Chase’s new strategy for bilking you with fees
An article in the Wall Street Journal (Don’t Look Now, But Here Come the New, New Bank Fees) outlines some of the strategies bank like Chase are employing to get more fee income from customers.
Upping minimum payments wit the goal of maximizing late fees
Yes, they are increasing your minimum payment to make it more likely you will be late on your payment, and so they can charge you a higher fee, which is limited to the lower of $25 or the minimum payment amount. If your minimum payment amount were only $17, that would be the maximum they could charge you.
The Wall Street Journal singled out chase for this tactic.
Credit protection
The Wall Street Journal claims that some credit card companies are enrolling customers in credit protection (which covers your minimum payments and late fees if you lose your job) without their permission. This is reminiscent of banks enrolling customers in overdraft protection without their consent.
Other fees
Additional fees include annual fees on cards that did not have them, shortened billing cycles (making it more likely you will be late or they can charge you interest), and increased balance-transfer, cash-advance, and foreign-exchange fees.
Also watch out for aggressive marketing of so called “professional” cards, which are traditionally intended for business customers but, because they are exempt from the Credit Card Act of 2009 rules, are now being offered aggressively to non- business consumers.
Fees & charges | admin November 6, 2010
