As I have been paying down debt over the past few months, I have been aggressively targeting the cards with the highest interest rates. The card with the highest rate is a Chase Bank British Airways Visa card.
The rate on this card? A crazy 29.99%. It used to be around 15% and then a few years ago they randomly raised it with no explanation. At the time, I called and asked for it to be lower but that was a no-go.
Fast forward to this week. The card has had a zero balance for a few months. I have two other Chase Bank credit cards. One has had a zero balance for a few months and one has around $4,500 on it at 14%. I called up Chase Bank and asked to get the rate lowered on the British Airways Visa. Their response?
No.
I was a bit floored by that response, so it took me a minute to form any other thoughts. Then, I asked if there was a reason why it could not be lowered. The response? “There is a note on the account to not lower the rate.”
What!?!
The representative did not have any other information other than that. And I have no idea why such a note would be on the account as I’ve never been late on it or had any other issues. So, I did a quick search online and found people talking about having a similar problem with Chase Bank on the MyFICO forum.
Apparently, before the CARD act went into effect in 2009, Chase Bank raised a bunch of people’s rates for no reason and refuses to lower them. So, that is a bit ridiculous.
And it’s not that I plan on carrying a balance on it, but if I have an emergency and need to use it then I don’t want to stress about the interest rate.
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