Sapphire and Hurricane Harvey
Houston folks need to be real careful with your Sapphire Card.
Chase has tightened the screws on us. First they have a policy that states that if you're 1 second over thirty days, they cut off your card. Then, they make you wait up to 2 business days to turn it back on after payment has been received.
In my case, I paid them twice in July, but unfortunately my second payment was a day too early for the August bill cycle. Then Harvey hit and the post office, internet, and cell phone service have been sporadic. And lets be clear, we have other problems going on right now. Banks have been closed. The post office isn't running.
I have over 300,000 dollars of historical spend on this card, rarely carry a balance, and have a credit limit multiples higher than my balance. My credit is excellent. I have a long history of paying them on time and paying off balances.
But because I went 1 second over 30 days since the last payment (or in my case, just paid a payment greater than the minimum balance but less than the total a couple of days too early). Chase's response...just shut off the card. This could have happened for a variety of reasons to anyone. People forget, every once in a while. You'd think there'd be some sort of grace period. I'm going to seriously question my continued use of this card, if that's how they operate. They have set their credit tolerances WAY too tight.
If you think you've paid your bill and it gets lost in the mail....card suspended. Hurricane or other natural disaster? card suspended. I paid them in the last part of July. It is still AUGUST
That card is marketed heavily to persons in the Houston area. People need to rely on that card during this emergency time.
After an hour of arguing, and offering to pay the balance right now (they originally said it would take several days to get it turned back on - even in the case of immediate payment), the third manager I talked to was able to turn the card back on so my other payments didn't go unpaid.
I'm really appalled with Sapphire right now. I seriously question the usefulness of a card that would get suspended for such a small time frame, especially in a natural disaster.