This is what I did this morning.
First, even though he is gone, my husband and I did spend the dollars on the bill I have been paying since his death and I will pay the balance.
I went to my local bank this AM and spoke to one of the managers. They have my business anyway since I transferred my meager checking and savings from a larger bank after my husband died.
That aside, I let him read the letter from Chase, which he thought was heartless. I asked if I could transfer the balance to a new charge card that I could open with them.
He had a better idea for me. I will pay the monies and if I get into any trouble financially because of it, they will give me a small loan to help me ride this thing through. The rate will be lower than Chase. He also told me that a lot of bank customers have come in lately to open new accounts because their rates were jumped without notice. He looked at my CC bill and noted to me that I could be one of them in the future because of some wording buried on the back of the bill.
I live frugally and will try not to use the bank offer of a loan but I have the paperwork just in case.
I called Chase this AM for the exact balance on the account as of April 15th. A few extra days so they cannot say that I missed the date or something. I also told them to never, under any circumstances, contact me again for anything. Just send me the bill marked paid and enough.
I am grateful to my local bank and wish I had done this sooner. The following is yesterdays chat with you and I thank all of you. DU keeps me sane in an otherwise insane world.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5401985&mesg_id=5401985