Can they raise my rate without provocation?

I just received notice from Chase, who took over my Washington Mutual Credit Card account, they are closing my account because of a high balance. I have a $7800 credit line and owe $6300 on it. I have NEVER been late and always paid at least $100 more than the minimum. They also raise my interest rate from 13% to almost 17%. Can they legally do this? It seems outrages to me they can get away with this. I have been a good customer.

They must allow YOU the option of not accepting their rate change by closing the account yourself. If you accepted the rate change and then they closed the account so you could not charge, then you have a problem.

Thank you for replying. They said they sent me something in May regarding a rate change via the US Mail. I never received it, and believe me, I am always on top of things like this. Anyway, I did not receive anything regarding any rate change so what should I do next? Thanks again, Sandy

You need to call the Chase company using the number on the back of your card. You need to complain that you did not receive any notice of a rate change or you would have closed your account... and that you think they have neglected to follow the law and have raised your rate unlawfully. You then want them to reset your interest rate to what it was prior to their change. Since THEY cancelled your card, you can point out that they have just threatened you with financial mayhem with no recourse by giving you NO NOTICE AND CLOSING YOUR ACCOUNT. Most of the time I get results if I harangue long enough up to supervisor level. Not always.

Lately the credit card companies have been pulling all kinds of stunts to harass card holders... changing the due date by up to five days in both directions, changing the amount (% of outstanding plus interest???) due, and then changing the interest rate so that most of us want to close the account anyway.

You should send an email to whitehouse.gov to let President Obama know that you are being harassed by CHASE credit card company and that you think they have done so unlawfully... explain what they did ... and follow that up with an email to your local state's attorney's office. There is no way we can stop them from doing this to us unless we all let the governing people and the law know that they are doing it.

CHASE also has a hardship line where you can request a lower rate based on your financial circumstances. They will give you up to five years at a lower interest rate and they won't report it to the credit bureaus. This is not an easy way, but if you qualify, it could keep you solvent.

This article may be of some assistance to you: Paying Off Credit Card Debt Lawyers

Silly me I know to say "the law says" this or that and NOT prove it.

Lets veer off into factual territory here and actually READ the law for ourselves instead of falling victim to Internet stupidity, shall we?
Summary of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 | Money Under 30
The major stipulations in the Senate’s Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 are:

• Credit card companies cannot increase interest rates on existing credit card balances unless a customer is at least 60 days late.
• In the event of an interest rate increase, the credit card company must revert to the original rate after the customer makes six months of on-time payments.
• Credit card companies must give customers at least 45 days notice of any other interest rate hikes.
• Billing statements must be mailed 21 days prior to the due date, and companies cannot charge a late fee if a payment is late due to a delay in processing.
• A credit card company cannot raise interest rates in the first year of a customer relationship, and promotional interest rates must last at least six months.
• Creditors must adhere to new regulations that will make it more difficult to issue credit cards to consumers under 21

On the upside, the the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 means your credit card companies won’t be able to charge you outrageous interest rates for an indefinite period of time if you’re a day late just once. Similarly, they won’t be able to hike your rates on existing balances arbitrarily.

There are a million reasons they have brought up to claim the right to raise your rates... such as:
your rate on purchases is and always has been a floating rate, not a fixed rate.
you were one hour late because we closed receipts at 3pm that day
you attempted or did charge more than your credit limit OR your interest \ put you over
we changed our terms and reduced your credit limit because of what we saw in your credit report

The list goes on.

The only way to get them to correct the rate is to negotiate with them. Give them a call and if they stonewall you, mention some key words... like "you are trying to bankrupt me" and then they will put you through to their hardship assessor who will take your payment numbers and attempt to fix the problem.

Basically put, the banks are still in a bad place. They cannot do mortgages because nobody has perfect credit and still wants to buy a house or refi... so they can't make money on those good risks that still exist. That leaves them with a portfolio of loans that cannot be rewritten because Obama and Bernanke have hamstrung the housing industry by tightening up the rules for giving credit. (They don't seem to realize that after giving away money that we didn't have in the Treasury, we still don't have a way to pay our government's bills to the states who can't pay the hospitals and schools, and that extends down to you and me, kiddo... because it is all a version of Reagan's trickle down philosophy.... in reverse. If you don't have it, you can't pay it... check on how California is making do... NOT.) If we loosen the rules, at least we will HAVE an economy. (Actually, our economy IS the housing industry since we have been a service economy since Clinton was touting off shore business partners). There is nothing left but housing that CREATES wealth... except for long odds bets like the stock market and the LOTTO.

Lets do a little side by side comparison for you of your statements and the posters actual comments...........

YOU said: There are a million reasons they have brought up to claim the right to raise your rates... such as:
your rate on purchases is and always has been a floating rate, not a fixed rate.

SHE said: They also raise (sic) my interest rate from 13% to almost 17%.
YOU said: you were one hour late because we closed receipts at 3pm that day

SHE said: I have NEVER been late
YOU said: you attempted or did charge more than your credit limit OR your interest \ put you over

SHE said: I have a $7800 credit line and owe $6300 on it.
YOU said: we changed our terms and reduced your credit limit because of what we saw in your credit report

SHE said: (the reason they took this action was)because of a high balance.

YOU said: The list goes on.

I say thankfully, it does not. IRRELEVANT examples. Nothing you said there remotely relates to the posters situation-------and you say I cannot read??????

The LAW SAYS:
Credit card companies cannot increase interest rates on existing credit card balances unless a customer is at least 60 days late.
PERIOD. This means the answer to her question: "CAN THEY LEGALLY DO THIS?" is NO.

Instead of calling them and begging for a reduction, send them a certified LETTER with a copy of this law in it and tell them you expect them to adhere to the LAW or face the consequences of not doing so.

Sniveling "buttttttttttttttttt yer gonna bankrupt meeeeeeeeeeee" is utter foolishness. Why grovel? The LAW says they are in the wrong.

What BOYKIN thinks is immaterial.

Come to think of it-what I think is immaterial too.

What the LAW SAYS MATTERS. PERIOD. And it is VERY clear. YOU are telling her they CAN do this, and to call them and beg and grovel. SHOW me the law that says they can do this. Meanwhile read the law I provided that shows they CANNOT.

Now put on your big girl panties and don't write back some hare-brained stupidity about quoting the law being plagiarism. (eyeroll)

READING THE LAW INFERS THAT YOU KNOW WHEN IT GOES INTO EFFECT. These are changes that Obama has had his people working on, but, dear me, they don't go into effect until 2010. But AS USUAL, you plagiarized someone who didn't see the point of telling you when the act becomes LAW. Thus YOU DIDN'T even SEE the law... You just blew it out your other end.

So try reading the currently applicable law. Then when you cut and paste it like Kindergarten to this forum, perhaps it will be applicable to the problems they face.

Currently there is NO protection against rising interest rates EXCEPT that the account holder can opt out by closing the account within the time limit they stipulated on the notice of change of terms and then paying off the debt as a normal course of payments.

That said, as I stated before, Chase HAS a program for folks who are in trouble.

It is beyond me why you would be an A** and make fun of someone who might have to ASK FOR HELP from a credit card company that has manipulated the due date or interest rate or the credit limit in order to cause the card holder to violate their rules... Or someone who recognized that if every card they hold requested 5% of the debt paid back every month, that they couldn't afford to eat...or simply put, that the card holder wants the interest rate or payment rate back at the original rate instead of some exorbitant amount that will certainly cause a financial mess because the bank they do business with bought some bad loans... or just wants to have a good showing for current profit so they can drive UP their stock from the bottomless pit it seems to be worth with those same bankers in charge after the debacle THEY caused. These bankers are SO DUMB that they don't realize that by calling a commercial loan, they are demanding at the worst possible time (for a return on investment) that a company be liquidated... to save the likes of Regents Bank for example... Those fellows have put some local manufacturers into bankruptcy for just such a reason. DUMB.

Not everyone has a wrongful death suit in their back pocket. Nor do we out here get a thousandth share of the billions like these corporate loan product folks get.

Wow..........nice potty mouth (Not to mention terms of service violation for profanity AND name calling). Good going! Wondered how long it would be--what's it been since you got canned last? A whole month? Two? Attempting to exhibit even a modicum of self restraint would keep you from these repeated bans, you know.

In any regard, given that plagiarism is the fraudulent act of false ownership of another authors work, how is copying and pasting, word for word an external source and providing the LINK to credit the original author remotely "plagiarism"? If there is any question as to where that information came from, it is because it would seem, then, that you are unable to understand that a hyper link leads to the source of information and all one must do is simply click. There now. Try it. Click. See? Like magic, the external source appears! Isn't that special!??

Amazing inability to exhibit even a modicum of self control regarding your language OR references to my personal life............. Kinda creepy. However, while not everyone has "a wrongful death suit in their back pocket", not everyone burns to death on the side of the road as a result of someone else's negligence now, do they? At least I know my husband is dead----you seem to be uncertain as to anything remotely relevant to yours----I do believe that on your other user name you lied and said was his that 'he' was posting in this forum several weeks after "his" untimely death around Christmas, wasn't it? Hmmm............ anyone you can sue for that bit of madness?

In any regard, I am sure the users of this forum would appreciate your attempting to exert a measure of self control and refrain from profanity and name calling, repeated offenses you seem to be unable to control. Is the temporal gratification you get from blurting out such vulgarities as "out your behind"" and even your more blatant curse words and name calling worth getting banned? Must be the case or you wouldn't continue in such unclassy and juvenile behavior.

Very sad, actually. Funny as the dickens because you are SO predictable, but sad nonetheless.