Guess Who's Eating Crow?

Several months ago the blogosphere was buzzing with anger and frustration from many of Chase's customers. One of my favorite PF bloggers wrote one of the best dear john letters ever written. If you've read Shtinky's letter, I bet you will agree with me that it was not AG Cuomo, it was Shtinky who single-handedly caused Chase to reverse their decision (Hi Shtinky, I told you it was an awesome letter;-).

Click here for the link to the story or read below:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed under pressure from New York state to stop charging a new $10 monthly fee to credit cardholders and agreed to refund the proceeds collected since the fee was first levied in January, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

Over 184,000 JPMorgan Chase cardholders will receive $4.4 million in refunds as a result of the agreement, Cuomo said in a statement.

Chase Bank, one of the biggest U.S. credit card issuers, said in a separate statement it will reimburse $3.3 million. There was no immediate explanation for the difference in figures.

Cuomo said the bank had offered promotional rates for several years for balance transfers or other loans put onto their Chase credit card accounts. The offers made clear a one-time transaction fee would be charged for this promotional rate, Cuomo said in the statement. But last November, the bank sent letters to over 300,000 consumers, saying it would start charging a flat $10 fee per month.

Following consumer complaints, the attorney general demanded that Chase cancel the charges and refund the fees collected. Last Thursday, Chase agreed to comply with the demand, Cuomo said.

However, the bank said it decided to withdraw the fee based on cardholders' feedback.

With U.S. credit card defaults at their highest level in at least 20 years, credit card lenders are trying to protect themselves by tightening credit limits, raising standards and closing accounts. They have also been slashing rewards, raising interest rates and increasing fees to cushion losses.