Buzz
Have you ever hoped your credit card debt would disappear? Well, it might have actually happened for Chase customers in Canada, but there’s a catch—you had to be one of their previous Canadian clients.
In the previous year, Chase exited the Canadian market and shut down accounts for holders of its two Visa cards—one partnered with Amazon and another with Marriott. According to NBC News, Chase initially instructed affected customers to continue paying their bills.
However, just last week, these same Canadian clients logged in to find their balances had been wiped clean. Their debts were gone. A Chase representative confirmed this action to The New York Times, explaining that after deciding to exit Canada, 'A further business decision was made earlier this year to forgive all outstanding balances in order to complete the exit.'
In short, people were moving too slowly with their snowball strategies and other approaches, and Chase eventually lost patience.
CBC News spoke to a satisfied customer, Paul Adamson, who received a letter from Chase informing him that his debt on his old Amazon.ca rewards card was completely cleared. That meant no more payments on his $6,157 balance.
Unfortunately, U.S. cardholders likely won’t experience the same fortune, as JPMorgan Chase remains the largest bank in the country and doesn’t seem to be shutting down any operations anytime soon. But perhaps Canada’s windfall will remind you to always open mail from your credit card company—you might just find some good news.
