Chase bank may have possibly broken predatory lending laws by reneging on their agreements with probable thousands of customers like me who accepted their generous offer of low interest for the life of the balance card deals. They have decided that the life is up.
They offered their customers 3.9% life of the balance loans on credit cards years ago. Now, after paying for many years at the agreed rate they have changed the plan and added a $10 monthly "transaction fee" when no transaction was requested nor accepted, which makes the effective APR go to 6.5%. A figure they felt they could live with. As min payment shrinks the effective APR rises under the new accounting. When the amount paid is $10 the addition of a $10 transaction fee will make the effective APR 100%/month or 1200%/year!
They also decided to change the min payment from 2% of the unpaid balance to 5% of the unpaid balance. They told me, in a phone call, that they could take off the monthly service charge if I sign a new contract and agree to 7%. Isn't that extortion - adding a charge and offering to remove it for agreeing to higher interest?
Consumer affairs web site is full of similar complaints from scores of angry customers. At least one class action suit has been filed against them.
Could they change it again and increase the service fee to $1000/month and make the minimum payment 25% of the unpaid balance? They must not be allowed to change the terms of the original agreement.
We need an injunction on them barring any changes to the original contract that was to be in place for the life of the balance until a court can decide whether or not is legal for them to breech the contract, by changing the payments and effective APR.
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