Chase Could Close Your Account If You Reject the Arbitration Clause
Chase re-introduced an arbitration clause in 2019 that forces credit card customers to use arbitration instead of court to resolve payment disputes. The issuer made the change in the terms of almost all credit card agreements. It had been a decade since the bank agreed to drop the clause from contracts as part of an antitrust lawsuit settlement. Checking and savings accounts also include provisions for forced arbitration.
Chase customers worried at the time, what the change could mean and if they would be able to keep their Chase accounts if they rejected the bank’s new arbitration clause. But, the credit card issuer clarified that wouldn’t be the case. It even told Bloomberg that it wouldn’t happen.
But it turns out that’s not always true, based on one report on Reddit. A redditor says that he was “approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred” and sent the required letter to opt-out of the arbitration clause. Chase’s responded by just closing his credit card account. He then called to reopen his account and agree to the arbitration clause, but was told that “the account could not be reactivated when it was closed due to rejecting the arbitration agreement.” The only way to get the card again would be to reapply. Phone reps couldn’t even provide any information about bonus eligibility, due to the closed account.
Conclusion
This could be an isolated case, but it is still extreme to close an account when the cardholders opts out of the arbitration clause. It is even worse when this is done without any warning, or after the bank has publicly stated that it would not take any action against cardmembers who opt-out of this clause.
Let use know if you have encountered any similar issues with Chase after option out of the arbitration clause!
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