US bank's decision to forgive debt lauded

It's not often that banks are praised for their compassion, but Canadian credit card holders are rejoicing over their bank's recent decision to forgive all outstanding debt on two of their old Visa programs.

After spending a little over a decade in the Canadian credit card market, US-based Chase Bank opted to retire their Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and their Marriott Rewards Premier Visa in March 2018.

As of last week, there were still Canadian cardholders who were making payments on their outstanding card debt-but Chase, rather than selling the debt to third party-collectors, sent letters to all of their Canadian customers this week explaining that their debt had been forgiven.

"Ultimately, we felt it was a better decision for all parties, particularly our customers," Chase spokesperson Maria Martinez said in an email to CBC.

Despite how financial analysts have been confused by the bank's decision to forgive the debt, Canadian customers are still in disbelief over their good fortune. "Its crazy," one customer told the Canadian news outlet. "This stuff doesn't happen with credit cards. Credit cards are horror stories."

Though Chase declined to say how much debt had collectively been wiped out by their decision, their former Amazon credit card boasted a 19.9% interest rate-and some Canadian cardholders told CBC that they had been forgiven for as much as $6,000 in debt. "I was sort of over the moon all last night, with a smile on my face," another consumer told CBC. "I couldn't believe it."

But President Donald Trump and most Republicans continued to rebuff calls for action against an epidemic of mass shootings, conscious of the importance of gun owners to the party in next year's national elections.

The White House, meanwhile, was accused of using the two shootings last weekend to promote Trump, after it released a video of his visit to hospitalized shooting victims. An aide gushed it showed him being greeted like a "rock star."

Lawyers for the mother of Patrick Crusius, the accused El Paso shooter, said she had called police in Allen, Texas weeks before the August 3 attack because she was concerned about his owning an AK47-type assault rifle. The lawyers, Chris Ayres and R. Jack Ayres, of Dallas, told CNN that Crusius' mother was worried given her son's age, maturity level and lack of experience with such a weapon.