Maintain grace period?

[Anonymous]

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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Cheers! I had some alarm bells going off because I have seen in another forum this month your same exact issue of a credit balance posting during the billing cycle that was larger than the statement balance of the previous billing cycle.

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It was  NOT the exact same issue. In that case the OP had a positive balance on the statement.

[Credit12Fico]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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Cheers! I had some alarm bells going off because I have seen in another forum this month your same exact issue of a credit balance posting during the billing cycle that was larger than the statement balance of the previous billing cycle.

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It was  NOT the exact same issue. In that case the OP had a positive balance on the statement.

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I'm not sure we are referring to the same things but feel free to point out what and where from you are referring to. Our OP on my Fico clearly says : The statement cut 9/9 with a balance of $831.10. A credit of $3,212.89 posted 9/11. The account now shows a balance of -$2,381.79.

In both cases that I am referring to, each account holder had a positive statement balance. In the next billing cycle, merchant credits posted that exceeded the statement balance. A decision must be made whether to make a payment even though merchant credits exceeding the statement balance were posted in the next billing cycle drawing a negative balance at the time that the user tries to make a payment.

Chase's response in that situation was to say they needed to make the minimum payment from the last positive statement balance even though the current balance was negative.  Chase probably does this to protect themselves. Merchant credits can be reversed by the merchant if someone were to obtain the credits fraudulently. If the credits were reversed in the next billing cycle, then Chase would have no fall back because technically no payment would have been made during previous billing cycle because the credits were not legitamate in the first place,

As an aside it's most likely for this same reason that banks do not allow the statement credit redemption option for their rewards cards to count as minimum payment.  Cardholders could abuse this to generate rewards with purchases to make a payment of the statement balance, and then return the items in the next billing cycle and avoid having triggered interest. Obviously this screws up the banks math and they do not want this.

[Anonymous]

@Credit12Fico   I'm refering to this  thread   (which has the letter you posted).    The balances were negative  in between.  But as far I can see, all the statement balance were positive:

 In post  5 it says: "Ex: April 2020 statement balance $1000. Then on April 15th a refund for $1500 for airline tickets. $500 statement credit. Since no balance, nothing to pay. Keep using the card as normal. May statement balance $200. "

In  post 1 it says:  "So I finally had a statement balance ($900ish) this June". 

In post 7:  The statement both months showed a balance with a $35 minimum payment.

[Credit12Fico]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@Credit12Fico   I'm refering to this  thread   (which has the letter you posted).    The balances were negative  in between.  But as far I can see, all the statement balance were positive:

 In post  5 it says: "Ex: April 2020 statement balance $1000. Then on April 15th a refund for $1500 for airline tickets. $500 statement credit. Since no balance, nothing to pay. Keep using the card as normal. May statement balance $200. "

In  post 1 it says:  "So I finally had a statement balance ($900ish) this June". 

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  We just have an honest mixup here. We are definetly not referring to the same things. I did make it a point to mention it was another forum (not just another thread topic) where I encountered it (Flyertalk forum).  and while the letter is the same, it's  two different photographs of that same letter.

The letter I posted appears to be something "generic" but I can understand why you made the connection to a thread here even though that was not where I found the letter from. It was sent to the poster on flyertalk who had the experience below which matches our myFico OP.

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This actually happened to me for another Chase card (Hyatt). Similar to OP, had >$5K spend / month on the card historically ... but that was reduced significantly due to the pandemic (<$1K / month).

Due to refunds from COVID-related cancellations, autopay ended up not being needed as credits satisfied my total charges. Unfortunately for me, this was something I didn't realize was a Chase issue and I wasn't keeping too close of a track of my balance / Chase notices as everything was automated - had no additional pulls/pushes from my bank account so assumed credits were OK.

Then in August my card started to get declined, checked my Chase app, and saw account closed.

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[longtimelurker]

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@Credit12Fico wrote:

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Mmmm, that bit about auto-pay is making me rethink my defence of it!    IMO, if a minimum payment is required (despite a credit balance) auto-pay should take it.   The whole point of auto-pay is so that you do not need to make manual payments, and especially you shouldn't have to guess if you need to!

[SecretAzure]

I'm just going to ask for personal data. And I'm sorry if it was already answered in this thread but I tend to skip over the items that appear to be bickering. 

In this scenario, if the OP has autopay setup, wouldn't that payment go through (if it is required at all)?

I assume if one has autopay setup and no payment is made but is expected, the lender cannot blame the cardholder for their own system failing to process the payment timely. 

[Anonymous]

Maybe it is not clear which statement balance I'm talking about. So let me do two example:

Case 1:     Statement cuts on April 4 with a balance of  $1000 and  Min Pay $35. Due date May 1.   $1500 Return on April 20. No other  transaction.  May 5 statement shows a credit of $500. 

Case 2:    Statement cuts on April 4 with a balance of  $1000 and  Min Pay $35. Due date May 1.   $1500 Return on April 20.  Purchase of $800 on May 2.   May 5 statement shows a balance of  $300.

In Case 2  Chase will write you nasty letter that you missed your   minimum payment. In Case 1 no minimum payment  was due and Chase will not complain.

[Credit12Fico]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe it is not clear which statement balance I'm talking about. So let me do two example:

Case 1:     Statement cuts on April 4 with a balance of  $1000 and  Min Pay $35. Due date May 1.   $1500 Return on April 20. No other  transaction.  May 5 statement shows a credit of $500. 

Case 2:    Statement cuts on April 4 with a balance of  $1000 and  Min Pay $35. Due date May 1.   $1500 Return on April 20.  Purchase of $800 on May 2.   May 5 statement shows a balance of  $300.

In Case 2  Chase will write you nasty letter that you missed your   minimum payment. In Case 1 no minimum payment  was due and Chase will not complain.

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I posted an example above of an experience from a different forum where Chase complained and closed an account because of Case 1....  Is that not clear?

[longtimelurker]

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@SecretAzure wrote:

In this scenario, if the OP has autopay setup, wouldn't that payment go through (if it is required at all)?

I assume if one has autopay setup and no payment is made but is expected, the lender cannot blame the cardholder for their own system failing to process the payment timely. 

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In the post just before yours I said the same thing but apparently chase disagrees.

[Credit12Fico]

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@SecretAzure wrote:

I'm just going to ask for personal data. And I'm sorry if it was already answered in this thread but I tend to skip over the items that appear to be bickering. 

In this scenario, if the OP has autopay setup, wouldn't that payment go through (if it is required at all)?

I assume if one has autopay setup and no payment is made but is expected, the lender cannot blame the cardholder for their own system failing to process the payment timely. 

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No. The autopay won't go through. You are the one who gets screwed. I posted the example below. Autopay never billed a single time in the two months after that positive statement balance cut, and went negative due to credits. Account closed. Chase won't count merchant credit as payment (they'll credit you more or less, but it looks like they are wanting minimum payment in case merchant credit gets reversed since credits are usually a sign of an ongoing dispute.). If the merchant credit were to get reversed, it screws up Chase's billing because technically you never made a payment. Its resolved if you made the minumum and protects you from a 30 day late which is technically true. Then they just charge interest as usual if the merchant credit gets reversed in a future billing cycle due to dispute.

This actually happened to me for another Chase card (Hyatt). Similar to OP, had >$5K spend / month on the card historically ... but that was reduced significantly due to the pandemic (<$1K / month).

Due to refunds from COVID-related cancellations, autopay ended up not being needed as credits satisfied my total charges. Unfortunately for me, this was something I didn't realize was a Chase issue and I wasn't keeping too close of a track of my balance / Chase notices as everything was automated - had no additional pulls/pushes from my bank account so assumed credits were OK.

Then in August my card started to get declined, checked my Chase app, and saw account closed.

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