NOW the thing that upsets me is they are adding a $10.00 month service charge whether or not you have any balance or even use the card. I think that is changing the terms of the contract becauses it, in effect, raises my 3.99% interest, especially when the balance gets low or even zero. I have never heard of a monthly charge on an unused zero balance credit card. They say they are only doing this on accounts with low interest – in effect forcing us out. I have never had a late or missed payment.

Their only options were to go to 7% for 12 months and then on to what ever they wanted(chilling) or to pay them off and close the account.

I need cards (not chase) for travel and tracking business expenses and generally I do not carry a balance but if I should have to temporarily, they are all 8% or lower. I charge everything I can(mega miles) and pay bills online. I use about 10 checks per year and as long as I have a internet connection things are great!

I don’t live in fear of what my fica score, I simply don’t care, and cionsidered telling Chase to stuff it, but I am just going to pay them off and be done with it.

Chase has switched my Visa account with them to 5% of the outstanding balance, from the previous 2% of the outstanding balance.

This could be because I am carrying fairly large balances on these cards at relatively low interest rates. Cardholders with different usage patterns may have a different scheme imposed upon their accounts.

For your example of $4000 at 16%, the two percent payment is $80, of which $52.97 would be interest and only 27.03 would be principal. (This method follows the above example of applying interest after the principal reduction).

Using the 1% plus method and a minimum payment of the greater of $20 or 1% plus interest, this card would take 217 months and $4553.94 in interest to pay off. The 2% method, though having lower monthly payments, will take 287 months and $6518.12 in interest to pay off (with the same greater of $20.00 or 2% minimum payment).

Yes the new method results in higher minimum payments for many cases (if the interest rate in the example was 12.12% the initial monthly payment would be the same), but higher minimums mean a quicker payoff time and less interest paid.

The new 1% plus method was something introduced through legislation (I may be wrong here, but I do recall reading something about this). This may make it more difficult for some to pay their debtors (those living paycheck to paycheck with their cards maxed out), but will also help others who can afford to make the new higher minimums and can stop relying on credit.

The interest rate is zero and I don’t have any fees. That’s the reason it went down so much.