Chase rate hikes subject of class-action suit

Chase did a very sneaky thing to Barry Woldman, an average American from Illinois. A year ago, the bank told him his credit card interest rate was going to go up, and if he wanted to opt out of that increase, he'd have to cancel his account. Last March, Woldman did just that and continued to pay off the balance of the closed account. In November, he was shocked to find that the interest rate on his remaining balance had skyrocketed from 11.99% to 17.99%.

This happened despite his receiving a letter from Chase confirming that his account was closed and he would continue being charged the original interest rate. Chase's reasoning: Woldman failed to respond to a notice Chase sent in August telling him that he needed to close his account if he wanted to avoid a rate hike. Never mind that Woldman's account was already closed.