RoR: Forum

Good luck. My wife had similar distasteful experiences with this bank due to undetected identity theft. Read more here. If you get harassed, fax them a copy of the FTC laws noting which laws they are violating. Viking Collection Services is especially notorious for strong arm tactics, but don't let them bully you into paying immoral fees. We stopped them when we sent them a legal form cover letter with the laws attached noting which they had violated.

It will take seven years for the bad debt to clear from your credit report, but never pay a penny against it lest you restart the clock on that debt again.

In the meanwhile, keeping yourself current on existing and new loans should mean that a $100 bad debt will not hurt your credit that much.

I recommend getting a credit report or even using a monthly service such as My FICO to monitor credit activity.

(Edited by Luke Setzer on 4/12, 12:56pm)

Post 1

Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 2:48pm

I decided to replace my chase card with a paypal card. Paypal lets you upload your own custom image to be printed on the card!

I sent them an image that has a sky blue background with golden orange text reading:

Capitalism
mutually beneficial consensual trade
& defense of private property

Post 2

Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 4:21pm

I wouldn't pay it either. I can't believe how ridiculously inflexible some banks are getting. It's terrible. Did you try going to a branch office and talking to someone in person?

Post 3

Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 5:26pm

Teresa,

I don't know if the credit card company
"Chase" has any kind of local location with people I could speak to in person. But that is a good idea.

Luke,

Thanks for the advice

Post 4

Sunday, April 12, 2009 - 7:16pm

Dean,

While it's still worth a try, I doubt that anyone on the local level will be able to help you with that problem. Chase, like many big corporations, have built up almost impossible to overcome bureaucracies and complex policies. All any one service person has to do is cite policies over which they have no control.. often with a 'wish I could help you smile' that really is insufficient to cover the damage.

If this charge is solely a penalty, I strongly suspect that they could not successfully foist it upon a collection agency, However, assuming they can, I'd suggest well documenting your contact with the collection agency, and then just monitoring your credit reports. Should it ever show up on your credit report (expect at least a year to pass), promptly notify that agency of your dispute, including your documentation.

Good luck. The results are almost never satisfying.

jt

Post 5

Monday, April 13, 2009 - 2:28pm

Dean,

Did you save the page where you entered this information? Chase could just say, "There was no limit. The error was on his end. Everyone else entered their information correctly."

Having worked in the credit card industry, I've seen a number of disputes that started like this escalated to me. Usually it starts out as $100, but then you will get slapped with a late fee. Then you will get slapped with another late fee. Eventually, you will be piling up late fees and overlimit fees. Each month, the debt will report as not current. A one-time debt of $100 won't hurt you much, as Luke says, but it may be $100, then $141, then $183, and so on. That's bad. It shows that you are racking up debt that you don't pay for. It could be years before they stop adding fees. It may really hurt your credit.

Jay's advice is very good. Watch your credit reports, and get it resolved with them ASAP. I know it's frustrating, but I strongly suggest trying multiple avenues with them to get it resolved. The credit bureau is likely to side with Chase, all things being equal, and I don't think your case and evidence are as good as theirs.

Post 6

Monday, April 13, 2009 - 3:23pm

I'm not sure if a closed account will continue to accumulate fees.

But given Joseph's experience in the industry, I encourage Dean to heed his advice.

Post 7

Monday, April 13, 2009 - 3:58pm

Joseph Funk,

I'm not saying its their fault. I'm saying they were unreasonably inflexible and unresponsive.

The non-dickbag responsiveness that I'd expect from a business which I choose to deal with would immediately tell me that my bank account number was invalid, free of charge, so that I could fix it and pay.

Instead they notified me by snail mail and racked up a bunch of fees while the payment was late.
(Edited by Dean Michael Gores on 4/13, 4:00pm)

Post 8

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - 4:29am

I think this incident does emphasize the importance of daily Quicken downloads and proactive monitoring of financial transactions. If the payment did not clear by the day expected, take immediate action to learn why. Clearly the bank will not.

Post 9

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 - 5:52am

paypal didn't approve of my little Capitalism text. Next I've submitted the outline of Singapore's skyscrapers:

Post 10

Friday, April 17, 2009 - 9:37pm