Rejecting adverse action on a card with an annual fee?

[Exonumist]

So I just got two AA notices from Chase for my Freedom and Ritz. The Freedom they only raised the cash advance APR. The Ritz they raised the cash advance APR, balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, and late payment fees. No explanation of why and no Fico score included. I always pay in full on time and don't take cash advances or do balance transfers anyways so it's not a big deal. I had already decided the CSP was a better fit for me and planned on closing the Ritz in December. I just got a CSP again in preparation for that. My question is if I reject the new terms on the Ritz what happens to the annual fee? Do they prorate it? Reimburse it completely? It was opened Dec 2014.

[Anonymous]

My experience with Chase has been that they'll waive the fee if its has just recently been billed and you're closing the account. But its been 7 months since you've paid the fee so its highly unlikely they'll reimburse you - I've not known Chase to be that considerate.

[NRB525]

This sounds like a routine change of their terms, since all these fees are boilerplate rates. 

If you close Ritz, I can't tell what Chase does with the AF, that would be in your regular, boilerplate terms, the contract they sent you.  I'd suggest reading that to find the information you seek.

If you got AA, you'd know it. Either your use of the cards would be restricted, someone would call, you'd get a reduction of credit limit, or the account closed. Or all that and more. Basic change in fees, no, not AA.

[Exonumist]

Regardless of how little impact or how small of a change I consider any negative change to my account terms AA. Because it is not the fee structure that I agreef to when opening the card or paying the second AF the Fair Credit Act also considers it AA. I know Chase usually will not reimburse AF after a couple months, but this is different. I have a right to reject the changes for 45 days and they will close the card. Does anyone actually have experience with what Chase does if you reject changes on a card with an AF?

[Anonymous]

Call them and ask. Get it straight from the horse's mouth.

[Anonymous]

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@Exonumist wrote:
So I just got two AA notices from Chase for my Freedom and Ritz. The Freedom they only raised the cash advance APR. The Ritz they raised the cash advance APR, balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, and late payment fees. No explanation of why and no Fico score included.

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Are you sure there was no explanation?  On my (clearly form letters) it stated something about making these rates more uniform among card holders (i.e. potentially increasing their profits).

[gdale6]

I got this on a Chase card that was closed recently, its a change in terms not AA. Chase is getting greedy, 5.8B in profit last quarter isnt enough.

[austinguy907]

Well you should be able to consolidate your Ritz limit into the other account pretty easily with a phone call.  They typically will move all but $500 of the limit due to potential recurring bills coming into the account.  Phone call to move the credit over takes about 5 mins.

[UncleB]

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@Exonumist wrote:
Regardless of how little impact or how small of a change I consider any negative change to my account terms AA. Because it is not the fee structure that I agreef to when opening the card or paying the second AF the Fair Credit Act also considers it AA. I know Chase usually will not reimburse AF after a couple months, but this is different. I have a right to reject the changes for 45 days and they will close the card. Does anyone actually have experience with what Chase does if you reject changes on a card with an AF?

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I understand where you're coming from, since this change is definitely 'adverse' to you, but to most folks AA or 'adverse action' is when a customer is singled out for some reason, possibly a change in credit score, high utilization, or maybe something about them just didn't work with the bank's computers... regardless, the action/account change/etc. was only with that one customer.

On the other hand, a change in account terms usually applies to everyone equally.  You can still usually close the account and keep the old terms, but in this case individual cardholders generally aren't singled out - the change hits everybody.

If it were me, I would simply reach out to Chase about your AF being refunded.  I agree with you that since they are the ones changing the terms, at a minimum the AF should be pro-rated, ideally refunded in full. 

Good luck whatever you decide. 

[Anonymous]

They are just raising rates. If the rumored perks for the Sapphire Elite/Reserve are true, they have to make up for it somewhere.