These days, a lot of people I know have become more interested in establishing a payment plan to tackle their credit card balances. Others would like to know more about their spending categories — after all, the more familiar you are with how you spend, the better it can be for you if you happen to use rewards cards. This is because you can truly take advantage of card rewards if you use certain cards for certain spending categories. We discuss this strategy in more detail in this article on how to combine credit cards to earn higher rewards. In addition, the more you know about your credit card, the faster you can pay it off. And on that front, Chase Blueprint has a selection of tools to help Chase customers manage their finances.
Chase Blueprint Card Payment Program Review
Blueprint is a free program that enables you to set goals for your payments and balance. These goals can include paying off higher interest items, avoiding paying interest, paying down your balance faster, and analyzing your spending trends. With Chase Blueprint, you can follow your progress online or on your monthly statement. That way, there’s less of a chance you’ll fall off your track. So the question is, how can you avail of this program? I received a few interesting answers from a Chase representative.
The Blueprint program is actually specifically designed for a particular Chase card customer. This customer is someone whose spending patterns show that they would benefit from a program that helped them manage their payments better. What’s also interesting is that Blueprint is a feature that is built into the Chase Slate card, but it’s not readily available in all other Chase cards. That is, Slate carries this feature by default, but if you own another type of Chase card, you MAY be eligible for the Blueprint payment features, as the issuer promotes it, but it’s not a guarantee that you will receive it. If you carry Chase Freedom or some other card besides Slate, your account will be periodically reviewed by representatives to see if you qualify for Blueprint.
So as mentioned, if you want Blueprint as a guarantee, then you’ll need to go with the Slate card. Otherwise, your card will be subject to a regular evaluation to find out if your spending behavior makes you eligible for Blueprint. You need to fit a particular customer profile before you qualify.
Check for Blueprint when you sign up for a new credit card. If you already have one of these cards, you can visit the Chase website to enroll in this useful program. Your account will then be subject to a check as I’ve explained above.
Chase Blueprint Features
This bill payment program has the following features that you can use:
Full Pay
One way to make the most out of using a credit card is to avoid paying interest on your purchases. With the Full Pay tool, you can pick the categories you want to pay off each month.
For instance, let’s say I have gasoline and dining charges each month. I can specify the gas and dining categories on Full Pay and the charges will be paid off in full each month.
You can designate and mark as many categories as you want as to be fully paid. If you use your credit card to pay for utility bills, subscriptions, or other monthly charges, the Full Pay feature can be a good fit for you.
Split
Have you made a large purchase recently? Split can help you pay off the purchase over a time period you choose. If I wanted to pay off my new $500 washing machine, I could enter the purchase amount, and specify either a monthly payment amount or the number of card payments I want to make.
Split will do the math for me — for instance, if I wanted to make 12 payments to cover the $500 washing machine, then the tool will let me know that I’ll need to pay about $45 each month. On the other hand, if I can spare $50 per payment, then Split will inform me that I can pay it off in just 11 months.
If there are appliances, vacations, or other large purchases that are part of your future, then the Split feature can help you pay them off before they’re distant memories.
Finish It
Have you ever encountered one of those online debt calculators that claim it’ll take approximately 75 years to pay off your credit card balance? A tool like “Finish It” might dramatically cut down the amount of time you’re in debt.
You can set a goal date or the amount you want to pay each month. Let’s say Uncle Brice has a $10,000 balance with a 12.90% APR. If he wants to pay it off in 36 payments, then Finish It calculates that he’ll need to pay about $338 per month. If he only paid the minimum each month, he’d pay over $8,000 more in interest fees.
If he wants to pay $400 each month, Finish It says he’ll clear out his balance in only 30 months.
Track It
Do you need to track certain expenditures or want to set up a budget? “Track It” lets you follow spending categories like automotive, insurance, travel, and others. You can compare last month’s spending to this month’s budget, too. If a certain category goes over your budget, you’ll be able to see it at a glance.
You can set up as many of the four features as you want or just choose to use one of them. Chase Blueprint’s flexibility is part of the program’s appeal.
The Blueprint card payment due each month will show up on your statement. You’ll see the amount at a glance; your statement will also show your minimum due. Your statement will also feature a summary of your Blueprint-related activities, your payment progress, and other details to help you see how the plan is affecting your balance.
In the event you want to change or cancel your Blueprint plans, you don’t have to worry about penalties or fees. Just contact customer service or visit the Chase website to make the changes. However, you’ll still be liable for the minimum payment due on your account that month.
Whether you’re interested in paying less interest, paying down large purchases, or you just want more oversight on where your money goes, Chase Blueprint has tools to help.
Copyright © 2010 The Digerati Life. All Rights Reserved.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a great credit card program. I’ve been a long time customer.
I joined and can’t cancel it. I’ve called twice and tried to do it online. I try to set up auto pays to pay the full amount on my card and it will only pay my BluePrint amount, leaving a balance and not letting me accrue rewards and while accumulating finance charges on remaining purchase not on the plan.
You know, I hate credit cards. I really do. A payment plan is great but the key is to cut them up.
Finish it: It tells me I have two payments to pay off the highest interest rate on my account. Then I can set up another Finish it to pay off the lower interest balance. I pay 2 payments and it says I’m 35% done and all I have is 2 more.
It doesn’t pay off the highest interest like it says it will, rather it distributes the payment around to the total owed. When I created Finish it, it let me set up the plan to pay off the highest interest only. Yet the finish it payment won’t go toward that.
I called to cancel my blueprint. Despite what they say, there is no way to cancel online. It’s not an easy process. You need to call and they will suspend your blueprint for 30 days, they WILL NOT delete it. You have to listen to their “O you don’t like the blueprint?” crap and then they give you a bunch of sales pitches. I was almost ready to hang up but was determined to cancel. You then have to call back within 30 days but not the same day as the first call. Then, supposedly they will cancel your blueprint. I haven’t made the second call yet but i’m guessing (hopefully this isn’t the case) it will be 15 minutes of sales pitches & then there will be some reason they can’t cancel it.
Thanks for all your comments.
@Chase Jacked Up My Rates, I’m sorry to hear that you are having issues with cancelling the program. If you are given the option to voluntarily enroll in it, I would expect that you can also request to cancel the program. I will see if I can find out more information about cancelling Blueprint. I am, however, curious as to why you’d prefer not to have it or use it?
I have clarified some of the issues with Blueprint and from what I gather, it’s not something that can be controlled by the customer. Either you have it or you don’t and it’s either provided by default in the card (e.g. Chase Slate) or it’s linked to your account based on how you use your card. If they feel you can benefit from it, you’ll receive it. That’s the information I got when I gave them a call about it. If you’ve got particular experience about this program, we’d love to hear your story!
I came across your review when I was looking up Chase Blueprint consumer complaints to see if others were experiencing the problem I was having. I thought I should post here just in case someone is considering using Chase Blueprint.
When I got Blueprint, I was pretty impressed. It seemed like Chase had invested a lot into putting together tools that would help me pay them less money! I know how silly that sounds now…as I should have suspected then. I set myself up with a “Finish It” plan in Blueprint to finish off a balance I’d accrued over a few rough months and during the holidays. I also set Blueprint up to calculate new charges up to a certain limit into my monthly Blueprint payment. I started noticing a “promotional interest fee” charge of anywhere from $5 to $25 each month. This was on top of my regular monthly interest payment. That means it was an ADDITIONAL interest charge on the Blueprint payments that I was making – read: not interest on the actual purchases – interest on the PAYMENTS. I contacted Chase and did a little web sleuthing to see what other people were learning about this mysterious “promotional interest” fee.
Chase customer support informed me that the interest rate was just “part of your regular interest rate” and “nothing to be concerned about”. However, others who were able to get more info from their Customer reps were sharing more alarming insight – this interest rate is actually the interest Chase assumes it would be paid had you not chosen to use this Blueprint feature. I am stunned – but not surprised. How could I be so foolish to think that a credit card company – an industry that has used every conceivable manipulation to wring every last cent from their customers over the years – would possibly spend money to develop a product that actually helped its customers pay less? So foolish.
So the moral of the story is – don’t believe the hype. Blueprint is just another clever scheme thought up by a credit card company to play slight of hand with fees and interest rates. All under the guise of being the good guys. (no pun intended) Skip Chase Blueprint. I sure wish I had…I’m out over $100 in hidden additional interest rates. And I’ve had this account for 11 years. You’d think customer loyalty would earn better treatment.
All the best
bec
Their blueprint payment plan is a big rip off for those who pay their monthly charges in full. I have always paid my monthly balance in full and their blueprint payment plan is still charging me interest fees on what they say are items not selected on the blueprint payment list…and so who knew they had this little list hidden behind all the hype?? This is ridiculous! It shouldn’t matter whether the items on their hidden list were checked or not…they were still paid for in full before the due date! IF they have received payment in full on all monthly charges before the due date, then there should be no interest fees charged at all! They should be sued, dragged through the mud, hanged, tarred and feathered before all the world to see…for what they are doing is WRONG and they are actually STEALING from their customers.