Welcome to BoycottChase.com
The sharks are in the water and smell blood. Despite bailouts of your tax dollars from Congress, many banks continue to abuse their customers and engage in unethical behavior. I am not a consumer activist by profession. In fact I have better things to do with my time than fight large corporations. However, sometimes their behavior is just so egregious; it's time to take a stand. I urge you to take a stand too. Write your lawmakers. Close your accounts with banks and switch to credit unions. An informed consumer is what they fear the most.
DISCLAIMER: This site is NOT owned, managed or affiliated in any way with JP Morgan Chase. If you came here by mistake and are looking for the official Chase Bank web site, I suggest leaving this page trying a major search engine. This site is run by an individual and is not a commercial web site, and is not for profit. This site is protected under free speech granted by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. This site does not use any JP Morgan Chase intellectual property or trademarks and this site is clearly not affiliated with Chase bank. Since this site obviously advocates boycotting them, only an idiot would confuse this web site with one run by JP Morgan Chase. Any illegitimate cease and desist letters attempting to chill legitimate free speech will be forwarded to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and published.
Useful links:
Report your credit card company to the authorities
My Documents: read for yourself what they sent me and my responses
Write to your representative in Congress
Opt out of banks! Go Credit Unions!
WTF do you mean I can't opt out?!?! Chase lies to Congress.
Chase is being sued for these practices.
GOTCHA! Little inserts in your monthly statement with lots of fine print like this one may may look like junk mail but don't ignore it. Read it carefully, as it's rarely good news for you, the consumer. This one I recevied adds fees and higher payments. Even using your card can indicate you agree to the changes. Cut your card up. Send them notice in writing you don't accept their "offer". They may close your account but that might be doing you a favor. Boycott the credit sharks.
Read my story: an open letter to Congressman Jim McDermott
Congressman Jim McDermott
1035 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman McDermott:
As your constituent and an ordinary citizen of the great state of Washington, I am asking for your help in regard to the predatory lending practices of Chase Bank, which does business in the state of Washington.
For over 10 years, I have had two credit card accounts with Chase Bank. I’ve been a model customer and have never been late on a payment or defaulted. In 2005, Chase sent me an advertisement enticing me to transfer balances from my higher rate credit cards to each of my Chase accounts. The advertisement stated I would receive a 3.99% APR for the life of the balance, or until the balance was paid off. The minimum payments on the accounts have always been 2% of the outstanding balance since I opened the accounts.
I accepted their offer and transferred over $20,000 of debt I had accumulated from other credit cards while in college. While I was in college, Chase and other credit card lenders marketed their credit cards very heavily around campus, making it easy for young students to go into debt. I regret having paid much of my tuition on credit card instead of conventional student loans. For many years, I’ve faithfully paid on those accounts and Chase had lived up to its 2005 offer until recently.
Last November Chase sent a notice with a change in terms to be effective January 1st, 2009. The notice stated they would start assessing a $10/month “finance charge” in addition to my regular finance charges. It also stated they would raise my minimum payment from 2% to 5%, more than doubling my payments each month. I sent them notices in writing stating that I refused and declined those changes and that they could close the accounts and continue to allow me to pay them off under the original terms.
I can provide you with copies of all correspondence upon request. They more than doubled my minimum payments without my consent, creating a financial hardship for me. On March 31st they sent me two letters stating they would stop charging the $10/month fees. However, it said my 5% monthly minimum payments would continue unless I agreed to a much higher interest rate.
On April 30th, 2009 I sent them a letter stating that it was not lawful to charge 5% for the minimum payment because they are in breach of our 2008 contract. Their proposed changes are not a valid contract because by law I have to accept their offer for the changes to be enforceable. I know you can not represent me in a legal capacity here, but I want to apprise you of this situation so you can understand the extent of their unethical behavior, even when confronted with solid facts of the law.
They are clearly trying to pressure me to agree to higher interest rates by increasing my minimum payments without my consent. This is predatory lending at its worst. I was also surprised to see that the copy of the agreement they sent also contained clauses about mandatory binding arbitration. I do not recall ever receiving a notice or agreeing to such language. They are attempting to make it much more difficult for ordinary consumers like me to seek justice by denying me access to the courts.
I have sent complaints to the Washington State Attorney General’s office. The response from Chase did not address any of the substance of my complaint; it in essence said they are changing their business practices because it is in their interest to do so. I have also filed complaints with the Delaware Better Business Bureau, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Trade Commission. Their responses continued to state they can change the terms without my consent, which, in fact, is not lawful. I have cut up my cards, closed the accounts and not used the cards in over four years.
To date Chase has not relented on their predatory lending practices. All I am asking is for them to honor their original agreement and to close the accounts and allow me to continue paying them under my original terms which is 3.99% and 2% of the balance monthly minimum payments with no additional fees. Asking them to honor their own promises which they advertised many years ago most people would not find to be unreasonable.
If there is anything you can do to personally intervene in this case, I would be grateful. I do not have the vast financial, political or legal resources of a large corporation. I am just a lone average citizen against a faceless, predatory corporation.
In addition to anything you can do in this specific case, I urge you to vote for reforms for the lending industry. I urge you to vote to ban such insidious things like mandatory binding arbitration between a large company and individuals. Please vote to ban universal default clauses. Please put pressure on our federal and state agencies to do more to fight predatory lending practices.
Thank you for your time and hard work protecting your constituents. I will remember your efforts when I go to vote in our next election.
Sincerely,
Andrew
