Late fees on Credit Cards

[DawnM]

Oy!

 

I have a very high credit rating, but there are occasional late payments to credit cards, probably once every 2 years or so I overlook when something is due.

 

Anyway, just an FYI if you have it happen......

 

I have ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS gotten the fee waived just by asking.

 

I call as soon as I see it, explain that this was a one time thing and as a long time customer (or whatever) I would like to ask that they remove the fee please.  They do, no questions asked.

[marbel]

I have done this successfully too. I think banks and CC companies understand that people get distracted and mess up occasionally and they want to help out their good customers. 

 

Once I set up a credit card payment that was $10,000 more than the actual payment due.  I had added an extra one at the front of the number and didn't notice.  The payment bounced so I potentially had a late fee there, and an overdraft fee from my bank.  I called both immediately.  The credit card company reversed the transaction so the money went back into my bank account. Once the money was back, I set up a new payment for the right amount.  Of course at that point the payment was late.  They didn't charge a late fee. The bank didn't charge me the overdraft fee.  What a huge stupid mistake to make, but both bank and CC company were so gracious.  

 

It helped that it was a very rare occurrence.  

Edited June 24, 2017 by marbel

[ErinE]

They don't always waive it no questions asked. I was one day late with at least a decade of on time payments and after I asked nicely, the customer service representative refused. We went back and forth several times, with the representative even refusing to transfer me to a manager to discuss the fee waiver. I told her to close my account because I wasn't going to use the card anymore. I was then suddenly "disconnected". The fee was credited back the next pay period, but we don't use the card anymore though we've kept in open to maintain our credit score as we have only a few cards.

[G5052]

They don't always waive it no questions asked. I was one day late with at least a decade of on time payments and after I asked nicely, the customer service representative refused. We went back and forth several times, with the representative even refusing to transfer me to a manager to discuss the fee waiver. I told her to close my account because I wasn't going to use the card anymore. I was then suddenly "disconnected". The fee was credited back the next pay period, but we don't use the card anymore though we've kept in open to maintain our credit score as we have only a few cards.

 

When DH was in ICU and then in the hospital for another 10 days, we had to move in with friends. When I got home, I realized that a bill was due the day before.

 

Nope. Even though I paid the entire bill electronically then, they wouldn't waive it. Even when I told them why.

[SparklyUnicorn]

They do!  Only happened to me once.  I accidentally made a payment to the wrong card (clicked on the wrong thing for the on-line bill pay).  I explained it and they took it off.

 

 

[DawnM]

Oh gosh, I am sorry for those of you have had that happen.  I am surprised.

[cjzimmer1]

I expect this will depend on the credit card company, but I'e always had great service with Discover Card.  I think I've had 3 times where I was late and they've waived it every time (and to boot they gave me a refund on my Landry generic credits that I bought in 2014). 

[creekland]

We only had this happen once back in the "mail in payments" days when we were sure the bill had been sent, but later found it had slipped between front seats in our car.  They took off the fee.

 

But then again, we actually DO cancel cards if they don't remain competitive (interest-wise) or whatever.  We'll even cancel them if we call for any particular reason and someone is not nice on the phone.  There are too many inexpensive interest rate cards out there to play favorites.  We get points, have no annual fee, and there's a cheap rate if we choose to keep a balance for a month or two (like with health bills we're getting reimbursed for or longer travel periods when it takes us a bit to get home to get our income put into the bank) - plus nice folks on the other end of the line (when we call about things like bad transactions which we've had to do a time or two - esp with Toshiba).  Our favored cards work for us.  If not, we don't need them.

 

It's nice being in that position.

 

We almost left Verizon last week... but got a very nice call from Customer Service after hubby left his thoughts on their survey.  We've been with Verizon for "forever," but I won't stay if they have a customer service rep or policy that is unreasonable.  We had just changed data plans thinking we were updating, but didn't realize their throttling would hurt us more as that wasn't clear, so we called wanting to switch back.  Too bad, we were told.  You can't get back what you had once you voluntarily switch.  Huh?  It's only been two days!  It was all in the small print and you should have seen it...  Really!  Ok... time to check out Sprint.  ;)

 

We're now still with Verizon.  Apparently we CAN get back what we had - and get a heartfelt apology to boot.   :coolgleamA: