topic Re: Cancelling a CCCS in General Credit Topics

Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:45:08 GMT

First time writing....but I had 4 accounts in a CCCS. I paid off early 2 of the credit card accounts and tried to cancel the CCCS on the other Credit Cards (CHASE). The CCCS informed me that if I cancel their service CHASE would re-state the higher interest rate and charge late fees. The thing is that on my CR, both CHASE accounts are up to date and I have open credit availability on both of these. The CR does not show that these 2 cards are managed by a CCCS (the BOA and Lowes card both listed ..managed by CCCS services) and I have been making payments for about 4 years. So, my question is :

1). Is the CCCS correct or are they trying not to loose the $35 per month fee.

2). I am worried that if I call Chase to discuss, they may list the cards under a CCCS managed accounts.

3). I'm tempted to proceed with direct payments to Chase and gamble....I would apply the extra $35 bucks toward the payments.

thoughts?

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:54:46 GMT

drax wrote:
First time writing....but I had 4 accounts in a CCCS. I paid off early 2 of the credit card accounts and tried to cancel the CCCS on the other Credit Cards (CHASE). The CCCS informed me that if I cancel their service CHASE would re-state the higher interest rate and charge late fees. The thing is that on my CR, both CHASE accounts are up to date and I have open credit availability on both of these. The CR does not show that these 2 cards are managed by a CCCS (the BOA and Lowes card both listed ..managed by CCCS services) and I have been making payments for about 4 years. So, my question is :

1). Is the CCCS correct or are they trying not to loose the $35 per month fee.

2). I am worried that if I call Chase to discuss, they may list the cards under a CCCS managed accounts.

3). I'm tempted to proceed with direct payments to Chase and gamble....I would apply the extra $35 bucks toward the payments.

thoughts?

Why would you want to close a CC?

Never close a CC if it has a balance,as it will hurt you.

Never close a CC unless it is costing you big bucks

When you close a CC it causing your UTIL to go up and scores to go down!

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

SmartCookie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:00:19 GMT

2 cards are PIF thru the CCCS and 2 cards are current (with balances) but not showing as being in the CCCS?

I would call the companies of those 2 cards and ask them what the status is... document who you spoke with and find out what the impact will be if you remove the account from the CCCS. Better to actually write them IMHO so you have proof of what they told you.

It is possible that the CCCS is telling you the truth, but you need to sleuth it.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:03:43 GMT

I do not want to close the cards but I have paid (2) to zero and the other 2 (Chase), I would like to pay independent of the consumer credit CS, saving the monthly fee and applying it to the other 2 with a balance. My fear is that Chase may indeed increase the % rate...I have a fixed 7% on both now. The cards that I paid to zero are marked "closed by credit card issuer" anyway.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

SmartCookie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:17:07 GMT

Read your agreement with the CCCS, but do call the other 2 ccc's to find out how they would or would not work with you should you cancel the CCCS or also make payments in addition to speed it up.

Regarding your 2 closed accounts, it would not hurt to ask them to change it to 'closed by consumer' (looks better on a manual review) as it was your choice to close them in choosing to use the CCCS.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:21:01 GMT

SmartC,

thanks for the advice.

Mark

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:21:05 GMT

The CCCS will say whatever they need to in order to keep getting your money.

Call Chase and ask what you need to do to change your billing address & phone number and whether the change would result in any changes to the Chase interest rate or terms & conditions. Just an inquiry shouldn't result in any changes to your Chase accounts. If all goes well, once the address and phone number changes have been completed by Chase and you have received your first billing statements from them, then cancel the CCCS via CMRR (but be sure read the fine print of your contract and term & conditions with them first).

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:38:21 GMT

The Chase billing address is my address and no reference to a CCCS is given. I canceled my electronic payment to the CCCS and always get the monthly statement from Chase. It would seem to me that I can just make the payment. The statements just show an electronic payment reference number. Also, both cards show available credit on them. Does this mean they are active?

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

SmartCookie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:55:03 GMT

Don't assume anything, things can get messy... so don't start cancelling payments before being certain of the facts. The cards do appear to be active but still you have to ask them to be certain. Usually it is a requirement to close the cards... so either this was not the case or it was an oversight. You aren't going to find out for sure until you read the agreement and speak with the companies.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:57:26 GMT

Sure does. Do you have physical possession of the current cards?

Although you cancelled the electronic payment to the CCCS, you need to cancel in writing using CMRR for your own protection. Be sure to read your agreement. You may need to continue paying their monthly fee until they are in receipt of your notice cancelling their services. Read the agreement carefully. Be careful that a Chase payment doesn't get missed while you wind things down with the CCCS.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:02:54 GMT

No, I cut them up some time ago.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

SmartCookie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:05:45 GMT

drax wrote:
No, I cut them up some time ago.

Call and ask for replacement cards. They'll tell you right then and there if the account is closed.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:11:00 GMT

You need to followup w/Chase and tell them you cutup your cards some time ago and that you just want to verify that no new CC's have been issued since then. Then its up to you whether you want them to send you replacement cards.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:30:13 GMT

Called them.....well, the account is closed. weird, that it shows an available credit on my statement and no close notice on my CR. I asked the question and Chase said it would not apply any back late fees or anything but would go back to the original interest rate if I get out of the CCCS. I guess I'll be a slave a little longer to the CCCS.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

SmartCookie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:32:50 GMT

drax wrote:
Called them.....well, the account is closed. weird, that it shows an available credit on my statement and no close notice on my CR. I asked the question and Chase said it would not apply any back late fees or anything but would go back to the original interest rate if I get out of the CCCS. I guess I'll be a slave a little longer to the CCCS.

Would scrapping the $35 monthly fee make the APR increase worth it?

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:40:05 GMT

That is an excellent question. I don't even know the APR of the old cards...I would say maybe 12-17% max. At 7% now on both.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

SmartCookie — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:47:41 GMT

drax wrote:
That is an excellent question. I don't even know the APR of the old cards...I would say maybe 12-17% max. At 7% now on both.

Verify what the interest rate would now be... they most likely will give you the old one but might give you a defaulted or otherwise 'cardholder agreement' changed APR. Maybe it will wind up saving you some cash.

Also, if you have another card that has room and you can get a good BT offer on it, consider that. Most companies will deposit it right into your checking account if you request it... then you could pay all this off and just work on the BT payback.

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Junejer — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:52:00 GMT

Drax, an example on the math. If your total limits on the two CCs is $4,000, for example then:

$4,000 x .17 = $680 (int. for the year on your own)
$4,000 x .07 = $280 (int. under CCCS)
$35 x 12 = $420 (CCCS fee)

Seems to me like you are ahead of the game by doing it on your own if the int. rate is 17%(assuming this balance--just an example). It gets better for you if your rate is lower than the 17%. Worse for you the higher the original rate and the balance owed.

Like the others said though. Read your agreement, before canceling anything.

Message Edited by ByrdMan on 01-15-2008 12:52 PM

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:02:41 GMT

Hey, Drax.

I'm in a DMP. I'm down to my last cc in the program. I owe $3,000 and the interest rate is 6%. The account is not listed as "closed" on my CR. However, when I called the creditor, they said the account is CLOSED. I asked about the consequences of ending my DMP and paying them directly. I was told that if I did that, they would jack the APR up to default rate.... They said they've "lost" money by allowing me to pay the reduced 6% rate since I've started the program and it was best to finish the program. Since I plan to pay them off anyway, I just left it like it is...

Re: Cancelling a CCCS

PayYouNever — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:19:47 GMT

Ah... OP, I could have cleared this up for you the minute I read your post. I am in the same boat with Chase, although my CCCS fee is only $8/month (Ligthouse Credit, maybe you can switch DMPs?).

Your account is closed, and Chase will not re-open it under any circumstances. I, too, receive my statements from them every month, that's how they do it. Because you can pay more than the CCSS pays to rapidly reduce your balance. The bad thing though is, you have a maxed out UTL, because the balance has no offsetting CL.

The default rate is like 29.95%, so you don't want to quit the CCCS. What you should do is ask Chase if you can qualify for their internal ReAgeing Program, which I qualified for after making steady payments through the DMP for two years. The ReAgeging Program removes the derogatory status in their reporting, at least that's what it said.

I anticipate when I purchase my SCORES at the end of this month, that my Chase account won't be listed as a "Negative". Once I qualified for the Program in December, I sent a GW to remove the lates that I had on the account from two years ago. Hopefully they've done that, but I'll know when I check my scores at the beginning of February or I'll use the 25% off promo to get them this week.

I'll post any updates to my Chase reporting history