My fault...they finally got me.
First time I ever got charged interest...in 30 years.
According my my statement I was charged $11 interest for a balance of $529.28 that was not paid in full.
I underpaid by 2 cents! The check was written out for $529.26 ... must have mis-read the "8"
philo wrote in news:nck47s$jbe$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I thought they just charged interest on the unpaid balance left after the payment - in your case the $0.02! Live and learn. I'll have to be especially careful in the future before I get bitten too.
If it was a person instead of a computer (or an involved data-entry person) they would have seen your history of payment and not charged you!
Set it up for auto pay and that will never happen.
If that happened to me, I'd be on the phone with the credit card company asking them to remove that charge.
Thanks for the comments. Even though it was kind of nutty, I have to admit the fault was on my end..and for the $11 I am not going to try to argue this one.
I think Oren gave good advice as to auto-pay because in two years I'll have that $11 back in saved postage.
BTW: I own stock in the company, so the $11 fee just went from one pocket to the other. "If you can't beat 'em , join 'em," I said to myself the day I bought the stock.
That does not seem right. The interest, I thought, was only on the balance. Perhaps not.
I'd call and ask them to reverse the charges. If they refuse, I'd cancel the card. Easy enough to get another.
One thing I've learned to do is own my own mistakes.
Because I posted here and received advice from Oren to choose the auto-pay option...in the long run I'll be saving money in postage. So...the mistake will have been used to my advantage.
As soon as my postage savings amounts to one million dollars, I intend to pay Oren half.
Through life, I've learned that there is usually a way to turn a setback into an advantage.
It usually means figuring out a way to "think smarter".
..
Well, while it may well have been your fault and I admire "owning up", I see absolutely no reason if you've been a prompt payor for some period to not do as others have suggested and request the interest/fees be refunded -- while agreements are written so that interest is charged on the entire balance so the $11 is undoubtedly within the letter of the arrangement, it just smells to charge it for an underpayment of $0.02.
And, nothing says you still can't make use of the "learn the lesson" to use auto-pay or another option and get those benefits as well. :)
I won't give a CC company access to any bank account just on general principles but use the phone-pay option to ensure timely credit to the account so no worry on mail delays/processing and no stamps, either...as another option to consider.
Since the bank has an option to send them a message, I did so. Not worth my time to get on the phone.
I'm considerably more amused than upset.
Sure, but an $11 charge for a 2 cent problem is nasty. IMO. worth a phone call. Good customer service if they choose to do it.
Auto pay fixes that problem, but if you bank balance get low and you forget to replenish the fee is even more. I prefer to pay when I choose to.
The note I sent them was enough...I just don't want to get on the phone for something this small...especially because no matter how trivial, the error was on my end.
Because my SSN and 401k go directly into my checking account and because my credit card comes due a few days after that...auto pay would be a pretty safe option.
I'm about to add a several thousand dollar "cushion" to my checking account just to play it safe. Since my savings account interest is 0.1% it really does not matter if I keep some of it in a zero interest account.
This sort of thing is one of many reasons I tossed all my credit cards into my woodstove about 15 years ago. Have not had one since. Those companies have plenty of suckers to screw.... I'm not one of them!
I pay cash for all purchases in stores, and I use checks for paying my bills or large purchases. Total cost is about $7.50 a year for blank checks. I can pay my electric company using what they call phone-check. I call them, give them my checking acct number, and they deduct that amount from my checking account. No check needed, No postage to mail it.
I could probably make that $7.50 worth of checks last TWO years, if I didn't have to occasonally use checks to pay for gas or groceries, because I didn't go to the bank to get cash. But then I'd spend the savings on gasoline, so I'd not really save anything in the end.
With the cash back, you are loosing a lot of money each year. The cards I have give from 1 to 3 % back and at times 5%. My Lowes card gives a 5% discount. I put all that I can on the cards now and get back over $ 200 per year. Almost all my bill paying is by the internet banking and does not cost anything.
Some campanies give you from $ 20 to $ 50 or more just to get their card and use it to charge so much in a few months.
The credit union gives free checking to people over 55 or something like that and so many free checks a year.
I do pay off all the bills on time so no service charge.
I make the credit card companies the suckers.
A credit card is an absolute necessity. I could not possibly go on a vacation without one.
I could bring a million dollars cash into a car rental agency and not get a car.
The mistake was on my end and though the fee was kind of absurd for missing two cents in payment...not quite the end of the world.
Yep. I use my credit card for almost everything . The 1% I get back absolutely more than makes up for the silly mistake I made.
Autopay really seems to work well. Amex doesn't pull the money until the due date so you get maximum use of the free money and you are never late or short.
It is like a debit card with the added protections of using a credit card. (plus cash back)
On 03/19/2016 04:04 PM, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: X
Then I'm going to do "auto-pay" for sure.
I always send my check in within a few days or receiving the bill... the late fee (which I've never gotten ) is $37
On 03/19/2016 4:04 PM, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote: ...
As noted, while I've not had "issues" w/ AmEx I've heard of enough I'm uncomfortable giving them the access power just in case so use the phone auto pay instead.
Individual recurring bills on autopay, but not CC...AmEx,Visa,MC,...
IAWTP - I do all my 'on-line' banking by phone. As you say, this avoids snail mail delay & postage, plus avoids bank errors if they have been given 'carte blanche' permissions on ones bank account.
But the best reason is that one can totally avoid network-based fraud. Adding a new payee to my list of accounts requires me to speak to a real-live human. Of course, fraud is still possible, but at least the scammer needs to guess my 'spoken' password AND speak proper english without an Indian accent.
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