Chase warning customers about potential account shutdowns

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Over the last month or so, I’ve covered multiple stories about banks getting more stringent and cracking down where they can. American Express has made no bones about being severe in cracking down and shutting down customer accounts. However, it seems like Chase is also up to something. While I don’t think it’s close to Amex’s approach, it’s something that one should definitely take notice of.

Also read: How Amex determines that you’ve abused their referral program

Also Read: How to prevent getting shut down by American Express

Chase Letters

Doctor of Credit reports that Chase is sending letters to certain customers warning them about refraining from the ‘misuse’ of their rewards program.

Chase has sent out letters to some cardholders stating that they have been misusing the rewards program and if it continues all Chase credit card accounts would be closed. It seems that people are receiving this letter because they have gone over the maximum number of referrals you’re allowed to receive on a single card (5 in this case). There are a number of ways to go over this maximum, but I won’t go into detail here as you can see this is a bad idea and can lead to account shut down. The letter in question can be found here.

Analysis

Chase is sending letters to customers for misusing their referral program. Chase’s referral links are intended for a specific Chase product. For example, if you have the Chase Ink Preferred Card, you can refer up to 5 friends. Once you finish referring 5 friends, you reach the cap and will not receive additional points. Some people had figured out a way to bypass this and replicate these links for other cards. By doing so, they were essentially referring people to Chase cards that they didn’t have personally.

The Pundit’s Mantra

I’ve written multiple times about how the miles and points game is changing. Banks are leveraging technology even better in order to weed out bad actors. Given this latest incident, it’s always prudent to play safe. In simple terms, Chase doesn’t allow cross referrals. If you intend to refer a chase card, please play by the rules. It would be best that you refer a Chase card that you currently hold.

Also Read: Amex cracking down, so don’t poke the bear

I’m not at all surprised that Chase is cracking down on such activity. If you’ve done this before or intend to do this, this is clearly a warning sign. It would be best to just play by the rules and keep racking up more miles and points. As I always say, why risk a shut down by a major card issuer?

Did you receive one of these letter? What do you think about Chase’s most recent effort to crack down on bad activity? Let us know in the comments section.

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