Chase Bank forgives all outstanding credit card debt for Canadian customers

LOS ANGELES - Canadians who owed money on their credit cards with Chase Bank have a little less debt on their plate after the company recently forgave all outstanding balances as it exited the Canadian credit card market.

The bank, that is part of JPMorgan Chase & Co., canceled all accounts relating to two Canadian credit cards: the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, the CBC reported.

According to the CBC, the New York-based bank had originally closed all credit card accounts in the country in March 2018 and customers were still expected to pay their debts.

That was until the recent move by the bank on Friday that eliminated all existing and unpaid debt.

"Chase made the decision to exit the Canadian credit card market," said Maria Martinez, vice president of communications for Chase Card Services. "As part of that exit, all credit card accounts were closed on or before March 2018. A further business decision has been made to forgive all outstanding balances in order to complete the exit.“

No details have emerged regarding exactly how much debt was forgiven, but when the CBC interviewed various customers, they found some owed upwards of $6,000.

Needless to say, people were over the moon when they heard the news.

Douglas Turner of Coe Hill, Ontario, told the CBC he couldn’t believe he was off the hook for the $6,157 he still owed.

Martinez, meanwhile, said that the company “felt it was a better decision for all parties, particularly our customers, to forgive the debt."