I know the whole thing is confusing - but for those of us who still need to keep the accounts open for 6 months so not to risk the miles being yawned back, here are a Summary I hope would help.

For accounts opened after Aug/Sept - yes, there were languages about the 6 months and that actually was also specifically mentioned by personal banker. Others have reported same data points in the sister thread residing in CO forum.

Here is the post on the sister thread in CO forum about the 6 months clause. Incidentally this poster has been arguing with me and a few others about the 6 months are not needed, UNTIL of course he got the same wordings for his account(s) from Chase as an Update.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/15423888-post260.html

Therefore, I say, close the account before 6 months are up at your own risk. Me, I would wait till the 6 months are passed with a week or 2, before closing them for good. Meanwhile I will count on my personal banker's words. I also feel that in the case if a fee is posted, the banker has the discretionary power to reverse at least the first such posting as a courtesy. Then she can downgrade the account back to Classic. I have no issue for that. I even offer to downgrade it now but she insisted there is no such need.

First of all, the personal Classic Checking is still free IF you do the DD of $500, or the 5 debit card transactions.

The $1,500 min balance is for Better Checking (or something like that), NOT the Premier Checking, which actually requires $15,000 combined balances from all eligible sources - quite a big difference - when one important 0 is omitted.

The Business Classic remains FREE regardless balance as long as you do the 5 debit card transactions each month.

All the above are stated in Chase own web page for anyone to see.

I dont see WHY one cannot downgrade to a Personal Classic, especially it is upgraded from that very same produce to begin with. Banks allow customers switch product types to meet customers need all the time. They normally find ways to work with you instead of "scaring" you off.

It does not mention any fee for a debit card. If a bank charges a monthly fee to have a debit card, I believe many would simply close their accounts because many people use their debit cards to do ATM withdrawals. I can see a Saving account, a MM Account may impose a monthly fee on a debit card. But for a demand deposit account, i.e. a Checking Account, an ATM card is almost a given. Again, such info is not published on Chase website.

The missing parts and that have caused lots of confusion is, on Chase website, it does not mention about any "Relationship" banking that would avoid monthly fee.

At the beginning some bankers even told some FTers as reported in the original CO bonus thread, that once the Business Classic and Personal Premier is linked, neither account requires any particular action to avoid monthly fee... This seems to be a mis-interpretation to me because the Premier Checking for most folks is a product of upgrade when a Business Classic is opened. Otherwise I seriously doubt anyone here would keep a $15,000 combined balance at Chase to have a Premier Checking... A $1,500 Better Checking - many of us would do if this means not to worry about the debit card transactions or DD.

There are though, several separately verified data points about 5 debit card transactions done on the Business Classic side would avoid monthly fee not only on the Business Classic but also the linked Premier Checking.

May be friedice could chime in on his / her conversation with Chase about no need to keep a $15,000 monthly balance.