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Chase Bank Cancels Credit-Card Debt for Canadian Customers

The bank is shutting down its credit-card business in Canada.

Chase Bank has cancelled all credit-card debt in Canada this week as it shuts down its credit card business in the county, according to a Chase spokeswoman. “Chase made the decision to exit the Canadian credit-card market,” spokeswoman Maria Martinez told The New York Times. “A further business decision was made earlier this year to forgive all outstanding balances in order to complete the exit.” Chase stopped accepting applications for new cards in Canada two years ago, and in March 2018, the bank stopped customers from incurring new charges. Until this week, it was still accepting payments on the remaining balances. Martinez did not specify how much debt had been written off. The Times reports that the move is very unusual. Banks typically keep collecting payments or sell the remaining balance to a debt buyer, rather than just writing off the balances. Chase “felt it was a better decision for all parties, particularly our customers, to forgive the debt,” Martinez said.