Consumer complaint received 2023-03-26
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: GA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Charged too much interest

Complaint:
Hello! I received a promotion balance transfer check from Chase bank, which provides a XXXX APR period for 12 billing cycles and includes a 5 % fee. I put a balance of {$10000.00} on this check and immediately put an automatic payment schedule on my account for {$1000.00} a month for 10 months. Note, that the minimum payment for this balance for these months was maybe {$40.00} to {$60.00}. 

The problem begins in that this card is an Amazon Prime Visa Card, so I frequently use it for other purchases on Amazon. Most promotional periods enable all sums after the minimum payment to go to your highest interest balance, which in this case was the regular purchases made. None the less to avoid confusion I specifically called Chase to confirm this fact, the very first rep I spoke to said exactly as much. He said that as long as my balance over the minimum meets my purchases they will not incur interest. 

Next month, surprise! An interest charge! Was maybe just a few bucks that month so I called them just to clarify the terms, this time I got a different story. After using the promotional balance transfer offer, purchases made outside of that no longer receive a so called " interest-free '' period, meaning they start to accrue a daily interest balance as soon as the purchase posts, unless you pay off the entire balance in full. So their suggestion was, " don't use the card for anything while the promotion is going ''. 

However, they did inform me that if I made a payment as soon as those purchases post, that would cover the balance, it would not accrue the daily interest. So I did that and ... still an interest charge! 

I called again to get another explanation and I requested further escalation this time. Now I received yet another variation, that the interest is calculated at the end of the month based on the average *purchase* balance throughout the month, which again would suggest that if I paid enough to cover my purchase balances as soon as I make them, I should not pay interest. Or at least if I'm off by a day it should be a pretty small purchase charge.

The APR is variable but has averaged around XXXX APR, calculated at a daily rate. That means that a month should accrue roughly 1.5 % ( 18.74 % / 12 ), on a balance of {$500.00} that's {$7.00}, which is about what I pay. However... I regularly pay off the purchase balance after it posts, if I miss my post date by a few days, that should still only incur maybe .1 % or .15 %, more like XXXX cents to a dollar. 

So the result is, either Chase has been lying about how they actually calculate the interest rate or their system simply doesn't register mid-month payments as contributing to the purchase balance and they continue to accrue daily interest as though you didn't pay them. 

As an aside, Chase XXXX APR promotional payment plans work EXACTLY how you would expect them to and have no affect on purchases outside of the plan.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief