Uggh!! I missed the credit card payment deadline!

[RegGuheert]

I'm usually on top of these things, but I just missed one. We had the money, I just forgot. I just paid it...one day late. This hasn't happened in quite some time so I'm not sure what to expect from them. I have been reading that these companies have been looking for any and all excuses to cancel cards, and I suppose this is as good a reason as any. I realize that I will need to pay interest on the balance, but that is the least of my worries since it was only about $500.00. Since this was a cash-back card, I went ahead and requested a check for the largest amount I could in case they have a cancel-the-cash-back-balance clause. We'll see if that comes...

 

So what I'm wondering are the following:

 

- Have any of you done this recently? If so, what did you have to deal with. Were there any nasty surprises?

 

- I think the new law prohibiting *other* creditors from using this late payment as a reason to change *their* rates or drop a customer is now in place. Am I correct on this point? (This is my biggest concern, since this is NOT our main card, but we use another card very heavily.)

 

- Is there some sort of an automatic grace period or some such? (I doubt it, since the payment period is pretty long.)

 

- Is there something else I should be aware of that I have not mentioned?

 

TIA! FWIW, the company is Chase.

[melissel]

Ooooh, Chase is evil. However, with that said, I think most major banks will forgive one late payment if you've always been a good customer before. Call customer service today and ask if they'll waive the fee for your first mistake. They may not be able to do anything about it until the fee is actually applied (when your account turns over again), but they may be happy to waive it for you. Citibank has done similar things for us--sometimes without my even having to ask!

[Haiku]

I forgot to pay one of our credit card bills a few months ago. When I went to pay it the next month, it wouldn't let me do so until I called the customer service number to work out a "payment arrangement." I told them that I didn't need a payment arrangement, I had the money to pay last month's and this month's bill all at once, and that it had merely slipped my mind when I'd paid the bills last month.

 

The woman was very nice and even waived the late fee for me. I have had this card for 17 years and never made a late payment, so I don't know whether that had anything to do with their leniency.

 

We just bought a car two weeks ago, and that slip-up didn't show up on my credit report.

 

Tara

[Jean in Newcastle]

I've been late on my Chase payments. They have a grace period. It should be no problem.

[Renee in NC]

They are probably going to charge you the late payment fee (which you may or may not get reversed) and the finance charges, but it doesn't get reported to credit bureaus as "late" until 30 days past due.

[Allearia]

If this is the first time, call and talk to them. Hopefully you will just have to pay the late fee but will not have your interest rate raised, I *think* that the new law affected their ability to raise the interest rate. Just explain that it was an oversight, you don't think it will happen again, you have the money to pay, etc.

[Brilliant]

I do this about once a year, ugh.

 

Citibank has always been lovely about waiving the late fees, and interest.

 

Last year, I paid a Chase card one day late and they would not budge on getting the fee or interest waived. I even asked for a supervisor who told me the same thing. Maybe they had my account flagged as a "bad" customer b/c I always pay my balance in full and collect lots of rewards.

 

Anyway...paying the late fee and interest is probably the worst that can happen. They won't report it to the bureaus, nor will other card issuers raise your rates. I also don't think they would cancel your rewards or otherwise change your account.

 

So just call and ask nicely. Good luck. :)

[LisaKinVA]

We had a Chase account... had it for years. We had never been late, nor missed a payment. Last fall, my husband paid it late (a day), they doubled our interest rate (from 12 to 24%). My dh called and asked why, they said the card member agreement said they could... DH replied, it said you COULD it didn't say you HAD TO.

 

So, DH opened a new Navy Federal Card and transferred the account there.

 

But Chase wasn't done yet.

 

In February, they sent us a notice that they were closing (my) Chase account, because we had too much credit available or something like that. We have no other issues "popping" up on our credit history (late/overdue accounts, we aren't opening accounts willy-nilly either).

 

We no longer deal with Chase.

 

The only company I've ever dealt with that was worse was MBNA. They make Chase look like a soft, cute little kitten... but that's another story.

 

It will depend upon your credit history, and whoever is looking at your account. Best wishes.

[lollie010]

We had a Chase account... had it for years. We had never been late, nor missed a payment. Last fall, my husband paid it late (a day), they doubled our interest rate (from 12 to 24%). My dh called and asked why, they said the card member agreement said they could... DH replied, it said you COULD it didn't say you HAD TO.

 

So, DH opened a new Navy Federal Card and transferred the account there.

 

But Chase wasn't done yet.

 

In February, they sent us a notice that they were closing (my) Chase account, because we had too much credit available or something like that. We have no other issues "popping" up on our credit history (late/overdue accounts, we aren't opening accounts willy-nilly either).

 

 

We had a similar situation with Chase, but it all started when I called and asked about my interest rate going from 8% to 15% overnight. I was not saying I could not pay it, I just wanted to know why it went up so much. They then asked some very instrusive financial questions. Horrible. They closed my account and made my interest rate 24%, just because I had called to complain about my interest rate. We had that account for 15 years and had never made a late payment.

 

If you call them, make it short and sweet and don't get into too many details. They seem to be looking for any excuse to raise interest rates or reevaluate an account.

[jillian]

i recommend calling up the company, explain what happened and ask if they will waive the fee (especially helpful if you have been on time every other time) and sometimes the companies (especially now) have a grace period. furthermore there is a new act called the CARD Act and I would check it out. My grandma got $100 of overdraft fees removed (was on vacation and didn't realize she overdrew)

[creekland]

We had Chase accounts - both hubby and I - and were never late with any payment. Sometimes we had a balance, sometimes not. They raised our rates overnight too (some time ago) even though NOTHING had ever been late on any of our accounts (Chase or otherwise, electric, etc). We closed the accounts and I don't miss them at all. Chase is one company I would NEVER do business with no matter what they offer. We never were late, so I can't relate any experiences with that - just telling of our experiences in general.

 

If this were my card I'd do whatever I needed to (calling, late fees, whatever) then cancel it (later phone call unless they don't take off the fee, then I'd cancel it on that call) and find a better company in general to do business with. Some companies don't deserve business at all. Chase is one of those IMO.

[jillian]

if you decide to cancel, request on the phone and send a certified letter to them so they can't claim you never told them

[RegGuheert]

Thanks to all for the helpful feedback!

 

Based on your experiences, we decided that the computer could only access a fee and perhaps flag the account but that a person has the additional option to do something nice (or nasty, as a PP indicated). So I called and simply told the lady that I had missed the deadline and had made the payment online, but I wanted to see if there was anything else I needed to take care of. She looked and saw that I had paid the bill in full but also that a late fee of $39 had already been assessed. Then she said "One moment while I check something else..." She then proceeded to tell me that as a valued Chase customer since 2005 she would be happy to credit the $39 dollars back to my account. She then asked why I charged so little given the credit limit on the account and encouraged me to take advantages of the features of this account. I discussed this with her and listened politely and then thanked her and said "Goodbye". No muss, no fuss.

 

Creekland: Thanks for the advice! We had the same experience with Capital One several years ago. In our case, our electric company had made a mistake (we were on an automatic payment plan) and had marred our credit record. Capital One more than doubled our rate. I think they felt they "had us" since we had about an $8000.00 balance at the time. I called and asked for them to reset the rate and then closed the account when they refused. We paid off the balance immediately and moved on. So I definitely hear you! That said, while Chase has done some similar things (changed card plans twice in 5 years and raised our rate once for no reason), since this is the back-up card which four of us currently use, I'm not feeling energetic enough to go through the trouble of canceling it and getting a new back-up. (I'm not even sure I would have done that had they NOT reversed the charge, since they are certainly entitled to do that by our agreement.)

 

But now I have a bigger problem: Before I started this thread, MomsintheGarden had suggested that I call Chase. Me, husband-of-the-year that I am, dismissed the idea off-hand. But when women on the internet "whom we don't even know" suggest it, all of a sudden I think it's worth doing! :001_rolleyes: Please say a prayer for me! :D

Edited April 26, 2010 by RegGuheert

[Jean in Newcastle]

But now I have a bigger problem: Before I started this thread, MomsintheGarden had suggested that I call Chase. Me, husband-of-the-year that I am, dismissed the idea off-hand. But when women on the internet "whom we don't even know" suggest it, all of a sudden I think it's worth doing! :001_rolleyes: Please say a prayer for me! :D

 

Sorry, you're beyond prayer!;)

[creekland]

Glad it all worked out for you and I can understand why you don't care to change the card...

 

For what it's worth, the two cards we love the best are USAA Credit Union and Christian Community Credit Union. We have a couple others - just in case, but those two companies are really the only ones I'd ever recommend. Of course, they are only open to certain people since they are specific credit unions, so they don't suit everyone. I've yet to come across a bank I really like, though my local one comes close. We don't have a credit card from them though - just a debit card.

[melissel]

But now I have a bigger problem: Before I started this thread, MomsintheGarden had suggested that I call Chase. Me, husband-of-the-year that I am, dismissed the idea off-hand. But when women on the internet "whom we don't even know" suggest it, all of a sudden I think it's worth doing! :001_rolleyes: Please say a prayer for me! :D

 

Sorry, you're beyond prayer!;)

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[jillian]

glad it all worked out for you and i can understand why you don't care to change the card...

 

For what it's worth, the two cards we love the best are usaa credit union and christian community credit union. We have a couple others - just in case, but those two companies are really the only ones i'd ever recommend. Of course, they are only open to certain people since they are specific credit unions, so they don't suit everyone. I've yet to come across a bank i really like, though my local one comes close. We don't have a credit card from them though - just a debit card.

love love love usaa!!!