I called in yesterday to the recon line to close my Continental and switch the credit line over to a new Sapphire card, but because I had an $8 balance (it was paid the day prior) on the Chase side, they insisted on closing my Southwest card, no big deal. Until I realized too late the card had only been open a few (<6) months.
I hope there are no repercussions.
Although honestly, I could care less about the cards.

Hopefully this post won't disappear too…. This is a great reminder for us to actually use these cards beyond their minimum spend requirement. This is a long-term game so it's best to keep everyone happy. Hat's off to Rick for posting this!

I would complain to the appropriate regulatory agency. I would guess it is the Office of the Comptroller of Currency.

I dislike banks because credit unions usually don't terminate relationships unless the customer caused the credit union loss due to not paying their bills.

In addition to your comments about using the card past sign-up bonus, Rick, I recommend establishing at least one no fee (possibly more than one) Chase card which can be used as a "backup" card when you have already reached spending bonuses and are waiting to make the next application or round of applications. Here are a few which I have found worthwhile:

Chase Freedom Visa – 5% Rewards on Rotating Quarterly Categories, 1% everything else

Chase British Petroleum Visa – 5% Rewards up to $25/month on all purchases at BP fuel stations (gas AND convenience store), 2% on non-fast food restaurants, 1% everything else

Chase Disney Rewards Visa – This one is more for the perks at Disney Parks – including daily free VIP character photos at Epcot or Disney's California Adventure; Rewards are all at 1% level

Chase Amazon.com Visa – Offers 3% on Amazon.com purchases, 2% on gas station & pharmacy purchases, 1% everything else

Several of these cards even come with modest sign up bonuses. I got targeted for a $200 Disney Gift Card on the Disney Rewards, which meant $200 off of Disneyland admission that we were planning to pay a few months after that anyway.

Great post. I think this should almost serve as a wake-up call to some of us. Sure, we all love getting new credit cards with great sign-up bonuses, but what often gets overlooked is what happens to the card after you’ve met the spending requirements and have acquired the bonus. The banks are taking a pretty hefty loss up front when they give you these bonuses, and when you don’t use them, they are not making their money back. If this continues, I’m sure whoever is doing this will get flagged and reviewed.

I had the same thing happen to me about 5 years ago. Last year, I put in a complaint with a bank watchdog org (Can't remember the name). The result was that I was immediately contacted by the Exec team from Chase. After explaining that I am always denied on my new CC application with the "due to previous unsatisfactory relationship with the bank" reason, the lady did some research, contacted me back a couple of times by phone, but only to say that it was Chase's choice to decide if they wanted to do business with me or not (duh…).
So the exec was useless as I did not learn anything more, nor has the situation changed.
So in my experience, once you're blacklisted, it is permanent.

There's almost certainly more to this story. My guess is that there was a problem with his credit report, such as a late payment to another issuer. With several message boards and thousands of active posters, we've had heard more about this if it was a legitimate concern for those of us who pay all of our bills on time.

He refied with another bank, so Chase sent him a message. Makes sense, even if it's unfair.

Along those lines, I switched my energy delivery provider to a local company, then the main electric company (national grid) slammed me several months later with a "two month security deposit," to the tune of $4,000, even though we've never been late in the past 40 years!

This is very insightful information. It sort of brings us back to the question of how often to apply, and what to do with cards that have no annual fees? In this person's story, was it the closure of the mortgage account that caused them to close all the cards, or was it inactivity in a majority of the 9 open cards?

I'd guess it was the refi that did it, though of course we can't know any more than what the writer provided to Rick. Still, I do try to use my cards a little bit regularly – even those that I don't intend to keep more than a year. $75 or so a month maybe as a minimum on average. I figure it can't hurt just in case.

what happens if you have a balance with 0% intro APR on the cards when they do this. Does it become due immediately?

I can't tell you how much I hate Chase, they closed once my CC for no reason (FICO 780+, I think my credit history of 5 years at the time was not enough for them) and after 1 year when I applied for a promotion they denied me for "unsatisfactory relationship with them"! I called just like you did and pleaded, but trust me talking to the wall is easier.So they close your acct, and then they deny you all future credit applications. My Bottom line after this: NEVER DO ANY BUSINESS WITH CHASE EVEN IF THEY OFFER 1 M POINTS!!!!

Horses? Zebras? Who knows about that? I'm pretty sure we have a troll, though. From my perspective as an amateur travel hacker, "NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH…." comments generally indicate a troll, particularly for one of the more prominent corporations providing massive signup bonuses.