I have had an Amoco gas card since the 1980’s, it’s now a BP card and guess who the card side of the company was sold off to a few years back? You guessed it, Chase Bank, the worst financial institution on the planet. I have paid this card off on time every month since 1984 when I got my first card from Amoco Oil company.
I filled up our RV a few weeks back which caused us to go over our limit by a few bucks because of how they tabulate 30 day periods and how long it takes them to process a payment. Today we get a letter that they are raising our rate to 28% because we went over our limit. Now you may think big deal, you pay it off monthly so what’s the big deal?
It’s the principle of it, this frackin company is so corrupt they go out of their way to screw the consumer in any way possible. I bet they hold meetings trying to figure out ways to screw people who pay their card off every month. I use BP because they have very good gas and they are literally everywhere but not for much longer.
I’m now looking at gas company locations for Shell and also looking at who manages their cards and if I can find one that’s as good as BP but doesn’t have Chase as the company issuing then I’m going to get that card and then call Chase and literally tell them to shove their POS card up their arse. Then I’m calling BP to explain to them why I am choosing to not do business with them anymore, I doubt they’ll give a crap but it will make me feel better.
I look forward to making that call so much I can’t tell you, I have never in my life ever dealt with a company so openly corrupt and I PRAY the people who developed their card rules and how to screw their customers gets crotch rot and sand fleas infest them. There is a special place in hell for those people.
18 comments:
I thought the new credit card laws banned them from raising your rate. Crooks - they are all crooks. I don't have credit cards and I am so glad.
Erik, I've only been following your blogventures for a week or two, but the Chase rants really hit home. I recently ...(long story about how incompetent they are)... and wound up with nearly $70 in fees. I called and explained the situation and got transferred around for half an hour, but I got those blasted fees waived. Make every effort to stay calm on the phone. Use phrases like "I need you to help make this right" and "My issue is not resolved."
I'm pulling for you buddy.
Johnston in Denver
Rae, there are so many loop holes for them to squeeze through it's not even funny. Our current administration claimed there would be no lobbyists allowed in the White House, the oil lobby sure had no problem with access and making sure these loop hoes made it into the "law" that was supposed to protect us.
Don't get me wrong, every President has been in bed with lobbyists but this one PROMISED he wouldn't be and then broke that promise as soon as he took office.
Read the law that they instituted to protect us, aside from the pork they also included with the bill, another pet peeve of mine and you'll see how they are still allowed to pretty much do as they wish as long as they follow the "rules".
Well, when the rule can be twisted by legal mumbo jumbo it's up to us to figure it out and guess who you go to when they bend you over? The places you can go to get Chase to fix their mistakes, those places take months to years to actually do anything, IF they'll do anything.
You can sue of course and that will cost plenty. I'm just so sick and tired of these companies being allowed to do as they wish and charge people who have paid on time for decades like they are piles of crap to be milked forever if possible.
Johnston, I have called after each screwing. Each and every time it's not fees, those don't ever seem to be a problem getting cleared off. It's them raising the rate and then telling you it's your fault even when it was Chase that caused the card to go into default (our other issue with them on a Visa card, they lowered our limit to BELOW what we owed) and when you get them to admit it's their fault they say due to company policy since you were in default we can charge the higher rate.
Amazing really and there is nothig you can do.
PS One of the reps told me they will waive one fee/customer/year just as policy. I'm not sure if that's common knowledge or not. I wound up getting both fees waived after long enough on the phone. Remember, customer rep time is not free for them. I was prepared to tell them I would be calling back every day for a month and then leaving Chase. It would have been a big hassle for both of us, so who knows if I was bluffing :)
We are also among those who can luckily pay off the cards each month, but the interest rates are all outrageous.
I guess it;s because so many people have defaulted.
But I wonder then why were they allowed to have cards in the first place!
At the same time the banks give all of .05 % interest on savings!
What a rip off!
Merikay, the credit card companies definately handed out these cards like candy. Then they created impossible regulations that of course only suited them and hurt the consumer.
Chase when the new law was instituted found out that they could give the consumer their business card which is exempt from these new rules and guess what, one late payment, not 30 days late mind you, 1 day late and bada bing bada boom 29.99% bump in the rate and they are allowed to do it.
They sent out millions of upgrade mails to people to get them to change to their new "better " card which only of course makes Chase more money.
People claim this is the fault of Capitalism, I disagree, its the result of corrupt businessman and corrupt politicians who take advantage of their position for money.
I used to blog about this stuff but my stress level was way too high keeping up with it so I killed the blog. But every now and then it hits me hard enough personally where I need to vent.
Eric, I am with ya all the way. Until we see them crooked bankster fellas and the like, a spending the rest of their lives in jail with no possibility of parole, I ain't never believin' another thing any of them crooked corrupt politicians say. Maybe someday people will reelize the onliest thing any of them care about is how much money they can steel off us regular folks.
What we need is fer a Rosa Parks type person for us non-financial and non-politican folks, to just sit down and say it ain't gonna be that way no more. Then we might be able to get some change a goin'.
And if ventin' makes ya feel better, I'm all fer ya ventin.
Erik, I found out about Chase several years ago -- paid them off, cut my card up & closed the acct. The financial gurus advise against closing credit card accts -- I don't care about their advice. If closing a dishonest acct lowers my credit score, so be it! You are so right -- they do NOT care what we think, but if enough people close accts they will care.
Alan and Marilyn McMillan,
Agreed 100%, unfortunately we can only close the one account, we owe too much to pay off the VISA at this point but we are working very hard to pay it off quickly so we can close it.
Erik, Check out the Discover Gas Card - you can use almost any gas station... pay that one off every month and you get bonuses... then pay off your other ones as you can... Discover has come thru for us for a LONG time...so much so that over the last 15 years, I have cancelled all my other cards except for one - just in case a business does not take Discover... good luck
Diane, thanks, I'm going to check into it. I may just switch to my debit card and drop the gas card completely.
Hi Erik,
Don't close your account after you pay it off, it will hurt your credit score. That card is probably really helping you a lot since you have had it a long time and have always paid the balance in full by the due date. The cards with the longest history have a lot of influence. It would even behoove you to make a small purchase and pay it off at least once every 6 months (so they don't close the account.) Just my 2 cents. Love your blog!
Jeff, agreed about the score part, we aren't sure what we're going to do yet but the fact it's a Chase card means it might be worth it to close it and get one from somewhere else.
My credit score is good and Chase upping our rate and lowering the limit on our VISA to less than what we owe tells me it may be worth it to tell them to pound sand on this card.
The best thing we could do is to pay cash. It is nuts how much merchants have to pay the credit card companies so that consumers will have the "priviledge" of using the cards. Ultimately, we pay the price when we make purchases..... I would love it if more merchants gave discounts to cash customers.
Deborah, agreed completely! They charge an extra 3% on average for merchandise no matter how you pay for it.
Remember back in the day when they added a fee for credit card use? Some still do and pass on the savings of paying by cash.
In the not too distant future I can see cash going away completely, then the fun's going to really begin.
Just make sure they put in their records "Per customer request" or it can effect your credit rating.
I can understand why you have to use the cards for travel purposes.
Jake and I got rid of ours years ago and have never looked back.
If we can't pay cash, we don't buy it. But I wouldn't expect you to carry around all of that cash while traveling! Love Di ♥
Stay away from Shell fuels, Conoco Phillips, or any gas card if you don't want the same song and dance. They're all like that now.
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