A fellow reader just got the axe a few days ago and let me share the story with you guys so we all learn some lessons together. First off, he found out he was axed when he got a notification that his Freedom was removed from Chase Pay. When he logged on, all of his accounts were closed. He called up Chase and these were the reasons they gave him for the shutdown:
- 15 new accts over the past year [with various banks]
- 34 open accounts
- Too many open Chase accts (I had 5 at the time, plus two Biz accts which are ok for now)
He says he had no anonymous payments and didn’t cycle or abuse Ink or anything like that. Just a normal user who also had been churning a lot.
Later in the day, they eventually got his Ink card as well. He says his checking account is still alive, but I’m sure that’ll be closed as well. The only question remains is whether they’ll go after his household (high likelihood.)
Lessons Learned
The biggest lesson learned is – you had better ask yourself if applying for that new Chase card is worth the risk of eyes on your account and potential shutdown. I think what got him was the too many new accounts (flight risk,) so if you’ve been churning that aggressively, you may not want to apply for a Chase card. Be safe out there folks.
I got axed today as well after opening the Iberia card
Did you call in to get that Iberia approved or was it approved without any additonal contact beyond your app submission? Just trying to figure out if it’s those reconsideration or hurry up calls that puts eyes on your accounts and can lead to these shutdowns. What’s your 5/24 look like?
I think the real tell is how many closed accts n the last yr did he have?
These banks really aren’t that smart. They don’t understand what encouraged behavior is.
If they didn’t offer giant “intro” offers while at the same time, do NOTHING to reward loyalty and longevity, then this would not happen.
Not shocking… reward people for loyalty and for staying with the card for years, not this introductory crap.
Since card-churning abuse has long since gone main stream, banks are obviously paying much more attention to that behavior. So if you’re still acting like it’s 2010 and getting cards at more than a 1 per month rate you’re just begging for unwanted attention. (And with all the new app restrictions banks have instituted, I’m not sure how anyone who has been doing this for more than a couple years can churn at that rate now anyway.
I think the flight risk analysis is likely the cause. Makes me wonder what avg. age of accounts was and tenure with Chase?
I guess I don’t want Avios that badly after all.