Dmitry’s story is worth your time. He should be commended for standing up for his rights. BUT this technique is not intended for a simple case where you just don’t meet the rules because of something simple like “first time cardholder” restrictions. Save it for major issues or the source may dry up on us. Here is his story:
Hey Rick,
Here are the details on my recent history with Chase. I have been purchasing coins from US Mint on my Chase credit cards. In December 2009 both of my CC accounts were shut down. When I called in, I was told it was due to Mint purchases and no matter how hard I tried to explain that the purchases were legit they wouldn’t budge and reinstate my accounts. Their reasoning for shut down was: Accounts not used as intended. After that, my credit reports had notes that accounts were closed by the bank, which is somewhat bad for the credit history. I told you about my situation and you even put a warning on your blog on the right hand side about purchasing coins with Chase cards.
Soon afterward I read horror stories about people being permanently banned from ever doing business with Chase again if their accounts were shut down. In April 2010, I tried to apply for the sweet 50k United Chase card offer. I was denied. One of the reasons was that I “currently have accounts in derogatory standing.” I felt frustrated and decided to file a complaint with BBB to see if I could reinstate my accounts with Chase. However, that did not work to well. I thought my story was over.
Then, about a month ago I was reading through a thread on FT (don’t remember which thread it was) and I saw a post by someone. The person was telling that he had some cash-back CC which was unfairly shut down by the bank, and he lost all his CB. So he complained to OCC (http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/ ) and his matter was quickly resolved. So I thought I had nothing to lose. I filed a complaint with OCC, in which I retold my story and also mentioned my unsuccessful attempt to deal with this via BBB.
Few days later I got a call from a nice lady from Chase Executive Office. During our conversation she said that those accounts are now inactive and won’t be accessible to Chase and she also agreed to remove the information on these accounts from all three credit bureaus. Then she invited my to reapply for a Chase CC.
Yesterday, I checked my credit history and saw that accounts were completely removed. Today I applied for Chase Continental 50k offer and was approved after calling in for a decision.
Dmitry
Persistence pays off!
