Ok, now that I've calmed down, here is my situation in a nutshell.  Several years ago, I was fresh out of college and got a credit card.  It was one of those high interest rate deals that they give all the students, but since I had a good job, I wanted to build my credit. The bank that issued the credit card was bought out a few times, and eventually Washington Mutual took over the account.  When they went under earlier this year, Chase took them over.

Sometime in mid-January 09, I went through my cards and canceled anything with a high interest rate or annual fee...including this particular card.  Here we are a year later and this old card is the last thing on my mind. Friday night I get home to find a letter from Chase saying that they are jacking my interest rate up because I was late on a payment .  Needless to say, panic sets in (I'm thinking identity theft or something along those lines.)  Using the customer service line on the Chase website,  get ahold of an account rep that informed me that the charge was an annual fee and a late fee on top of that.  Turns out the original moron never canceled the account back in January.  Or hell, maybe there was a screwup when the records were transferred from Wamu to Chase...I don't know...apparently Chase felt that I was on the hook for $52.  It soon became obvious that the the only people that work those call centers on Friday evenings are only able to read from a script.  I figure I'd be better served to call back on a week day and get someone useful.  Before I got off the phone, I had the account rep confirm several things, including the fact that this had not been reported to collections, and that no other fees or reporting would happen until the payment was over 30 days late.  Friday was day 23.

Fast forward to this morning.  I speak with 3 different account reps with varying levels of authority.  No luck.  They all agreed to cancel the card for me, but refused to waive the annual or late fees. Apparently I had 30 days to dispute the annual fee...after that, its my tough luck.  Since they couldn't be bothered sending me a paper bill, calling me, etc.I didn't even realize the money was owed, so how could I dispute it?  Apparently, my account was enrolled in online billing so they felt I had access to the statements and that was good enough for them.  Not only that, but apparently I had a payment due on Sunday (which the first lady didn't bother to tell me when I specifically asked) so they hit me with yet another late fee.  Now we're up to $71.  Merry Christmas to me!  And of course when I mentioned this today, they didn't see any notes on my account or have any record that I called on Friday WTFover.  I paid the friggin $71  I gave in, I know, but I'm getting ready to buy a house, look for a mortgage, etc.  I have good credit and I don't need a collection on my record over something stupid like this.  I know I'm getting close and didn't want to chance it.

So now where does that leave me?  I'm not hurting for money, so the $71 isn't going to kill me.  Its the principle of it.  Its the fact that the bank is hurting and they're trying to nickel and dime the accounts that they don't normally make any money off of.  This account has been inactive with a zero balance since January 09.  It was rarely used before then and always paid off in full.  I found the website to file a complain with The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency- Administrator of National Banks-  US Office of the Treasury.  Do these guys actually do anything?  Is it even worth my while? Does anyone know of a better solution?

that blows.
clearly chase has blown yet another customer FOREVER.  stupid shortsighted CS'ers.

But it's yet another horror story about online billing.

I think you probably did the right thing in just paying it off and makign it go away

BUT
I would start writing (not calling) letters of complaint.

Chase (find their corporate offices and go that way)
the office of comptroller you found

your state's bank watchdog (there must be one)

still blows.

Did you pull a credit report before applying for your mortgage?  If you did, it should have shown that this line of credit had been closed at your request a year ago.

Each credit reporting agency (TRW, Experien, Trans Union) will give you one free report each year.  I hit up a different one every four months.

Good call on the state watchdog.  I'm sure we have one...I just need to do some more homework.  I have a draft of a complaint letter that I've been working on to submit to the treasury website and I think I'll take your advice on sending a hard copy to Chase corporate as well.

I do see a few mistakes I've made along the way, including agreeing to online billing.  I think I'll sacrifice a few more trees just to get everything in writing from here on out.  I also have not pulled a credit report in a little over a year since I was saving my free reports until right before I actually went mortgage shopping.  Unfortunately, my job transfer has been up in the air for longer than I thought it would and as a result, so is the house purchase.  I like your idea of spreading the free reports throughout the year.  

Ah well, the whole thing could be worse...I could be dealing with a PIA collections agent.   I'll just chalk it up as yet another reason not to use this sorry excuse for a bank.

My credit rating is not more important to me than my principles.  I pay what owe, I have no problem with that but you fuck with me you get shit till you fix it.  That's what AT&T did.  They kept billing me for calls that were supposed to be free, every month I would call and complain and they would tell me to just pay they would credit me on next months bill.   After 3 or 4 months of this I said fuck that send me a correct bill and I will pay, they refused, I refused to pay.  They sent me to collections, I told them what happend and that I was not going to pay, never heard from them again.

I feel your pain.  DO EVERYTHING BY LETTER!!  That way, you have documentation of it.  Plus, letters clog up their system since they aren't geared to be able to handle letters any longer.  They want to do everything by phone any more.  

CC companies are out to fuck their customers.  I like having a few cards around for emergencies and I use the Discover because it pays me cash back.  I NEVER pay interest.  They keep sending me offers to give me stuff if I'll just stop paper copies of the bills.  I refuse.  I want to make them have to pay for the ink, the letter, and the postage in addition to the labor to get it mailed to me.  My resistance doesn't really mean much to them I'm sure but it makes me feel better and I get to take their money instead of them taking mine.

I feel your pain.  DO EVERYTHING BY LETTER!!  That way, you have documentation of it.  Plus, letters clog up their system since they aren't geared to be able to handle letters any longer.  They want to do everything by phone any more.  

CC companies are out to fuck their customers.  I like having a few cards around for emergencies and I use the Discover because it pays me cash back.  I NEVER pay interest.  They keep sending me offers to give me stuff if I'll just stop paper copies of the bills.  I refuse.  I want to make them have to pay for the ink, the letter, and the postage in addition to the labor to get it mailed to me.  My resistance doesn't really mean much to them I'm sure but it makes me feel better and I get to take their money instead of them taking mine.