English born Janet Gawtry knew she had to go back home. Her mother suffers from dementia and she wanted to visit while her mother still remembered her.
Last February she returned to England for a 9 week visit. When she left, she had to make sure her bills were taken care of. Janet even arranged to have her WAMU Visa card automatically paid during her travels.
“Then I got an email that it was going to transition from WAMU to Chase in March.”
She claims Chase never notified her of any changes to her account. “The payment date went from the end of the month to the 25th.” As a result Janet's automatic payments were all late.
The new company, Chase, welcomed Janet home with late fees and penalties. Janet says she spent the summer writing and calling the customer service line meanwhile the charges and late fees compounded into over $400 dollars in penalties.
“I was furious. I was on the phone about two hours with one girl,” she says
Consumer Credit Counselling's Linda Pichler says it is a tough time to be a credit card holder. "Interest rates are increasing or their fee structure is different."
When there's a merger, experts advise questioning the new company about changes that may be coming. In Linda's case, we emailed Chase the details of her account.
A spokesperson responded. “There was a misunderstanding between Ms. Gawtrey and Chase regarding her payments. This had nothing to do with the transition from WAMU to Chase.....as a gesture of good will to Ms. Gawtrey, Chase refunded the late fees....”
