase customers from saying “thanks, but no thanks, I don’t want these new changes”. They would have had to find a new credit card to buy things with, but they could have continued to pay down their balance at no more than 4.99% and without any monthly fee.

The only thing Chase did wrong in this case is that when customers called, they weren’t being clearly given the choice to opt out. They were told they could have the $10 per month fee or a higher interest rate. They should have been given the third option.

Had they done that, they would have been doing nothing wrong. Any claims that they should be forced to keep the same terms with open accounts indefinitely are silly…

By: Bankaholic | Top Finance Blog

Bankaholic | Top Finance Blog — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:31:24 +0000

[...] Bankaholic also gives you the most current information on bank rates, credit card interest rates, insurance rates, and then other current financial news, such as one of his latest stories called Chase Drops Controversial Credit Card Fee. [...]

By: itsnotademocracy

itsnotademocracy — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:48:54 +0000

reneging on a contract? surely not! But wait….how come it’s OK for the AG of NY and the President to reneg on contracts with AIG employees? Oh right…that was different…they weren’t ‘popular’. There was an angry mob of citizens being incited by the media to throw bricks through the windows of anyone who dares work at AIG.
Why should Chase play by the rule of law? Godbama doesn’t.
Maybe Chase should just start a campaign to demonize these customers so that everyone in America dumbly follows the herd and thinks they are ‘bad’. Then it will be totally OK to persecute them.
…I believe that was the way one bad Austrian played it back in the Third Reich…