I've been a Chase customer since 1981 when they were a happy being a NY based bank. Since then, they have taken over everything in sight. The final two mergers, JP Morgan and Bank One, have turned them into an obnoxious, FU type of behemoth with more tricks, twists, hidden fees, surprises and gotcha's than MR.

Their web site and customer service is horrendous, and now the have a near monopoly on the co-branded credit cards including my favorites, Marriott and Southwest.

Recent tricks they have pulled on me (and charged multiple fees because of it) include:

1 - Preventing Microsoft Money from automatically downloading credit card transactions without notice under the guise of "security" although it’s been OK since 1994. Instead they really want to drive traffic to their web site in order to sell more "products and services". Hard to pay your bill on time when your few transactions don’t download and you think there is no activity that month.

2 – Offering large cash advances at a teaser rate of 5% (plus 3% transaction fees) but discovering that annual fees and other transactions now incur an 18% finance charge calculated daily. When I tried to pay off the 18% balance, I was told that “I needed to be educated” that payments are applied to the lowest interest balances first and the only way to stop the usurious rate was to pay off the entire balance.

3 - Making you jump through hoops in order to pay your credit card at the web site. I had 5 other cards sent up for "auto payment" from my checking account already. Got a new card and had to go through an entire payment process again. When it didn't work right, they turned a $39 annual fee charge into $116 overnight. It took months of threats to close every single account I have with them to get it reversed.

MR would be well served to change their credit card affiliation. Obnoxious marketing is just the beginning.