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Sunday, July 10, 2005

Caveat Emptor
Posted by Jill | 2:40 PM

Recently I received a Chase Master Card credit card solicitation that seemed wonderful -- too wonderful, actually. Here's the pitch: 0% on all balance transfers AND purchases till August 2006, 5% cash back on purchases at grocery stores, gas stations and drugstores, 1% cash back on everything else, 7.99 fixed rate after August 2006. Now, I have pretty impeccable credit, so I get these all the time. But this one looked like something viable to pay off the couple thousand dollars I have left from using a 0% rate on ANOTHER card as a payment for some of the work we had done on the house last year.

I just happened to stumble on a post on the AARP messageboards (!!!) from someone who had just such a card, and found that what Chase does bill late so that there's no way you can get the payments in on time, then raise the rates. Hmmmm...maybe this isn't so good a deal after all. So I did a little Google search on "Chase Master Card Complaints", and hit the jackpot:

Complaints at my3cents.com

Complaints at badcreditcards.org

It seems that what Chase does is hook you in with the balance transfers, then raise the rates for a variety of equally preposterous reasons: payments lower than usual, payments HIGHER than usual, payments lower than usual on OTHER cards, payments HIGHER than usual on other cards, taking additional cards, "too many credit report imquiries, and on and on. I read reports of online payments held not processed for five days as a matter of routine, resulting in late payments, which result in late fees and increased rates; bills sent so late that there's no way to get a check in on time, check payments held until after the due date. And the rate increases are astronomical -- hikes to 27% and higher.

Loan sharks are kinder than Chase.

And the horror stories go on and on.

Needless to say, I won't be taking this particular credit card offer. Nothing like a company like this to make MBNA look good.

This is the kind of company in whose pocket Joe Biden showed he's in when he voted for the Bankruptcy Bill this year. Many people think that all the other companies are watching Chase very carefully to see if they get away with this; for if they do, this will be how they all work.
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