Can Chase Increase my APR after they have closed my accounts?!?!?!

[Anonymous]

Just saw on my statement where Chase increased my apr on my Sapphire card even though the account was closed by them. The Hyatt and Riyz card I payed off but kept the Sapphire open hopefully to maybe attempt to get them to reopen the card(doubtful I know). When they close an account I thought that you keep it as agreed until it's payed off.  Can they actually increase the apr even though I don't have any available credit to use on it due to the closure? Seems like a sleezy move from Chase 

[dragontears]

Why were your cards closed? Were you ever late?

[Anonymous]

AFAIK, when the account is closed the APR terms are locked, not the specific rate.

So the terms outlined a rate of Prime Rate + x% margin. Since the Prime Rate has increased so does your effective APR. This is not a change in terms.

Similarly, they would be able to apply the Penalty APR if you took an action listed in the Terms, such as not paying your account, etc.

[Anonymous]

This should be a non-issue.  Per the Credit Card Act of 2009, any rate increases applied to the account cannot be applied retroactively.  So any existing balances would be at the existing rate and since there won't be any new balances given it being closes - total non-issue.

Now, if we're talking about a .25% increase due to the recent corresponding increase in the prime rate as another poster mentioned, that would be perfectly legal because the rate hasn't changed - it's still Prime + x.xx%

[Anonymous]

---

@dragontears wrote:
Why were your cards closed? Were you ever late?

---

Never late. Chase "determined" I was a credit risk because I opened new cc accounts 

[K-in-Boston]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
AFAIK, when the account is closed the APR terms are locked, not the specific rate.

So the terms outlined a rate of Prime Rate + x% margin. Since the Prime Rate has increased so does your effective APR. This is not a change in terms.

Similarly, they would be able to apply the Penalty APR if you took an action listed in the Terms, such as not paying your account, etc.

---

This exactly.  OP, how much did the APR change?  There have been a few 0.25% increases in the Prime Rate recently.