Originally Posted By mawnck My latest bill from Disney Visa contained a whopper of a "gotcha" in the fine print. I've been paying the sucker off every month since I got it, so they haven't gotten any interest payments or fees out of me. Well, looks like they've decided to try and change that. Effective January 1, I no longer have a grace period. Charges start accruing interest the second they post to the card, no matter when I pay it off. I'll be using up my Disney Reward Dollars in the next couple weeks, and will then cancel the card. I don't know if they're doing this to everybody, but I suggest you check those little white bill inserts closely, just in case. Same old Chase. Just as I'd feared.
Originally Posted By mrichmondj I don't have one, but that would be about the dumbest thing I ever heard of for a credit card. Personally, I prefer cards that just give you cash back on every purchase. It's a lot less restrictive than rewards points cards.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <I could swear that this was against the Visa and MasterCard "rules."> Family site---no swearing!
Originally Posted By LacyBelle Thanks for the heads up, mawnck. Coincidentally, our Disney VISA bill arrived today, but DH had put the little white bill insert in the recycle bag without reading it. I had him go fish it out so we could review it. It appears to be just as you described. That's unfortunate, as we use the card for everything and pay our balance off each month. It looks like we'll use this card until Christmas, pay it off before 12/31, and stop using it. I suppose I don't want to cancel the account until we've transferred and used all Rewards Dollars -- don't want to leave anything behind. I guess we're in the market for a new credit card. Any suggestions? Preferrably some sort of cash back or rewards card...
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb Well this stinks. I was hoping to charge my cruise to the card to get those Disney rewards points, but the interest on that would be too much.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom I have a Disney Visa card. If this is true Looks like I will be cancelling this Visa and looking for a new one.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Wow, that's a new banking twist that needs to be stopped right now. For those of us that don't carry a balance the solution is easy but many are locked in because of the fact that they continue to run a balance. Just another rip off from your friendly folks at Chase. Always there for you.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Everyone call and double check if this is true. A friend of mine called and checked, and the info they gave her was different than what the OP posted here. Don't freak out or cut up your card just yet.
Originally Posted By mawnck I called them, and here's what they told me, FWIW: The grace period is not being done away with. The "Grace Period" section in the original agreement inexplicably starts with a sentence describing when finance charges are first added to your balance *without* the grace period. That's the sentence that got changed, not the later sentences that actually talk about the grace period. I was able to locate a complete cardmember agreement after a bit of a search. There is, indeed, such a strangely-placed sentence, and if it weren't for past nightmares dealing with Chase, I'd be willing to say "oops, my bad" and let it go at that. But given that the original agreement I'm referring to was with BankOne rather than Chase (dated 1/03), and the "change in terms" notice is pretty ambiguous as to what exactly got changed, and this is such a Chasey thing to do anyway, I've decided to put the card in the "don't use me" drawer until the situation is cleared up. I define "cleared up" as "receipt of a new, complete cardmember agreement with the paragraph that incorporates the change." Their operator says they don't have one prepared yet. (There's another Chase moment for you.) By all means, give them a call, and use your own judgement. Perhaps they are guilty of no more than sloppy Lawyer-ese on the Change in Terms notice, but my budget is just too tight to mess around with this stuff.
Originally Posted By SuperDry There's no way in today's competitive credit card environment that Chase or anyone else could get away with charging finance charges on new purchases for a cardholder that pays off their account in full every month. The types of people that pay off their account in full every month are the ones that would almost certainly notice finance charges where there were none before, and cancel their cards.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>The types of people that pay off their account in full every month are the ones that would almost certainly notice finance charges where there were none before, and cancel their cards.<< We're also the least profitable customers. It's not that implausible that Chase would come up with a sneaky way to ditch us, and get some nice Christmas interest to boot. Again, I wouldn't even give it a second thought . . . if it wasn't Chase.
Originally Posted By goodgirl I work in the financial industry. I receive a variety of financial publications. One of them is specifically devoted to credit cards and how the financial institution can brand, price and market their cards to increase revenue. Only a very small percentage of people pay off their balance each month. Something like 7% of all cardholders. Everyone else carries a balance from month to month. They pay finance charges. That's how the credit card companies/banks/credit unions make money. I know it sounds cold and blunt but the people who pay off their balance each month aren't worth anything to financial institutions such as Chase. Disney doesn't make any money off of you either. Sure, there's goodwill to consider, but in the long run its still not a big enough market share to bother with.