I too had a credit card with WAMU. Chase ended up with it. I was sent a letter that my interest rate was going to increase to 29%. I received a letter signed by A. Gordon Dennis. Thinking that I might be able to settle with them I asked for A. Gordon Dennis. I was hung up on by four employees frustrated because I would not speak with them. NONE of Chase's employees knew of A. Gordon Dennis. What a surprise since the letter was accompanied by a business card with A. Gordon Dennis' name and phone number. I called for a fifth time and decided to speak with the person who did know the name of A. Gordon Dennis (she told me that I would never be able to speak with A. Gordon Dennis, but that I could make an offer of settlement. When I gave her my offer, she said that they would probably not accept the offer, but she would make it anyway. Once the offer was made she transferred me to another higher up who could decide upon the offer. Once the "higher up" person was now on the phone with me, she proceeded to tell me that my offer was not accepted and that in eight months they would charge off the loan. I don't understand why they would opt to charge off the loan instead of making a settlement. I asked her to check my record of payment history and card usage. She told me that I had been paying on the card for four years with no late payments. She told me I could be put on a payment plan with a lower interest rate if I qualified. I was quite amazed that over a four year period, my interest rate was raised over 21% with a history of minimum or higher payments and no late payments.
Maybe someone could explain why they would opt to charge off instead of accepting a settlement? One other thing that occurred is that she told me that my balance would increase by late charges, additional interest increases, etc.

Paying on time and not using all of the credit allowed by Wamu (Chase) has been of no advantage. If you excluded the interest, annual fees and increased interest over the past years, the principal amount of the loan was actually paid. I am now paying interest on interest.

Lenders should be ashamed of themselves for the usery and greed with which they have extorted money from the American public.

ineed advice on card; account closed for about 3 years, they are out of control with interests accrued even when i pay debtr on time
help help help

I've had a chase card for a number of years and a couple of times have gone over limit. But I've always corrected it fast and never was late on a payment. They just sent me a notice that my fixed rate of 9.9% is going up to 29%. Needless to say, I'm closing my account and am going to try to transfer the balance to another card with a fixed rate. Any suggestions?

This is part of an article I located on the computer for all the Chase balance xfer customers out there(which includes me as well...
Chase would not provide many specifics or reveal how the company decided which customers would face the increase. "When making a decision to change terms, we look at the history of the whole account," Chase spokeswoman Stephanie Jacobson stated in an e-mail. "This may include usage on the account, balances and the APRs available on the account, and payment frequency or size. The way customers use and maintain an account helps us determine what changes to make in order to protect our customers and our company."

However, reports from consumers and discussions on online credit forums indicate that many affected customers had, in the past, taken advantage of a Chase offer for a balance transfer with a low interest rate -- typically less than 5 percent -- for the life of the transfer. Many reported that they had been paying on the balance for more than two years and had not made additional purchases that would be subject to higher interest rates.

Just wanted to say Thank You to JennieC for the phone # for Chase credit hardship. I called this morning and they were able to assist me and JennieC you were right they were nicer than the regular Chase customer service reps....Again I would like to say Thank you because your information helped me ...

so i told people about how i called and closed the account into a fixed type installment agreement and someone told me I just torpedoed my credit score by closing the account. What I want to mention is that when i received my terms of notice to change the minimum payment, they also had paragraphs in there about closing inactive accounts. Since I was using my account only for the balance transfers (debt consolidation) and no new purchases, their next step would be to close my account. First the bait and switch, then the high payment and then triple play: they close me out. SO, I weighed my options. Was I going to use the card to keep it "active"? Nope, I was already fed up with Chase. I already refinanced my home to low rate fixed, i dont have any other loans (car or other wise) so I am OK with taking a temporary hit because I reduced my overall available credit. But that's my choice, maybe that wont work for everyone. I am OK with closing it first - I figure I am beating them to the punch- because everyone I know has had at least one credit card cancelled without notice. If i didnt do what i did, I would be really in a fix. Anyway, I thought i would mention that about the closing acct and the credit score thing as FYI in case anyone is thinking about doing what I did. Good luck! Chase blows!

I had transferred expenses to the endless low interest fixed chase card, paid on time, treated it like a long term installment loan. Problem for chase it that it is a revolving account that isn't making them any money. I researched solutions when I received my statement for Aug that increased my minimum payment by 250% - $400 to over $1000. Yes, they apparently have always had the right to increase the minimum payment- but most of us who chose to transfer to chase made the decision based upon the usual 2%, not knowing tht 5% was possible. BUT I digress. Here is one solution, I just did it myself and hope it works out.

Call their credit hardship line at 877-890-2941. Let them know you are calling because you can't afford the 5% minimum payment. They may give you an option to close the account (shows up on credit report as 'closed by consumer'), convert the balance owed to a fixed term, fixed interest payment agreement. I did this for 60 months, same interest (6%) and lowered my usual payment. Now I have a plan to get rid of it and can prepay without penalty. I was also told they cannot change the terms (jack the rate). I didnt plan to use the card anyway and dont plan to bank with them, so this gets me a fixed monthly payment that i can afford for a limited term. Lowers my available credit, true- but it was one of the cards hurting me because i was close to the limit so ??
Anyway, if you want to try to keep things the same and get rid of the card, give this a try. I hope it works for me and you all! Of course this only works if you dont use the card and you had used it as a long term loan. Good luck!
P.S> they will ask you financial info, take home pay, fixed expenses and you will have to qualify, but unlike the usual chase reps, these were really helpful.

Well I just got the dreaded letter. Your APR. is going form 7.99 to 12.99 called them up they said it was due to my credit score and economy. Well I know its not my score, I just had it pulled and it was 812 so it is Bull Shister they just what more money. Luckley I did a 3.99 for 24 months and do not charge any thing on this card but I know know not to use it.

Today we closed our account and will not pay another cent. Chase raised our interest rate to 29.99% How can they get away with this. This should be illegal!

I have already been through this with Chase. Now, my Barclay's card. I got a letter today saying that my 3.99% fixed rate (life of balance) will now change to Prime Rate + 18.74%! This will be effective on August 1, 2009. I do have the option to "not accept" these changes until Augsut 16, which I will do. They will likely close my account to new purchases and transfers, but I will keep the 3.99% balance.

chase is increasing my minimum payment on one of my cards from 2% to 5%, although i've always paid on time and have paid 70-100.00 dollars over minimum payment due. Is there anything that can be done? Also they are increasing my inerest rate on my other card, although fixed rate of 3.99 was supposed to be for life of loan CROOKS!!!

I too received this notice of my payment increasing from 2% to 5% which now is forcing me to file bankruptcy. I've never been late and always make my payments. Apparently, they dislike getting their money back. I can't believe they have this kind of power over responsible people.

Got the same notice yesterday. 2% to 5%, no opt out and an additional paragraph that they could close account for any reason. The APR terms were the 'principal factors considered' when the change in terms was made. So...they entered into agreement for balance transfer, take govt bailout money, bonus their execs, and decide ya know, we dont like the old terms, we're going to make people default so we can charge outrageous interest. Then we can pay our execs more, and so on. Join the class action lawsuit, call your congresspeople, know that its not you, its them - increasing your minimum payment 250% in these economic times is criminal.
BUT, learn from it too, as I am--- I am going to pay it off and not use credit cards any more. A cigar box of cash was good for my granddaddy, and he didnt buy anything unless he had enough cash on hand to purchase outright - he had the right idea. By using credit cards, I've let them screw me so its partially my own fault. But, I'll remedy it, and you betcha I wont let Chase or any other bank bend me over again.

Got the letter today. Starting with Augusts statement I will have to pay 5% of my remaining balance each month! Thanks Chase. VERY Unethical for someone who has NEVER been late or missed a payment. Next step, bankruptcy I guess. Very disturbed here.

For the second time since February, I have been advised my interest rate will increase by 5%. Since I quit using the card for the past several months and do not intent to use it again. They give me the opinion of cancelling the card. I am wondering what this does to my credit if I cancel.

My payment was $1 short and I received a $39 late fee which they refused to remove.They also raised my interest to 29.9% which they refuse to lower.

I am also a "victim" of Chase's unethical practise, as you stated they raised their rates from 3.99% to in my case 22% they said that I had a late payment but my payments are sent monthly through my bank and had the delivery date onbit. I had consolidated a couple of high rated cards to CHase to get the 3.99% rate for the life of the balance. Well that only lasted about a year and then with this bailout baloney they found a reason to either force me to pay off the card or pay a hifher finance charge. I have no other card that I can switch to a lower rate at the moment but I am desperataly trying to pay off some debt so that I can switch over at least part of the huge Chase bill at their rate.

I've already taken Clark's advice for today. File a complaint with www.occ.gov and let's all make a big impact on this situation. If someone with GOOD credit can be bumped to 29.9% what do they do to the people who are struggling to pay?

Chase also started sending me magazines (under an umbrella corporation who mysteriously have the same telephone numbers and customer service representatives that work at Chase...riiiiiight) that I didn't ask for. I didn't even notice until I got my bill and saw a $75 dollar charge for a magazine I never asked for. It turns out the magazine had been coming in but my partner was throwing it out as it wasn't anything we'd EVER read. Sure enough, it was Chase. Took me an hour to get the right person (demanding a manager at each "can't help you" point) and finally they refunded me the price on the magazines I HAD NOT YET RECEIVED, meaning they charged me for all the magazines they sent yet I NEVER ORDERED. After that, I dumped Chase. They are horrible people and I hope they're reading this.

Be careful of your credit rating. Realizing all credit cards are trying to do something to make an additional buck its hard not to cancel cards from these customers. Remember cancelled cards will adversely effect your credit rating. Debt to credit ratio, years you've had the card, etc; all have bearing on your credit rating. Try to understand the effects before you act - even if they are screwing us!

My husband and I were among the many that got suckered by their poor business ethics.

We have been paying DOUBLE the minimum balance every month & our interest rate was at 7%. Then out of no where they jumped sky high.

On the one card they stopped sending us statements & raised our interest. They claim we "made a late payment", which we never do.

I notified the woman I haven't received a statement in 2 months, but I have still made the same payments every month. She said "We send them out every month. You have to take that issue up with you post office".

She also said "We are not offereing anything lower at this time, you have to show at least 6 months of good paymant history". I informed her that we just had THREE YEARS of good payment. She said there was nothing they could do.

I then asked her if our rates would raise if we closed the accounts, she said they wouldn't if we paid on-time.

But, the next month they raised our rate ANOTHER 5%, so now it is at 27%.

Our other card also raised from 7% to 15% just because "We raised interest across the board & there is nothing we can do"

So now, we had to close both credit cards. But, we are stuck with the EXTREMELY HIGH interest rates. I have closed ALL Chase accounts, including our bank accounts.

I have to agree that by you, yourself, closing your accounts and just continuing to pay the balance off does not work in keeping the terms of your agreement the same. We did that on an account with Bank of America and down the road when they changed the terms and I called on it they said that just because we closed the account doesn't mean the terms won't change and there was nothing we could do about it. To make matters worse the following week after my call they sent letters that they had closed 2 other account we had with them. Those accounts had no balance on them but they were considering them closed. One of those accounts used to be a Juniper account under Barclay bank, that Barclay said would now be handled by Bank of America, and I had no say in that either, nor did I want it to go to Bank of America, I tried to get more info on that and go no where. So now that account that transfered to Bank of America is now closed even though I owed nothing on that as well. It still makes me mad because it still effects my credit score, so that they can pull other crap because of a lower credit score. My goal is to pay all my debt off and do with out credit card balances, something I should have learned a long time ago. They want you to have credit with them but they never want you to be able to pay it off and will throw you under the train every chance they get. It's so ridiculous that they can legally do this and to make it worse we end up paying to help them do this to us. I just can't believe this can't be stopped. Things like this are why politics make my blood boil.

Chase sent a notice that they are raising the interest rate on my credit card which is already closed from prime plus 3.99% to prime plus 7.99%. I sent them a letter that I do not accept the APR terms before the deadline. Chase sent me a letter back saying the account was already closed. I just got my March bill in the mail with the new higher interest rate.

CHASE IS AN UNRELIABLE, LOUSY FINANCIAL INSTITUTION. Rate them .. on yellowpages.com and better yet file a complaint at BBB (Better business bureau) can be done online - and let's you the consumer .. tell all of Chase's future customers know what lousy, unreliable service to expect from CHASE ...

Like the person below. I once held a Capital One credit card which had a 7.99% interest rate until just recently. I usually don't read the card information, but for some reason, I read it this time. Lo and behold much to my surprise, I was informed by Capital One that my interest rate was about to increase by 10% from 7.99% to a whopping 17.99%. They of course gave me the option to opt out. That I can appreciate because that is exactly what I did. It is quite ashamed, the banks are being given all this money to help them and they continue to stick it to the consumer who can least afford a massive increase in interest rates. As I told the customer service rep for Cap One, my economic situation was just as theirs was and I felt it was just another ploy by the big banks to get fatter and richer to continue to ride in the corporate jets and wear the Armani suits. What's in your wallet, NOT CAPITAL ONE. I immediately shredded the card. I even let the customer service rep here the shredder event. :-)

It's appalling what they're doing. My Capital One interest was raised to 23% and I don't even carry a balance! My WaMu Card transfered to Chase and although my balance is low and I have always made payments on time at least 10 times the minimum, more charges.

I am not in trouble because of it because I am virtually debt-free with a safe job, but what about all the others? All that bailout money, and they turn around and do this?

And Obama looks on? That bill he signed should have gone in effect as of NOW. I didn't get any clear and timely notice much less a 1 -year grace period from my cards, why should the goverment give it to them?

This is so wrong.

I have often thought while listening to others on Clark, "Wow, glad that won't happen to me. I pay my card off in full every month - anywhere from as high as $1000 or a just a couple of hundred bucks." Heck, Capital One has lowered my APR, unrequested, several times in the past. It is currently at 6.52%. Got the news today that as of April 17th, my APR "may vary monthly and will be determined by adding 12.65% to the Prime rate. So much for my dodging the bullet! To add insult to injury, when I called to find out if there had been an error, I was connected to "Bob"in the Philippines. I told Bob that I wanted to speak with someone who understood what was going on in the US...yes, yes, I know this is becoming a global economic issue but I was hot. Got a Texas gal who proceeded to quote from her printed text. I stopped her and asked why, after telling me in the past what a great customer I have been with an exemplary payment record, have the screws been put to me like this? "It's the economy," I was told. I haven't decided if I am going to cancel yet or not. My reason for buying items with a credit card was for consumer protections for the merchandise/services. Any thoughts?

I was told by my Fairwinds Credit Union in Central Florida that I have been banking with since 1981 that my Visa card is going from a 7.99% fixed to a 18.99% variable. I closed it today locking in my 7.99% untill its paid off. They said they are doing to all the members. So much for good rates at this credit union!

They are vultures and horrible greedy people. I was almost done paying off my card and got laid off after which they raised the rates so high I would not be able to pay it off in another 4 years. They have the nerve to send a settlement letter indicating I could use my tax refund to pay it off. I say chase could stick the offer where the sun does not shine. They now call me almost 20 times or more daily with people who could speak little English. I would Never ever deal with them again. As a matter of fact I do not want another credit card in life. If I cannot buy it then I do not need it. Its cash and Debit cards. Boycott these businesses sending jobs overseas while hardworking, unemployed citizens of America are losing jobs. Please lets us go back to liquid cash. Send these evil empires out of business.

i agree with all your coomments how the banks are becomeing legal loan sharks. forword your comments to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and let President Obama know how you feel.

I am a physician in Largo, FL. I have always kept excellent credit. Three years ago Chase offered me a 1.99% fixed interest rate. My credit limit was $26,000, and I had this card since 1998. I had previously always paid the card off every month. I had just financed a $10,000 roof replacement, and put that amount on the Chase account as offered at the 1.99% rate. On the special interest rate offer, I paid at least 2 times the minimum required payment until the account was down to less that $2,000. I paid the card the day it was delivered to my home every month, with never a late payment. In January, my statement showed an additional $10 *finance*/*service charge* in addition to the finance fee. Upon calling Chase, I learned that they were selecting certain customers they didn't want to keep. I assumed it was because of the low interest rate. I paid off the entire bill immediately. I then made a $90 to see what would happen. Saturday the bill came. They had added an additional finance fee, and were still charging the $10 *finance*/*servicecharge*. Tonight I called and asked if I paid off the $90 + the finance charge and the $10 charge, and had a $0 balance or a credit, would they still charge the $10 every month. It turns out they were going to charge me $10 per month ($120 per year) to keep the card without a balance, so I cancelled it. This will result in my credit scores going down, which will probably result in me not purchasing a new car this year. My income to debt ratio is excellent. Now Chase has arbitrarily lowered my credit scores, with no apparent reason other than to eliminate this "undesirable" higher income customer with disposable income to put into the economy. (Chase also cancelled 5 other cards that had not been used recently, include some that were acquired from other companies.) I also paid off a car loan from Chase, and now they have acquired my home loan from Washington Mutual.

I to have had my rate increase from 10% to 18%. I called to ask why and you guessed it. No Answer. To top this off tonight they called me with a survey to see if my experience was satisfactory. Needless to say the overwelming response to their questions was very Poor to will not use their company again.

I got the letter from Citi that they were going to raise my interest rate from about 6.00% to a minimum of 14.99%. I sent the optout letter to them, and they sent me a reply, that said they were sorry to here of my decision to optout. I have a good credit score, and I pay my bill on time every month. At least I have until Dec. 2010 to pay it off.

My husband and I have several credit cards and occasionally a payment has been a couple of days late back when I used to use snail mail. Even though I'm paying all the credit card bills online now there are still slip-ups such as the bill that was due on Feb. 16 that wouldn't post until Feb. 17 (presumably because it was President's Day). I have always called the 800 number on the back of the card and requested them to waive the late fee and so far I have never been refused. Usually they will remove it right away. AT&T Universal, however, told me that had to "review" my account and I could call back in a couple of days. When I called back they declined to remove the late fee and I asked to speak with a supervisor saying I had been a customer for years and was unhappy that they were doing this. The guy put me on hold, came back on and apologized saying they should have removed it when I first requested it. Not only that but they offered my 3.9% on purchases for the next six months. Never hesitate to call and ask to get a late fee removed and don't take the first refusal that you get. It's not something that you can abuse but if you're a couple of days late once a year they should accomodate you. Be the squeaky wheel.

I have gotten myself into a MESS with credit card companies paying for college, medication, etc. Now I owe so much I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think government needs to really restrict credit card companies to have not only a fixed rate but a low rate if they want to see America out of debt. It is ridiculous what these crdit card companies are allowed to get away with....financial homocide! I pray that I can keep paying my cards off and lower my debt!

You wouldn't think - at present - that the card companies make any money on when we purchase things, the way they are treating their long-time customers - but they do get a cut of the sale price - so why the draconian measures? Really, how GREEDY can they get? They can't make ENOUGH money on full-payment customers?

I also received the notice from Capital One that the interest would skyrocket up if I was late with payment. Since I pay off the card every month, it's not a problem - but I'm certainly not going to be using the card in the future. They WANT the customers to opt out of the card, and offer you the opportunity to do so (at least that's what my letter said). Just to annoy them though, I'm going to "round up" my bill and pay them a bit too much - by a few cents. *ha*

We just received a note from Capital One saying our "default" interest rate would increase to 29.4%. I noticed others complaining about this on this forum. I called Capital One. This is not an increase on your regular monthly interest rate. That rate stays the same. The huge increase only happens if you're late on a monthly payment twice within a 6 (or maybe 12) month period. The huge increase if you're late on two payments is still outrageous, but at least it's not an increase in your regular monthly interest rate. Call Capital One, and they'll confirm what I've said.

When I did not get a response from you to my e-mail, I closed my account. What really burned me was the $10.00 service fee/mo to service the acct. I wrote a letter to them stating such. I hope it won't hurt my credit but I was willing to risk it; I think it STINKS!!!

I too, am just like everyone here, I just received my letter from Capital One, where they raised my interst rate to 26.99%. How is this possible?. I too have been paying them on time, since I started with them. something has to be done about this

This is a great little eye opener that will really clue you into just why the banks want to move your money. It isn't exactly on this subject at hand, but it does give some real insight into how they work the interest shell game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThXpjmfyiMQ

I have a Chase that increased my 7.99% fixed rate to a variable that turned into around 10.99% AND a Citibank card that raised my 7.99% rate to an unbelievable 25% rate. I had always paid before the due date and higher than the amount due - I think that I was targeted because of this! And, I think that Clark has it wrong on just opting out and paying off under your old rate - you can do this as long as you do so completely before the card expires. When it does the balance is due in full and they will not renew the card. I think that the credit card games that are being played by the issuers is totally out of control, and these same companies hold their hands out to the Fed and accept billions for the way they unfairly conduct their business and mistreat the customers that carry a balance. Wake up call - this is the next crisis that the banks are going to bully themselves into getting paid even more bail out money!!!

I have 2 Capitol One cards and they are at around 6.99% to 11% on the cards and I have recieved a letter to either close them or accept 26.99% increase.

seems that most of the politicians who try and stand against the central banking system as it is now wind up dead or no longer in office. the movement has to be deeper than politics.

Whatever happened to the idea of usury? I can remember back in the day when 12% was the legal max. Now S. Dakota or someplace removed that and credit cards can go to near 30%! How can you ever pay the sucker off (even if used judiciously) if the rate keeps you in the hole. What's wrong with this country is simple...greed!

I have two Capital One credit cards that I almost never use and when I do; I pay the balance in full. I received notice that my rates are going from below 10% to 17.99% and some fees are increasing. I guess this is another "thanks" for the bail out plan.
Thank you Democratic Senators Webb, Dodd, Frank and and especially Capital One.

I am also a victim of Chase. I had never been late on my card. They increased my rate from 7.99 to 22%.
I have had an account with them for at
least 8 years. I don't get it..
I am trying to pay it off..but due to my budget its not fast enough.
I also have my mortgage there and have never been late.
and they weren't that nice when I called them to explain to me why.
They said I had excessive credit card debt..but my score is 720
I hope they go broke.

Nationalizing predatory privately held businesses like Chase, B of A, and other similiar institutions is the ONLY way to control the greed inherent in capitalism. Capitalism is good, but ONLY if well regulated. I think we can all see (the honest ones among us, anyway) that Reaganomic "Supply Side" theories were only licenses for the rich to rip us all off, period. Thanks to conservative rip-off artists (starting with Reagan himself, an actor, a professional liar, the ultimate salesman) we were led down the primrose path of the "free marketeers" who are nothing but monopolists who think "redistribution of wealth" is all good and proper as long as it goes from the poor and middle class to the already rich.

Wake up Limbaugh ditto-heads! The Reagan revolution was all a scam! America is now approximately 50th in the world in both lifespan and infant mortality! We've become a third world nation, losing our homes now, while wealthy corporatists and CEO's continue to make out like the bandits they are.

Who owns all the consolidated media companies? Corporations. Who own and run corporations? Conservatives. Anyone who can add can see that Reagonomics is the culprit here.

Wake up, ditto heads! Stop drinking the Limbaugh/Hannity/Bush/Reagan kool-aid! Now, that kool-aid is poisoning ALL of us!

why is it we fail to get rewarded for closing credit accounts when the terms change? with so many specialized credit "rating" companies we are afraid to protect ourselves by closing accounts with egregious practices lest we take a major hit on our credit ratings. do the rating companies live in the real world, or are the like stodgy academians, cloistered and not aware of real economics?

I maxed out my credit cards during a protracted divorce and am working out a settlement with both Amex and Visa. In the meantime, I am doing just fine using my debit card in place of a credit card: no annual fee, no interest, no transaction fees, and best of all, I am no longer accumulating debt. I never plan to have another credit card for the rest of my life! Screw 'em!

If the government would step in and not allow the closing of an account to affect your FICO score that would allow people to close those accounts where they have been treated badly by the bank

Fourty years ago I allow myself to charge $2000.00 on a charge card and thought I would never get it paid off. Leson learned...I sill have credit cards but now I pay them in full each month. When I use my Chase charge card I treat it like I just wrote a check and subtract that amount from my check book and enter it in a notebook that is my record of how much I have spent and put on the charge card. Then when the bill comes I have the money to pay it in full. I learned a long time ago..if I live within my means then I don't have to worry about being able to pay my bills...I also think it is time for others to Live Within Their Means...if you can't pay cash for it...don't buy it until you can!!!

This is going to my Congressman. Getting bailout money then screwing its customers. Sounds like good old fashion "loan sharking". What's next, breaking knee caps?

I'm glad they are raising the minimum payment. They should raise the minimum payment higher. How do you think people got in so much debt in the first place? Dumb people saw they could buy $1000 of stuff at the mall and only pay $20.

This week Capital One raised my "fixed" rate from 5.9 to 15.9%. I have paid on time, never missed a payment and have 40 years of excellent credit. The notice said it would take effect in April, but next paragraph said it started Jan 28! I rec'd the notice on Feb 17. After yelling at the CSR (telling him it wasn't personal), I emailed the President's website and also the Speaker of the House, Pelosi. Everyone needs to do this. If they get bombarded with emails, they may realize how bad it is. I am on Disability and now I am incurring $125/mo interest on one card. I have 3 other cards that I have been making over the min. pmts on, but will no longer be able to do this and may have to stop paying some of them because of Capital One. EMAIL YOUR GOV'T REPRESENTATIVES! Let them know that the economic recovery is not going to happen if, when the mortgages get subsidized, the credit card companies are going to drive a lot of us back into financial distress equal to the mortgage mess. Also, we need a website where everyone can get listed - there's strength in numbers. Also, the bad publicity may help drive a spike into the hearts of the credit card companies.

This unethical behavior has to stop. They do not mind to loose customers. They will make the difference on those who wish to stay, with higher interests. A shame and a disgrace. We need to unite soon.

Pay your cards off asap...get out of the revolving debt door. Once you do this (or if you're already there), let them charge you whatever rate they want...just pay your bill off in full every month (they hate that)...no charges ever apply to your account, and since you "agreed" to their rates, you won't be charged the monthly "fee" to keep your old rate. They'll spend more on postage sending statements than you'll ever pay in interest. Your credit scores won't change if you keep the account in good standing and you can keep the cards active with just a couple of transactions per year. Bottom line...get debt free as fast as you can and only charge what you know you can pay for per transaction period. It's hard work but when you get there, you'll never go back to financing purchases with credit cards again. All the best!

fyi. 'steve m' earlier posted about emailing the CEO and having his account 'adjusted' to the prior terms. i tried that, no luck. i received a reply 'Thank you for your recent e-mail to Jamie Dimon, our Chairman and CEO. Your concerns regarding your Chase credit card accounts have been referred to our Card Services Executive Office'. i got the phone call, but she toed the company line. no change. i expressed my thoughts on chasing away good customers and i would close the account. she was firm. i got tired of explaining my view and her understanding of it and closed the conversation. funny thing, i have a couple of chase accounts, all didnt get affected. not sure why. but i will close the account.

I hadn't heard about the new fee, but just happened to notice the amount at the bottom of my bill. My wife alerted me about the hubbub on the show. I called and heard the same details as others have written. I had three accounts that have evolved into Chase accounts over the years, going back as far as 1991. I cancelled all my Chase cards, and I will pay off the balance on what had been a nice rate. I'll stick with the credit unions from now on!

I read the comments posted and tried to e-mail the head of Chase (Jamie Dimon) as one reader did. It seems my e-mails bounced back as spam! They got the money and now they don't want to talk to their customers. Anyone have this guy's home phone number?

According to the information I got from Chase, if you choose to charge your account, you will STILL have to pay the $10/month "maintenance fee", and your minimum payment will STILL be 5% instead of 2%. For people who cannot afford this increased payment, this is not a valid choice.
I was fortunate enough to be able to transfer the balance on my Chase card to an equivalent account with my credit union. Since I 'accepted' Chase's offer of an increased rate, they won't be charging me their fee. I'm going to leave this account open for now (0 balance), but keeping an eye open for any other shenanigans....

It wasn't too long ago the Senate or Congress was supposed to have addressed these problems....What happened???They put on a good show and accomplished nothing!! Now the same "Leaders" are arranging these banker friends a bailout!! You wont fix this problem until you send non-attorneys to washington that have lived at our level. The banks and bankers that own these credit card companies simply dont care and never will...they only understand who carries the bigger stick and so far it is not our law makers....

I too have had interest rates go up on credit cards, including Chase. Why are our current laws written so very much in favor of credit card companies? It has to stop. Big corporations are taking so much advantage of us. And in the last few years especially, when you call, it's not like you are a person, but just a number to them. Let's use the internet to unite and make them reform!
Sure, they have to make maoney, but do it fairly, and not on the backs of the average responsible American! Enough!

When I called Chase,the girl wasn't very nice.(Must of had alot of calls on this. She said I had notification in my October statement about this. I never saw it. She didn't tell me I could close the account and keep the same as it was, so I paid off the balance with another offer but had a transfer fee but 0% int. rate for 12 mon. No more Chase for me!!!!

Same thing here too! Carrying a $5K balance, NEVER been late on my low fixed rate balance transfer, but I've been assessed the $10 month service fee or been told I can accept a 7.99% interest rate to have the $10 monthly fee removed.

Someone please post a link on who I can complain to about this unethical action...especailly after Chase has accepted bailout money!

All of the looser exec from the banks should be FIRED. Think about it - if you lost BILLIONS, where would you be? FIRE them all and let THEM get high-rate cards and go into un-ending debt. They are scum of the Earth and should be treated as such. They have KILLED the American dream by being crooks. They are lucky we don't try them for MURDER.

Not sure if it is fraud, but it is definitely bait and switch. My credit union recently sold their "credit card services department" to a private bank. Now my fixed 7% interest has jumped all over the place. Worst thing is the issuing bank isn't even listed anywhere on the bill and calling to get through I am farmed out to several different "supposed" departments who can help me. I haven't gotten through to the right person yet.

Just got my credit card bill and they have increases my interest rate by 2-3%. Since they have closed the store they are sticking it to their customers. At a time like this they should want to get paid and help us meet our finacial obligations. I will remember how certain retailers treat me during this difficult time and will not forget when the economy recovers. How do you spell Home Depot? LOWES.

I have had the unfortunate treatment as many of the other consumers writing here. I plan to fully transfer all banking activites to my local credit union. I know Clark has been preaching about credit unions all along, it just took a crisis to show us all how greedy these banks really were. Long live credit unions.

I'm all for putting most banks out of business. They're well known for taking advantage of those who are the least able to pay loans off. Now, they're sticking it to honorable borrowers by jacking up rates and fees. Greedy bastards. What can be done? IMO, pay off all credit card debt and NEVER, EVER run a balance again. I'm not debt-free yet - target date is November, but it WILL happen for me, and Citibank will be the first to go. Good riddance!

Our credit union Visa card pays us 3%back on all gas and grocery purchases and 1% on everything else. We put almost every bill we can on it, pay it off every month, and get a nice check back once a year which usually covers one mortgage payment. We win.

Thanks to your advice, I have paid my house off and have no credit card dept. Banks are constantly taking advantage of the public (i.e. bailout & the scam Chase is doing). If everyone took their money out of the banks and put it into a credit union this would show them we mean business. I have not heard of a credit union needing a bailout.

Linda, I agree with you totally,but many won't do it, you can lead to water but can't make them drink it, as you know.
If enough people canceled there Chase credit card, I am sure Chase would change their ways, coz they want to stay in business, but they know they can take advantage and get away with it. I myself have an 823 credit score and I take advantage of them, never ever paying a dime in interest, I am sure they hate me, but I DON'T CARE.

I too am an excellent customer with an excellent FICO score (790). I was hit with a 3.99 percent increase a few weeks. I cancelled the account and plan to pay it off completely within the next few months. I will never use another Chase card again. When I called they acted as if they could care less. They told me I was cancelled by calling and requesting it but I also sent a certified letter. Frankly, I don't trust them.

I had a 2.99% fixed rate, never been late as I have autopay set up and was told my only way out was to close out the 2.99% credit card account and reopen an account at 7.99%. If I chose to do this they would remove the $10/month service fee they charge for calculating my finance charges and decrease my minimum payment back to 2% instead of 5%. I had a very large balance on my account and my payments would have increased from approx $250/month to over $600/month. I chose to pull money from elsewhere and close out the account. The sad part about this is although I have always been an excellent customer and Chase also holds my mortgage, when I called to close my account all Chase said was "OK" and "you'll be getting your account closed letter in the mail within 10 days." This has truly encouraged me to work as hard as I can to become credit card debt free. Thanks Chase!

closing the account means paying off the entire balance!!