Chase provides a tremendous number of credit cards in the industry and offers a variety of credit card accounts to suit most personal and business requirements.
Chase is also the lender providing many of the branded credit cards on the market today with hotel focused accounts such as the Marriott Rewards Card and travel focused cards such as the Southwest Airlines Visa Card and the Continental Airlines World MasterCard accounts.
Fees and Penalties
One reason to get a Chase Credit card is the reliability of the Chase Bank name. This is a huge corporation that specialized in issuing credit to consumers.
The fees and penalties that might apply if your credit account is not properly used are clearly outlined along with the terms consumer must meet to avoid extra fees in the future.
If you fail to meet your payment obligations for 60 days, Chase will apply a penalty APR to your account. However, that can be a temporary penalty fee that you can have removed after six months of timely payment on your credit card debt.
One result to the implementation of new credit card consumer protection laws is an increase in the over limit and other fees that are being charged by Chase Bank as well as all other credit lenders.
Over limit fees can be avoided if the consumer opts to disallow any purchases that are over the credit card limit. With that option added, you may be embarrassed if your purchase is declined as “over limit” but you will avoid being charged a fee that may be higher than the cost of the product you purchased.
If your credit card is issued by a smaller bank or financial institution you may have to wait for your transactions to be posted or your payment to show on your online account. The balance shown may not reflect recent charges immediately which can cause a problem if you are close to your limit and don’t realize it.
Features
The Chase credit card offer the same variety of features of all other credit cards but offer some extra features that put it above the rest.
These features can make this card a key factor in managing your money. Chase offers continuous tracking of your balance, transaction details and statements online. This goes beyond the ability of most credit banks to provide timely information about your account.
One of the most used features offered by Chase credit cards is the ability to receive alerts about your account. Free alerts occur when the account holder is notified a payment is due on the credit card and you choose when and how often you want to be reminded of the due date.
These notifications can be sent by email, phone, mobile phone, pager or even a PDA device. You might also choose to be notified if you are close to reaching your credit limit. It’s a free service and can save you from late payments or over limit fees.
If you are prone to forgetting when the payment for your card is due or don’t always remember what your balance is, free alerts can help you to stay organized. They can also protect you from making errors that could affect your credit rating and add costly late fees and over limit fees to your balance.
You can also use your Chase credit card to pay your bills online automatically. What you need to do is to set up the specific details (which may take a while) but once you accomplish that your monthly bills can be paid directly and you don’t have to worry about it any longer.
Chase offers a wide variety of accounts. Some of the most popular Chase credit cards are described briefly below.
More Popular Cards from Chase
- Using a Disney Chase card will give your family more fun during your vacation.
- The Chase Freedom card is becoming more popular among customer.
- Discover the Chase secured card and feel the difference.
- Online shopping is easy with the Amazon Chase Visa credit card.
- The most popular Chase Visa cards are…
- Using a Chase student card while you are a student is the utlimate choice!
- By using a Chase Platinum card you will get some great benefits and higher spending limits.
- Electronic shoppers really like the Chase Sony Card as it fulfill their needs.
- What is AARP and how does it work in practice?
Reflect Recent Changes in Credit Card Laws
The new credit card laws in the United States became effective in February 2010. The laws are a game changer for credit card lenders.
Many practices that were frequently used to increase lender profits from credit card accounts are no longer allowed. This has resulted in a reduction in the number of credit cards offered by major lenders such as Chase. The terms of credit accounts have also changed as a result of new restrictions.
Chase is one of the few credit lenders that continue to offer credit cards with no annual fees. Many other financial institutions have added annual fee requirements in an attempt to make up for revenue losses that might be caused by the new legal requirements.
One big profit item for credit lenders in the past has been the ability to raise the interest rate arbitrarily on all outstanding balances.
The abuse of such increases led to many consumer complaints and was one driving force behind the new laws. The cross default policy lenders used can no longer be part of the credit granting industry.
Cross default allowed lenders to raise the consumer’s interest rate overnight on his credit balance if the consumer paid even a utility bill late.
With a 2 weeks warning that was sent in the form a pamphlet of small print legalese, a credit account holder could find his interest changed from 12% to 33% or more on the entire balance of his debt. This one practice was the cause of many defaults and bankruptcies for consumers.
Summary
Chase has led the credit card industry in partnering with large merchants to provide merchant specific credit cards. It’s possible for customer to show their fondness for brand names with cards featuring Volkswagen, Sony and most major airlines.
No matter what your personal requirements are for credit cards you will be able to find the perfect card for you in the wide selection of Chase cards.
