Canceling the Chase Payment Protector

Signing up for the Payment Protector is very easy. When activating my new card, the phone rep asked if he could sign me up for it, insisting that I’ll be send info in the mail which needs to be signed before it takes effect. I said No. He asked again. I said No. He re-explained the benefits of the plan and emphasized that it could be canceled within 30 days for a full refund, no need to make a decision now, you’ll be sent the agreement in the mail which you’ll need to sign and return. Again, I said No. He re-explained and asked again. Gosh, these people are persistent. I wonder if this is how AOL made all their money. I wonder if Chase could survive without doing this. (I want to hope the answer is yes, and that they would actually be even more successful without these hard selling tactics. But that’s probably not the case.)

I muttered, Uh, okay.

chasepaymentprotector.gifAnd that was it, I was enrolled. I never saw anything in the mail, I never agreed to anything else. I never said the word “yes” and never gave any other confirmations. Not to mention the confusing fact that it actually charges you based on your statement balance every month, regardless of whether you carry the balance. That means if you use your card at all, you will always be charged the 89 cents per $100. Fortunately, that’s less than the rewards amount, which ranges from 1% to 3%, depending on the purchase. But there are limits and restrictions on the rewards. And 89 cents (0.89%) is not much less than 1%, which is what I get for all payments to USC, such as at the bookstore for textbooks, tuition, etc.

So I called to cancel. I meant to do so last weekend, but conveniently, the payment protector number is limited to business hours, not the 24/7 customer care they like to trumpet, and on Saturdays, they’re open for a couple hours… Eastern time. That meant they were closed already. I was about to give up and send them an online message, which would probably have ended up nowhere, when I realized I should call the number on the back of the card. So I called.

What an adventure: the phone system makes it sound like you’re going to get somewhere (“Press 3 if you would like info on a transaction on your statement, you don’t recognize a charge, or you would like to cancel an automatic payment”), but, of course, it just tells me a little info and doesn’t actually do anything. After weaving through the menus several times, I finally found a point where it said to press 6 (or some equally obscure number) to speak with an “advisor.” Bingo, I’ve found a live human.

A very friendly Nick answered and I told him I’d like to cancel and get a refund, as it has been less than 30 days. No problem, he assured me. First, he tried to sell me an ID protector plan, where they’d check my credit report for identity theft or something like that. No, thank you. Alright, he said… I would just have to be put on hold and transferred to the right department. Fine.

Amy Cumpton answered, apparently totally unaware of my conversation with Nick. I told her again, and she said No problem… I’ll just transfer you to the Payment Protector linewait! “Would they be able to take care of this right away?” I inquired.

“Yes…” she said, and then considered. “Well, let me check if they’re open right now.” (They’re not, I thought to myself.) “Sorry, they are closed right now. I can go ahead and take care of it right now.” Thank you, Amy! (Why didn’t she just do this in the first place?)

A few seconds later and she confirmed to me that it had been cancelled and I’d be getting a refund.

I’m blogging this partly to share the story, the part to remind me to check the statement to verify that I am indeed refunded the 50 cents I was charged for the Plan last month.

P.S. Here’s a site with comments containing insightful info about the Payment Plan: Rip Off Report.com

If you’re interested in Check Point Security Administration, for the 156-315, not only 642-432 is important but 642-444 is required as well. The eligibility criteria for 642-453 is similar, too.

65 Responses to “Canceling the Chase Payment Protector”

  1. jean kirshenbaum says:

    James – Do not give up on this. After persisting, I did get my money back-$5800! am also participating in a class action suit that you may want to get in on. Contact : [email protected] (Dan Bryden, a partner at Springer Lang in Minneapolis) about it. He will be filing the suit within the next few months. I just sent him all my documentation re: my experience with Chase, including past statements, etc. If/when you call Chase customer Service, and I suggest that you do, document who you spoke with and the date and time of the call. Do the same with Payment Protector. Also, get a confirmation number when you cancel. Download all your past statements from the Chase website so that you have a record. After making many many calls, I finally reached a customer service who authorized a refund – after I threatened legal action and mentioned that there are more than 300 complaints against Chase on ripoffreport.com

  2. Michael says:

    In my case it was worse than in yours. I never authorized anything, did not even speak with a representative about this and they still charged me US$6 on the card this month. I called Chase and talked with 2 different people that could not cancel the service. I have to call Monday. I think I’ll report them to the BBB.

  3. jean kirshenbaum says:

    Forget the Better Business Bureau. Get in touch with the Controller of the Currency: OMBD Customer Assistance [[email protected]]
    We handle a large volume of Emails. Since you have been assigned a case number, we request that you communicate with us through fax (713-336-4301), phone (800-613-6743) or regular mail.

    Comptroller of the Currency

    Customer Assistance Group

    1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3450

    Houston, TX 77010-9050

    We do not process complaints by Email. Future email communications from you concerning these issues will be appropriately filed but will not generate a response.

  4. carol says:

    Our experience today could have been written by any of the above comments..this is class action suit material against Chase Bank. This Payment Protection Plan was added to our account in Jan 2009 without our knowledge and certainly without our permission and our attempts today to get information as to how this so called plan was added to our account and attempts to get it cancelled and refunded as a fraudalent activity was met with the same results as mentioned within the blog. ALso when I attempted to file a dispute on the charges with Chase Credit Card I failed with a notation that Chase will not dispute third party charges..aren’t all charges in fact “third party”..does this mean that Chase Credit Card is in cahoots with this so called Credit Card Protection Plan and as such a direct party to the fraud?

    I plan to add this as a link to the Arizona Attorney Generals office to support my complaint against Chase Bank for fraudulent activity

  5. jean kirshenbaum says:

    Carol-
    I urge you to participate in the class action suit being pursued by Sprenger Lang. Write to [email protected] (Dan Bryden, a partner at Springer Lang in Minneapolis) I have spoken with him and he is dedicated to this suit against Chase. The more information he has, the more powerful the suit. Have you been able to cancel the PPP? If so, get a confirmation number and the name and date of the person you spoke to. Also, follow my advice above and make a complain to the Controller of the Currency [see my earlier post.] Although I did get a refund of more than $5,000, I am still livid about this fraud being perpetrated by Chase. I even got my bank manager to cancel her Chase credit card and I tell everyone I know to do that. Best of luck.
    Jean

  6. Roger says:

    I never knowingly authorized a Payment Protector program, but Chase customer support stated that I did. I’m in the same boat as the rest on this site.

    I closed my account immediately. My first request to close the account was avoided, and the second got through. There are a lot of credit card companies out there. No need for this hassle. I’ll never do business with Chase again.

  7. EJ says:

    You know what guys, I have Chase Payment Protector, if you know how to use it, you’ll get a lot of savings! Just read the Welcome Kit and check for any qualifying event that you can use to defer your payment and that’s it! I have 29.99%F APR and now I am not paying for anything bec. my payment is on hold, I was hospitalized but though just overnight and the bank allowed me to defer may payments. I am enjoying like 0%F APR now and pay my dues when I have the money for it, I’m just happy that I can still use my card up to my access line, and that’s for two years! Ü don’t be so bitter… it’s a helpful program indeed, if you just know how to use it!

  8. jean says:

    EJ-
    The point is not whether it’s a good or bad program, the point is that if you are paying for something you didn’t order or ask for, then that is fraud. If I hate chocolate ice cream but someone puts it in front of me at a restaurant when I didn’t order it, I don’t want it and I sure as hell don’t want to have to pay for it. Even if you think it tastes good. Got it? I don’t think you do.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Here’s the input of someone who works for the PPP:

    First of all there’s 2 departments when you call 888-314-4371: Benefits Activations (opt 2) & Enrollment and Cancellations (opt 3). Enrollment and Cancellations will hereto be referred to by the internal name of “CCO” (Contact Center Operations) for my own damn pleasure. I work for the former. I’ll definitely admit that CCO is a bunch of sharks. I’ve determined, from what customers tell me, that they just outright lie. Here’s how it typically goes:

    Customer calls Chase: “I can’t make payments because I lost my job”.
    Chase Rep: “Holy shit really? SIGN UP FOR CPP!”
    ::Transfer to CCO::
    CCO Rep: “This is the best thing since sliced bread! Unemployed? Pay 0.89 per 100 of balance and you can be interest free for 24 months! Great! I signed you up call back in 30 days to activate the benefits!”

    You have no idea how many irate customers I have to deal with because they got signed up for the plan AFTER they got unemployed, which we do not cover. Also the waiting 30 days to activate? Bullshit. If you become unemployed 2 days after enrolling you can activate benefits. (Just a side-note: when we deny you and you’re confused because CCO lied to you… don’t get pissed at us… the pissier you are the less likely we’ll help you ninja-cheat the system)

    But instead of confirming what you already know (that CCO is a department of douchebags) let me tell you something useful: how to completely cheat the system:

    First of all for the different “life event” benefits we don’t check any of them. The most common and easiest to get away with is moving benefits. (Because, honestly, how many times can you get divorced, have a kid, get married, retire, or experience a natural disaster?) Just from calling us and saying “I moved on such-and-such a date” we’ll give you the 4 months of deferment. (Just note there’s a 30 day waiting period between the small benefits like life events which there’s no getting around). But that’s just cheating the system for amateurs.

    The best and easiest way to cheat the system is with Unemployment benefits. Yes, we DO periodically request unemployment verification. However, we accept either evidence that you’re recieving State Unemployment Benefits OR that you’re registered with a job search agency. What counts as a J/S Agy? Sure your local unemployment office would count… sure your local union would count… but we also accept online registrations with sites like monster.com and careerbuilder.com. We literally accept a print-out of a log-in page on Monster.com as long as your name and a current date appear on it. We don’t verify anything beyond that. We don’t contact your former employer, or anyone else. We go by what you say.

    So if you’re enrolled in this, and you call in and say that you were employed for at least 90 consecutive days, for at least 30 hours per week, and that you lost your job after your enrollment date we will activate the benefits. And when we request unemployment verification just send in that print-out of that log-in page and you’re golden for those 24 months.

    Hope this helps. Honestly as soon as I get a new job lined up I’m gonna be out of there like nobody’s business.

    Also just a comical side-note: We’re obligated to show sympathy. If we don’t we get marked down. So when the rep tells you “I’m sorry to hear about your unemployment” he/she’s killing 2 birds with 1 stone: expressing the obligated sympathy and killing a little time to mask the slow system while it brings up your information.

    Also @ EJ: Sounds like you might have gotten duped. 1 Overnight stay in a hospital is just 1 month of deferment. You can only get the 2 years if you’re still disabled after you come out of the hospital. And you’d need to be continuously disabled and continually providing doctor’s statements showing so.

  10. Charles Hodges says:

    I was enrolled in this automatically and I never said “yes” or “uh huh” or anything that could be seen as consent. I also never received anything in the mail. The “payment protection” office is closed and the other reps won’t help me.

  11. Jomy says:

    I have the same issue with chase CPP. I never knew I was enrolled. I make automatic payments to the credit card. I do all the payments online. My bad, I only flash through the statements. Finally, couple of days ago, it caught my attention. Now, I want cancel it. It seems really hard. I called them few times. I got no option to cancel the CPP. Finally, once I got through the cancel option. I hear an announcement, (not sure human or machine) “This Tom somebody, we are having Technical difficalties, please call back after one hour”. I tried after two hours, same crap. What a shame!

    • jean says:

      Jomy-
      If you review some of the existing posts, you will find some remedies, as well as an email for a law firm that has filed a class action suit against Chase. Your problem can be fixed. I did it. So can you. See my previous posts. Good luck.
      Jean

  12. Alynn says:

    Had this on my Chase card and when I inquired about it after losing my job realized that you had to file paperwork that is signed by the unemployment office or an officer from that entity, we don’t have a physical office in Nevada (Las Vegas) to have this type of service. I had asked them this on the phone and it was confirmed with the paperwork they sent me, so 5 years of paying for this scamful service I requested to cancel it, they told me I could have a free month without paying, did i want to exercise that, I said no…finally after many refusals they cancelled. Next statement comes, no Payment Protector charge BUT, they raised my interest rates on my card an additional 5.5 percent and on my Wamu (now Chase) card as well during that time. I am completely floored at their predatory practices and am trying to pay these balances off and say goodbye. I had never not paid my bills, always paid more than the minimum for years and with one inquiry about the payment protector I was paying for gets me a rise in interest charges? Coincidence? Just shameful.

  13. jean says:

    Alyn-
    I have responded to many of the comments on this site. You should contact the law firm that has filed a suit against Chase:
    Contact : [email protected] (Dan Bryden, a partner at Springer Lang in Minneapolis)
    There is recourse.
    Jean

  14. Chao says:

    Hi Jean, I have just got my student plus 1 credit card from Chase(within one month) and I am now reading this post about that bad payment protector plan… I am wondering if I was enrolled in this thing as I did not pay fully attention when activating my card via phone. Is that the only way to find it out is to contact with Chase? Thanks!

  15. Patrick Bryant says:

    I’m a fraud investigator and licensed PI in California, and I got scammed by Chase Payment Protector!

    The same as all of you, I went through an enormous amount of effort months ago to get the parasitic charge taken off my bill and the “service” discontinued… and then later… it reappeared on my account.

    Chase is running me through the gauntlet to get the past charges taken off my bill, and they refuse to handle the matter as a fraudulent charge (since it’s Chase themselves who are committing the fraud). Tonight, they shuttled me around to seven agents in 30 minutes, and never agreed to take the past charges off my bill.

    As far as I’m concerned, this is a criminal matter. It’s called “fraud” and if you or I did something like this, we’d be sitting in jail.

  16. Blue Bamboo says:

    I was shocked when I first saw this 1% charge in my December 2009 statement. I went on-line I found out many other people got the same fraud. I got people advises, called the number 1-888-314-4371 and just waited (and didn’t press any other button) until I got a human representative. It didn’t take long, within 1 minute. I didn’t give him a shity chance to do any selling, just raised the voice at him and insisted to request having the fucking payment protector thing removed and get me the reimbursement immediately. I repeated 3 times and he said: “OK, ok, I will have it removed, here is the confirmation number,…, on this date this month. Thank you and good bye”.

    So good luck to you all.

  17. jean says:

    To Ran:

    Chase gave me the refund, not payment protector.

  18. Chelle says:

    I can understand being pissed when you didn’t sign up for the plan. I’ve been able to use the benefit a few times though. Each time that I call to cancel, they find a reason to give me the beneftis. Twice now. lol

  19. jean says:

    It’s nice that you find value in the PPP. I for one like to have a choice in what I buy, and control over my decisions. I think that high-end health insurance has value, too, but I’d hate to charge for it on my doctor’s invoices if I didn’t sign up for it. I don’t like to pay for services I didn’t buy, no matter how beneficial. And it’s sneaky, deceptive and fraudulent for Chase to to this. Two class action suits are pending on this issue, so I am not the only person who feels this way. You probably work for Chase.

  20. Xuesheng says:

    I signed up with United Mileage Plus card which is administrator by chase. I never authorized the Payment Protecotor Plan. On my first bill, I saw the charge by Payment Protector (18883144371). I called chase credit card to take off the charge. None of the chase representative give me a strait answer. First, they were going to transfer me, the phone ended. Second time, they told me computer needs to reset, please call back 15mins. Third time, the person tell me to cal Payment Protector. I asked is Payment Protector associated with Chase. He said no. It is a third party vendor! Then how can they charge on my card! OMG. What a lie. I see class action lawsuit against Chase Credit Card… Any one know a big shot lawyer

  21. Xuesheng says:

    I signed up with United Mileage Plus card which is administrator by chase. I never authorized the Payment Protecotor Plan. On my first bill, I saw the charge by Payment Protector (18883144371). I called chase credit card to take off the charge. None of the chase representative give me a strait answer. First, they were going to transfer me, the phone ended. Second time, they told me computer needs to reset, please call back 15mins. Third time, the person tell me to cal Payment Protector. I asked is Payment Protector associated with Chase. He said no. It is a third party vendor! Then how can they charge on my card! OMG. What a lie. I see class action lawsuit against Chase Credit Card… Any one know a big shot lawyer

  22. jeanius says:

    This lawyer is pursuing a class action suit:

    [email protected]

    Dan Bryden
    Sprenger & Lang PLLC
    310 Fourth Avenue South
    Suite 600
    Minneapolis, MN 55415

  23. Tom L says:

    I just discovered I’ve had charges for this service since THEY signed me up. I spoke to a customer service rep who attempted to get me to activate some of my benefits. I asked how much this service has cost me so far. It was, for me a large $$. There is a balance on this particular card but is rarely used for purchases. So I never checked the statements for charges- Just made on-line payments. Shame on me.

    He asked how he could help me. I requested no benefits and a refund. He said “that’s not gonna happen”.

    Then I informed him that my next call was going to the Office of our State Attorney General (who I mentioned by name) for consumer fraud. I was put on hold while the case was brought to a supervisor. Then given a cancellation number for a refund. We’ll see how long that takes. What they are not likely to do is refund is the interest I’ve paid to carry this amount.

    Chase had been pursuing my business accounts. This is a deal breaker.

  24. selpats says:

    After reading the article and all the comments, I decided to go to one of the Chase branch today to cancel my CPP. I do have an account in Chase, and I talked to one of the banker that I want to opt out from this service. I did not claim for refund that I have already paid in the past. He immediately picked up the phone and called somebody and told someone that one of his customer wants to cancel the service. It appeared that the person on the other end of the phone was telling him that they have been receiving numerous calls regarding this issue. He then turned to me and asked if I had ever consented to start this service. I told that I have never asked for this service and the charge started to pop up out of nowhere. He got off the phone and told me that the CPP will be terminated within 28 days. My suggestion is if you have a bank account, not just credit card, but a true account with Chase, then don’t bother making the phone call and just walk into one of the local branches and have one of your personal banker talk to the credit card company on your behalf. It took me only 2 minutes to terminate the service as long as you don’t ask for the refunds that you have already paid for CPP in the past.

  25. Jeff says:

    I recently canceled this service by calling the number above and found the process to be relatively painless. The hours are now 8am to 10pm eastern, which seems pretty reasonable. The automated system had me enter my account number, zip code and then a person asked for my address to authenticate. The rep was very polite and gave me no hassle at all. The call took less than four minutes total. I will give Chase credit for apparently listening to complaints and making at least the cancellation easier.

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