It wasn’t as easy as everyone has written to sign up for and receive the Brex welcome bonus (see Brex: The 110K Application, The Approval, But Only Conditionally). But, the 80k initial bonus after 1k spend has finally posted. Now, I have to spend an additional 2k to receive another 10k bonus. That should be easy enough. The question is how do I ‘deposit sales revenue or run payroll’ to receive the extra 20k? I have 31 days to make that happen.

I receive so many spam calls. Usually, it’s from the same area code as my phone number. Spammers must think that I am more likely to answer the phone from someone calling from the same area code. Having not lived in Ann Arbor since 2004, I know that 734-anything is not anyone that I know. Those calls are sent straight to voicemail. Impatient to deal with any telemarketers, I also ignore 800 numbers. This proved to be a bad idea since this time, it was not a spammer. It was Barclays Jet Blue Business presumably calling me to tell me that my payment is overdue. I say presumably because I can’t log into my account and because I have not made a payment on the card since being approved months ago. I assume the annual fee is past due at this point. My excuse is that they initially sent the card to the wrong address and I just received the replacement last week. Now, I’m going to have to call and explain why I shouldn’t be charged a late fee and interest.

I’m sure critics will say it is my fault. To them I say nothing more than I’ve already said in past posts regarding this application (see Barclays JetBlue App: Please FAX Your Business Lease).

I read a Miles to Memories article about a person who claims that his Chase account was closed because he sent a letter to Chase opting out of the arbitration agreement. When he said he would agree to the arbitration, Chase responded by saying that the account could not be reopened and that it was closed due to rejecting the arbitration agreement.

I have many follow-up questions regarding this claim. First, did Chase send a letter to the customer with the reason for closure after he opted out, or did he only learn of it when he called Chase? Second, is the written reason for closure, “You opted out of arbitration.” Or is he assuming that this is why the account was closed. If it is the former, that presents an interesting legal case that is worth pursuing.

I would argue that it is illusory to give customers the option of opting out of arbitration when there is a threat of shutdown if that option is not exercised. That is not acting in good faith. That is not a legitimate reason for closing the account. The next question is how would the claim be filed? I would have the client opt-in (for the second time) to arbitration. It would be interesting to see if Chase would agree to arbitration at this juncture (see Chase Mandatory Arbitration: Stop Complaining, Start Fighting).

An arbitrator may interpret the law to say that any reason given, even a bad one like this, is good enough not to run afoul of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. There’s only one way to find out.

Here is the reddit thread.

Contact Bachuwa Law if you have had your credit cards shut down.