Chase Name Change: Don't Be Alarmed If Your Credit Report Shows 'New Accounts'

If you've recently received a notification from Chase about changes to your card user agreement, either electronically or through the mail, there's a good chance you discarded the letter and didn't read the fine print. Companies update the "legalese" of these agreements fairly regularly, and they usually have no bearing at all on how you use your cards.

This latest change from Chase saw Chase Bank USA formally renamed as JPMorgan Chase Bank. While this change in no way affects your usage of Chase credit cards, it has created some panic in the award travel community. Many people who use credit-monitoring services such as Credit Karma are seeing reports of new accounts added to their credit reports.

It's understandable that people are concerned, especially in light of the Equifax hack, but most people have absolutely nothing to worry about. Credit Karma is sending out these notifications to some people (I didn't get one myself) because of the name change on your existing Chase accounts.

These are not new accounts, and if you click into them Credit Karma will display all the correct historical account data.

Bottom Line

While it's safe to classify this as a false alarm, this is a great reminder of the importance of keeping an eye on your credit report. Services like Credit Karma can help alert you in the event that your credit report is compromised, though in this case it appears that its system was a little overprotective with these name changes.