topic Re: Chase Pay Over Time? in Credit Cards

Chase Pay Over Time?

Ahava18 — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 18:33:27 GMT

Hi,

I've recently got a chase card and I have a question about the POT payment plan details.

They are currently offering me $0 monthly fees for the payment plan, essentially giving me a 0% APR. My question is, is there any methodology do those fee-free offers? Is it A)An initial offer soon after opening the card trying to get people to try it out? B) They allow X amount of purchases to be financed fee-free? Or, C) The offers are random?

The reason I want to know is because if it is A or C I would like to take advantage of the opportunity, otherwise, I may want to save the offer for a later time should I need it in the future.

Also, if I finance a purchase that was made before the staement was cut and I enroll it in POT, do I still need to pay the ful statement balance to avoid interest or, can I deduct the amount that is enrolled in Pay Over Time?

Thanks

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

SouthJamaica — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 18:55:11 GMT

@Ahava18 wrote:
Hi,

I've recently got a chase card and I have a question about the POT payment plan details.

They are currently offering me $0 monthly fees for the payment plan, essentially giving me a 0% APR. My question is, is there any methodology do those fee-free offers? Is it A)An initial offer soon after opening the card trying to get people to try it out? B) They allow X amount of purchases to be financed fee-free? Or, C) The offers are random?

The reason I want to know is because if it is A or C I would like to take advantage of the opportunity, otherwise, I may want to save the offer for a later time should I need it in the future.

Also, if I finance a purchase that was made before the staement was cut and I enroll it in POT, do I still need to pay the ful statement balance to avoid interest or, can I deduct the amount that is enrolled in Pay Over Time?

Thanks

It seems to me that every time I use a major issuer's card to make a payment of $100 or more, they're offering me one of these buy now, pay later plans. I can't prove it, since I've never accepted one, but I have this gut feeling that they're some kind of trap, intended to trap me into paying interest, or losing my grace period, or something.

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Blender — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 19:54:09 GMT

Did you get a card that already has a 0% 15 month promo ?

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Aim_High — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 01:03:09 GMT

@Ahava18 wrote:
I've recently got a chase card and I have a question about the POT payment plan details.

They are currently offering me $0 monthly fees for the payment plan, essentially giving me a 0% APR. My question is, is there any methodology do those fee-free offers? Is it A)An initial offer soon after opening the card trying to get people to try it out? B) They allow X amount of purchases to be financed fee-free? Or, C) The offers are random?

The reason I want to know is because if it is A or C I would like to take advantage of the opportunity, otherwise, I may want to save the offer for a later time should I need it in the future.

Also, if I finance a purchase that was made before the staement was cut and I enroll it in POT, do I still need to pay the ful statement balance to avoid interest or, can I deduct the amount that is enrolled in Pay Over Time?

I've looked in the My Chase Plans on my cards but never used them, @Ahava18. But I can still help clarify some issues. It's not 100% (a) (b) or (c) that you outlined. First, the offers are customer specific, in that they may or may not offer them based on your credit profile, score, and personal payment history. They have nothing to do with being a new customer and definitely aren't just random. Also, like with the AMEX Pay-over-Time, the trigger point is based on the amount of the charge. Payment plans are only available for larger purchases of $100 or more with Chase. (A lot of this information is available on >the Chase webpage that discusses My Chase Plans<.)

As to your (b) point, the fee-free offers are for purchases in the lower end and/or lower time-frame price points. I've got one offer right now for a $100 charge that is fee-free also. But if you were to charge $3,000, there would be some fees involved. I've worked out the numbers on mine before, and in my situation, they worked out to considerably less in interest than I would have paid without the plan if I carried the balance that long. >This article from Investopedia discusses some of the implications of the plan fee in-lieu-of interest charges.

There's no need to "save the opportunity" for later since, if your profile qualifies now, you'll likely be offered more in the future unless something significant changes.

I'm confused about the details of the situation in your last sentence. " ... if I finance a purchase that was made before the statement was cut and I enroll it in POT, do I still need to pay the full statement balance to avoid interest or, can I deduct the amount that is enrolled in Pay Over Time?"

Hopefully, one of these points will answer your question.

First, let's take the (other) Chase Plan out of your question. (or PoT as you called it, which is technically an AMEX-only term.) If you make a purchase BEFORE statement cut; it posts to your statement; and you don't elect a new My Chase Plan on those charges: you need to pay 100% of it off by the next due date to avoid finance charges on that amount. That still applies whether you have a My Chase Plan on other charges or not.
A My Chase Plan does not charge interest; it does sometimes charge a flat fee in-lieu of interest. Chase won't ever charge you interest on a My Chase Plan that is paid-as-agreed. The fee that you agree to pay is just added onto the minimum payment due on the account. If you're paying off your new charges in-full, plus the plan fee on the My Chase Plan, you won't pay interest.
If you're "financing a purchase" that you made before statement cut, you'll pay normal account interest charges on whatever balance you don't pay before the payment due date until it is paid-in-full. But ... anything you'd be likely to want to finance may also be eligible for a separate My Chase Plan, so why would you want to do that unless the interest worked out to less than the plan fees? You can have multiple plans in-effect together on separate charges, and that applies with both Chase and AMEX. (I believe both Chase and AMEX allow up to (10) Plans in-place at one time.)
No, you don't need to do any math to avoid paying interest. If you have an active Chase Plan, your statement will break out not only a minimum payment due (which may not avoid interest) but also an "Interest Saving Balance" payment which avoids interest charges. (See >This Chase Link<.)

Can I avoid interest charges on other purchases while I have a My Chase Plan?

Pay the “interest saving balance” option—which includes the monthly amount for My Chase Plan—every month by your due date to avoid interest charges on new purchases. When you choose the interest saving balance option, you won’t pay off your entire My Chase Plan balance earlier than intended, and you’ll still avoid interest on new purchases.

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Ahava18 — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 23:31:07 GMT

@Blender wrote:
Did you get a card that already has a 0% 15 month promo ?

No. Otherwise it wouldn't matter.

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 23:57:10 GMT

@SouthJamaica wrote:
It seems to me that every time I use a major issuer's card to make a payment of $100 or more, they're offering me one of these buy now, pay later plans. I can't prove it, since I've never accepted one, but I have this gut feeling that they're some kind of trap, intended to trap me into paying interest, or losing my grace period, or something.

I don't think it's a trap. Now if you can easily PIF and decide to use a plan with a fee, then yes, that's not great, but that's on you. Otherwise, as @Aim_High says, it is often cheaper than the interest you would pay normally if you kept paying that long (that's partly because interest rates are so high, but if the plan is your only other choice...) My guess is that companies offer them because there is a chance of increased spend, if you can pay off at a cheaper rate. Perhaps a trap of sorts, but one you would have to take some responsibility for.

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Ahava18 — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 02:27:40 GMT

Thank you for your detailed response.

@Aim_High wrote:
I've got one offer right now for a $100 charge that is fee-free also. But if you were to charge $3,000, there would be some fees involved.

Not in my case, all purchases above $100 have POT and they are fee-free. Actually, the only difference between the smaller transactions vs the larger ones is the payment plan time-frame. The smaller ones are 3,6,12 months; it increases to 6,12,18 and 6,12,24 for the largest transactions.

@Aim_High
There's no need to "save the opportunity" for later since, if your profile qualifies now, you'll likely be offered more in the future unless something significant changes.

This is mainly my question. I wanted to know if by taking the offer now, I might "use up" my fee-free offers, specifically, not the offers in general.

@Aim_High
I'm confused about the details of the situation in your last sentence.

Let me try to clarify it. Say my statement cuts on the 1st and my balance was $5K. I made a $3K transaction on 6/25 and I enrolled it in a payment plant on 7/20. On the due date, do I need to PIF because I did not enroll it before the statement was cut or, can I pay just $2K (+ the monthly potion of the $3K transaction), hence statement is NOT PIF.

@Aim_High
First, let's take the Chase Plan out of your question. (or PoT as you called it, which is technically an AMEX-only term.)

Interesting as Chase clearly calls if Pay over Time on my account.

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Aim_High — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:33:45 GMT

@Ahava18 wrote:
Thank you for your detailed response.

@Aim_High wrote:
I've got one offer right now for a $100 charge that is fee-free also. But if you were to charge $3,000, there would be some fees involved.
Not in my case, all purchases above $100 have POT and they are fee-free. Actually, the only difference between the smaller transactions vs the larger ones is the payment plan time-frame. The smaller ones are 3,6,12 months; it increases to 6,12,18 and 6,12,24 for the largest transactions.

@Aim_High
There's no need to "save the opportunity" for later since, if your profile qualifies now, you'll likely be offered more in the future unless something significant changes.
This is mainly my question. I wanted to know if by taking the offer now, I might "use up" my fee-free offers, specifically, not the offers in general.

@Aim_High
I'm confused about the details of the situation in your last sentence.
Let me try to clarify it. Say my statement cuts on the 1st and my balance was $5K. I made a $3K transaction on 6/25 and I enrolled it in a payment plant on 7/20. On the due date, do I need to PIF because I did not enroll it before the statement was cut or, can I pay just $2K (+ the monthly potion of the $3K transaction), hence statement is NOT PIF.

@Aim_High
First, let's take the Chase Plan out of your question. (or PoT as you called it, which is technically an AMEX-only term.)
Interesting as Chase clearly calls if Pay over Time on my account.

You're welcome, @Ahava18. Interesting that none of your charges have any plan fees unless they are smaller purchases. For comparison sake, how much are the charges that you have with no plan fee? I don't recall exactly where the line was drawn with Chase before on plan fees but I do remember seeing some of each.

If you have concerns about using up "fee free" offers, I would all customer service. It's possible that they are waiving fees for you as a courtesy due to being a new customer but I've never heard of that. If this is the case, those offers would just eventually disappear and not be replaced, whether used or not. You didn't mention whether you have any other banking relationship with Chase, but some lenders waive specific fees as a courtesy for certain client with special deposit relationship. Do you possibly qualify for any of those?

My point about Pay-Over-Time was primarily about clarifying for the community the nuance and being more specific to the program in discussion. Yes, Chase does use the words "Pay Over Time" in various places on their website/app. In the case of Chase, this just a more concise and understandable "action" rather than the name of the deferred payment program itself. AMEX, meanwhile, names their actual deferred payment program "Pay Over Time." With Chase, if you look on the credit card summary page of one card, you'll see "Pay Card; View Payment Activity; Pay Over Time." These are actions. But if you click on Pay Over Time, it takes you to a page headlined by "My Chase Plan" which shows available charges. Likewise, if you scroll down the page to "Pay Over Time" options, you'll open a page showing "Pay Over Time > My Chase Plan (OR) Request a Loan ... which will open a page showing "My Chase Loan." So for Chase, Pay over Time is either My Chase Plan (OR) My Chase Loan and the deferred payment plan is called My Chase Plan. Screenshots attached to show the differences. So (AMEX) Pay Over Time is more specifically (Chase) My Chase Plan.

Re: Chase Pay Over Time?

Aim_High — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 18:58:22 GMT

@Ahava18 wrote:

@Aim_High
I'm confused about the details of the situation in your last sentence.
Let me try to clarify it. Say my statement cuts on the 1st and my balance was $5K. I made a $3K transaction on 6/25 and I enrolled it in a payment plant on 7/20. On the due date, do I need to PIF because I did not enroll it before the statement was cut or, can I pay just $2K (+ the monthly potion of the $3K transaction), hence statement is NOT PIF.

I had a reason to call into Chase today anyway so I clarified the way this works in-practice. (I hadn't been able to find any relevant Q&A's posted on the My Chase Plan pages.)

The preferred way to do a My Chase Plan while avoiding any interest is to select a transaction for a plan once it posts to your account activity but BEFORE the statement cuts. In other words, don't wait to select it. If you do have a purchase prior to statement cut where a plan is not pre-selected, you can still elect to do so while in the payment grace period. The system should eventually update to show the "interest savings balance." However, she told me that this might take several days and could be problematic if you wait until close to the due date to set one up. The system might not recognize the plan in time and might charge you interest on the unpaid balance. At that point, you would have to call customer service to try to reverse the charges. While I would imagine they would reverse the charges, it's much easier to set one up earlier.

If you were to not select the My Chase Plan prior to statement cut, you could calculate your own "interest savings balance" by just subtracting the full amount of the Chase Plan charge from the total balance due, then adding the Chase Plan charge monthly payment option that you selected. This would be in case the system hasn't updated to give you that interest savings balance.

Hope this helps.