Credit card question

[BLOOD SWEAT STEEL]

Just waited on hold for like 20 minutes, can't wait any longer right this second.

Long story short - rookie move. I set up automatic payment on my Chase CC for the 12th instead of the 11th, which is when the bill is due. Payment went thru like it was supposed to (on the 12th), along with a $39 late fee incurred. Doh.

(Generally) will being one day late make your interest rate go up? I'm serious here, I've never been late on a single payment in my life, so never had to worry about it.

I'm supposed to have 0% for 18 months (I'm still in the 0%) period, and 9.99% fixed thereafter. I think it goes to like 14% if you miss a payment though. When I log onto the web page, it still shows my interest rate as 0%, but that was as of Mar 22 (end of last billing cycle.) I just don't want my rate to get jacked because of a stupid oversight. Everyone in my office all said no big deal, but I want to hear from the collective.

[Brock Landers]

I think youre fine, aside from the fee. Ive done the same thing and the rate is unchanged.

[gamma]

once u get a fee, you lose ur 0% rate.. happened to me on my bofa card.

[Staggerwing]

You will probably have to call them to clear the incident. If it is your only incident in the past 12 months, they should not give you any grief. Although, if they do, threatening to cancel the account can often work wonders.

[4matic]

Good chance they will wave the late fee. Citbank has waved for me seveal times and they just lowered my interest rate with while I was on the phone...because I asked.

[DJSapp]

4matic and Staggerwing are right. Just because you are one day late will not show up on your credit report, therefore you could threaten to take your good credit elsewhere if they fuck with you. If you have been timely, they will waive everything and possibly pony something up for your 20 min on the phone.

I once got a $3k limit increase because they called me to question a big dollar transaction, and mentioned I was using the card to pay for my wedding. CC companies that the biggest whores out there, and will do anything for your business.

[Crass3000]

You'll probably be fine but try not to be late in the future. I was late a couple times with Chase -- I actually had the money but was more concerned with getting classwork done and just was a few days late. Probably the 2nd time they jacked my rate to like 25% or something rediculous like that. In general I would stay away from Chase -- Citibank is much more forgiving. Chase is pretty snaky.

[MakersTeleMark]

Could I recommend reading your card holder agreement?

[irul&ublo]

Could I recommend reading your card holder agreement?

That assumes he has a high powered microscope.

[Crass3000]

Could I recommend reading your card holder agreement?

Just because the company has penalties in their agreement they don't necessarily always strictly enforce them. In general they make a lot of money from interest (assumingnot 0&#37 so it would seem like good business practice to not piss of your customers. Card companies spend a lot of money to get each "customer." My worst credit card experience has been with Chase. The best card I would recommend, assuming you pay your balance off monthly, is At&T Universal card which is through Citibank. Thinking logically, AT&T doesn't want to piss you off because you might not only stop using their card but also decide not to use them for your cell phone, etc.

edit: not that Citibank isn't going to nail you with a late fee but they never jacked my rates when I was late for both them and Chase in the same time frames.

[BLOOD SWEAT STEEL]

Sent them a quick email and they responded back already. No increase, but I'm fooking stuck with the $39 fee.

[easyrdr]

Sent them a quick email and they responded back already. No increase, but I'm fooking stuck with the $39 fee.

I would still follow up with a phone call or better yet go in person. Explain what went down and how you've never missed a payment and all. It's easy for them to shoot you down over email but your odds are good in when dealing in person that is unless your communication skills suck. Same thing happend to me and I went to my local branch and they were happy to clear the fee.

[DJSapp]

Sent them a quick email and they responded back already. No increase, but I'm fooking stuck with the $39 fee.

Call them and bitch. Speak to the supervisor's supervisor. A $39 late fee is recockulous. The worst I've ever seen is $25. Tell them you are applying for other cards and watch that fee disappear as well.

[seanyob]

on a side note...

Be careful about setting up the electronic payment for the day it is actually due. It usually takes a couple days to get that sent over electronically. This just happened to me. I set it up 3 days before via billpay through Wellsfargo. It said the payment would be there on the due date. When I read my CC statement online, it registered the payment as a day after the due date. When I looked at my wellsfargo account, it registered the payment ON the due date. I called into the CC company and complained. They said they could due nothing about it even though I had proof it was "paid" from my Wells account on the due date. They told me it "arrived" a day late

So, I will be concentrating paying this card off and closing the account.

edit: They told me it wouldn't affect my interest rate or my credit score being 1 day late. That happens after 30 days or more late.

[mmmthmtskier]

Call and explain your situation. All the credit cards I've dealt with will waive one late payment fee and interest. You have a good story but should have talked to a CSR and not emailed. That was probably why you were denied. Hopefully, the phone CSR won't count that(the email) against you. One of the things always mentioned in these 0/0 offers: A late payment will end the promotion. I hope it works out that you can retain the promo rate(good score!). I switch around a balance(my vacation/big purchase item balance) when I see a good offer, too. It's getting a lot trickier to find a deal these days, though. I think of it as a free loan for a year or so. Thanks for the tips on Citi cards. I've got a few but no late payments on them though...

[Crass3000]

Call and explain your situation. All the credit cards I've dealt with will waive one late payment fee and interest.

Yah that seems to be the normal policy. I would have a hard time believing that they would not get rid of that fee once for you.

edit: If the first person you talk to denies you make sure you ask to talk to a manager. The managers have more power to help.

[Sensisnow]

I've had nothing but bad experience with Chase. Just before Christmas I submitted a $2,500 payment along with their $15 "rush processing" fee so that I would have funds available to do some shopping in the following couple of days. The next day my fiance goes out shopping and calls me from Best Buy saying that the card has been declined, tries it again at another store with the same results. I called Chase to find out what was going on since I just paid off the balance and they said that it had not been processed yet. I explained to them that I specifically paid their "rush processing" fee so that I would have the funds available to spend. They then told me that paying that fee does not guarantee that my payment will be processed the same day, even though that is exactly what it says on their website.

I figure that it's not a huge deal and I can just get the shopping done once the funds are there so I ask them to remove the $15 fee since my payment was not processed as promised. They told me that they have NO way of removing that fee. Spoke to a supervisor and got the same result. After getting that answer from a supervisor I told them I would happily cancel my account and go elsewhere if they weren't able to refund a measly $15. Still nothing from them. I cancelled my account right there on the phone and have no intentions of EVER going back to Chase.

[smmokan]

It works wonders to threaten to take your money elsewhere... they should definitely give you the $39 fee back. If they don't, then call back and talk to someone nicer- they will.

[hutash]

/\/\agreed. Call them, tell them of the mistake you made, ask to have the fee waved, cancel the card right then and there if they don't. CC are dime a dozen. If the treat you like shit take a walk.

[habituallybored]

^^agree with the collective. I've always had good luck with cc companies after you point out your history, amount you spend, and make the threat to cancel....except for capital one. They called me on it one day and I canceled on the spot. Too much competion for them to not treat you right.

[Toadman]

Could I recommend reading your card holder agreement?

That's a good one. Anyone ever seriously try to read those. Frontline did a piece on CC's and how these CC companies were able to start jacking the interest rates up by going to states, like SD who allowed for higher interest rate as a way to get CC cos. to set up shop in their state. In any event they had lawyers try and read and understand the agreements and not a one of them could fully figure out how the CC's calculated interest rates. Intentional ambiguity. Frickin' lawyers
In any event the best way to handle is to call and call until you get the answer you're looking for. Or just threaten to cancel the card. That usually gets the result you are looking for.

[snowburns]

edit: They told me it wouldn't affect my interest rate or my credit score being 1 day late. That happens after 30 days or more late.

Back in the fall I had a payment for my truck loan with toyota that I had mailed in over a week before it was due. I got a call about two weeks after the due date from toyota wanting to know where my payment was. I told the lady I mailed it in but would be happy to pay it with credit over the phone. In the end she told me they had a 10 day grace period before your payment is late.

About a month later I received a letter in the mail from USPS saying my check was lost in the mail and once it was found it was shredded. Now I pay it online.