Is the Free Money Worth it?

December 29, 2006 6:51 PM

I'm being offered free money to try a Chase service out. Should I take it?

I just got a $20 check from Chase. The catch is that by cashing it I am automatically enrolled in the "Chase Payment Protector Plan". What the plan does is completely irrelevant to me, I would never use the service. They claim I can cancel in 30 days and get my money back, thus giving me a free $20 bucks. (and even if I didn't get the first month's payment back, I'd still make about $18-$19 bucks overall)

If anyone here has done this before, I'd like to hear about your experience. Remembering to cancel it in 30 days won't be a problem, but how difficult is it to cancel? Can I just do it online? Do I have to call someone? Were they AOL drones that would never let you cancel? Or were they fairly reasonable about it?

posted by icebourg to Work & Money (9 answers total)

You have to call them to cancel, but I've read on FatWallet and other places of people who do that with all their card companies and make a fair amount of money at it.

They're hoping you either carry a big balance one month or forget to cancel or both. Generally if you have no balance on the card, there's no cost for those plans, but they're pretty worthless other than the incentives they send you. ;)
posted by wierdo at 7:10 PM on December 29, 2006

I did it with Chase. Of course they made it as difficult as possible to cancel. Unlike all other interactions with them, they required that I call to cancel rather than e-mail. Then the department was closed when I tried to call at the hours they suggested. With this information they reluctantly canceled via e-mail.

I do not trust Chase, and I only did this because it was for a credit card I never used; therefore if I couldn't cancel, I wouldn't have to pay anything anyway (terms of deal may have changed).
posted by grouse at 7:10 PM on December 29, 2006

AOL drones that would never let you cancel

And I've never had any problem with AOL-type drones, either, anywhere. The key is when they ask you why you are canceling, just refuse to give a reason and say you would like the account closed. Giving a reason is only seen as an invitation to a negotiation. If you are polite but firm, it doesn't take long to cancel anything.
posted by grouse at 7:12 PM on December 29, 2006

I did this one, and while it was a bit of a pain to cancel, it wasn't anywhere near AOL levels. Of course, the next month they still charged my card for the service, and I had to call and get that small amount refunded, but they did so willingly and quickly. So yeah, you can do it and make off with the $20, just make sure to cancel within the 30 days (set many Outlook reminders), make note of when you cancelled and any confirmation numbers or any other concrete information in case you need it later, and watch your next few statements after cancellation.
posted by boomchicka at 7:29 PM on December 29, 2006

I did it with this specific offer, and cancelling was no trouble at all. The guy tried to sell me on some other deal when I called to cancel, but I just said no I'd say the entire process took under 5 minutes.
posted by btkuhn at 10:59 PM on December 29, 2006

I had the same experience as btkuhn. I was hardly hassled while cancelling.
posted by 7878ponce at 7:21 AM on December 31, 2006

Best answer: NO, NO, NO!

The small print says that by taking the money, you consent to be on the spam list for them and all their "partners," i.e., everybody they sell their mailing list to.

You'll end up with your email, voicemail and snail-mail stuffed with junk, not to mention phone calls at dinner time to "inform you of an opportunity" to spend lots of money.
posted by KRS at 9:41 AM on December 31, 2006

Hmmm, I haven't noticed any increase in spam of any sort since signing up for Chase's payment protector, but then again I have already directed them not to give information about me out to their other businesses or partners for marketing purposes.
posted by grouse at 10:35 AM on December 31, 2006

In exchange for $20, you open yourself up to the possibility that you forget or otherwise fail to cancel and you have to invest some non-zero amount of time in canceling. You need to examine not just the value of your time here but also the risk/reward ratio.

Don't bother.
posted by phearlez at 10:27 AM on January 2, 2007