Continental Credit Card Scam
 

Just encountered a scam by CO on their Chase branded mastercard. Chase raised the annual fee, so many users are choosing to cancel the card. However, when you call to cancel, the Chase Service Reps are making very sure to point out the following (& I am quoting from a call just 5 minutes ago): "we are obliged to tell you that when you cancel this card, you will be forfeiting ALL of the accumulated mileage points you have earned on this card from inception". That's right. Chase intends to "reclaim" 100% of all the points that users have earned with this card, for as long as they have used it, if & when a user EVER cancels it. What a scam! Chase can choose to arbitrarily & consistently raise the annual fee, & to hold on to mileage points "previously" earned, users are being held hostage to paying the higher fee, or lose mileage they ALREADY earned. Who makes these kind of decisions at CO HQ? Let CO customers be warned.

How is this possible?
 

What happens to those who have earned 100,000 miles and then cashed them in for a free ticket, leaving their OnePass balance at say, 15, for example (currently what mine's at). Are they going to have a negative balance when Chase tries to "reclaim" their miles?

Chase told me that about 6 months ago when I cancelled my card but so far my mileage is still in the account.

That can't be right.

Easier route: File a BBB complaint
 

You can file a complaint online with the Better Business Bureau.

This cancellation policy does not sound correct, and probably is not what Chase mgmt intended, but clearly some set of people at Chase are convinced of this policy.

Get the person's name, call center location, title, and mailing address, and then file a complaint with the BBB online. That should result in Chase responding to clarify their policy.

http://www.bbb.org/complaint.asp

It is easier than writing a letter to your state's atty general or other consumer watchdog organization.

-First in Class

.....

Wonder if they would put that in writing?

Chase has some of the most undisciplined, Attorney General-worthy phone reps you will ever meet in the credit card business. I have been slammed by these clowns into "credit protection plan" rackets I explicitly said I did not want, etc. They will say anything on the phone -- ANYTHING.

If they attempts to withdraw previously awarded miles from your Continental account it would be lawsuit city... you paid for and earned those miles already, fair and square.

If someone tells you Chase intends to try it, get their name, make notes of your conversation and call your state's Attorney General. They are committing wire fraud.

I bought the miles and If they take them away I should get my money back from all the stuff I bought for miles. Sounds fair?

The FTC takes a very dim view of behaviour like this. www.ftc.gov

Could it be they mean to say that ALL the miles that you would have earned from the latest transaction that hasnt been sent to CO will be lost. which is the case with MOST other cards. Thats why i pay it in full EXCEPT for the amount of the annual fee and then stop using the card and when the new statement comes in I call up and say "Hey i cancelled this card, see the amount outstanding-UNPAID from the statement b4 is the exact amount of the fee". They then go and wipe it all off and close the acct, with me holding onto any pts/miles that came from the purchases.
its good to know when your statement closes and stop using it a week B4 to make sure it wont roll onto another period, then its hard to say you cancelled it etc.
never had a prob with the above system, Ive dne it numerous times. This way they make their $$ and i get my miles/pts. A win/win for both.

2-3 years ago, I received an offer for the CO Chase cards. It said in the small prints that there were two "different" card names. One of them called something like "Continental Worldcard" was a "no fee" which still accumulated 1 mile per $.
So I filed the form while writting in bold that I only wanted the "no fee" version, and to cancel the application if otherwise.
Once I received the card (and w/o the word "worldcard" on it), I called them. After many contradicting stories, the rep finally told me that I did not "qualify" for the no fee version and I had to live with the regular version. Once I told her to cancel the card, I was told I would still have to pay the first year fee... (which never happened).

I was really not impressed with those deceptive tactics. CO doesn't need that kind of image projected by the Chase CC reps.

The scenario described in the initial post of this thread is totally and patently illegal unless the Cardmember Agreement that was in effect at the time of application clearly stated this penalty.

My father told me very bad things about Chase about 15 years ago. I have since avoided them completely. It looks like this was the proper decision. I have been doing really well with MBNA's World Points program.

I am bombarded with CO Chase offers and every once in a while I look at them seriously, but then I just laugh it off. Now I will not even bother looking at them.

Happened to me too
 

I called to cancel my card about 5 months ago and the rep threatened me with the same BS. What they are supposed to say is that any miles that have not yet posted to your CO FF account will be forfeited. They CANNOT remove any miles from your CO account once they have been deposited. Hope this helps!