I have an MBNA Mastercard and usually payments are due near the end of the month from the 26th to the 29th. I open my credit card statement tonight and payment is due on the 21st for this month? WTF?! The thing that pisses me off even more is I barely use this card but just keep it as a spare. I'm calling them now to see about making payment over the phone, which they conveniently charge a service fee for and then cancelling it. I'm not going pay overcharge fees and reduce my credit for this kind of crap.
If you threaten to cancel, they will likely "do the right thing". I noticed six months ago or so that I didn't have a bill from one of my cards, so I called them up. They said they sent it; I told that I didn't receive it. They said it was already due. I told them I was very disappointed in them for I didn't believe their sad little tale of "the bill being in the mail". I had them resend the bill and give me a three week extension and promise to behave better in the future Morale of the story: It is you who have them by the short hairs
One of my banks, I won't say which one, casually raised my % rate, drastically. Noticed it on the bill. I called them and told them that I only used their card to build points, so I could get "free" airfare, etc. That if they were raisng their rates, I would simply close the account, and move my business to another bank. The woman on the line asked me to please hold for a moment, then came back on, asking if I'd like 5.9% for a year, and my limit raised $5K. Of course, I said sure. Man, you never know. These banks will shaft you, given half a chance, but if you have good credit, and a good income, most of them will attempt to keep you, if they're smart. You might want to try a similar tact. Couldn't hurt.
I just cancelled it but not before making my last payment over the phone which they charged $15.00 for. I was too angry to bother trying to talk them into waving the fee for me keeping the card and just cancelled. When I told the customer service guy I wanted to cancel he went ahead and did it right away with no fuss or even asking me why. I barely ever use this card anyway and it was a relic from when I was starting my business and needed to have some more credit card to cover short term cash crunches. Anyway hopefully this is all over but I can't help shaking the feeling that they're going to try to screw me over some other way.
my suggestion would be to pay your credit cards online...you save time and money (dont use as many stamps)
Yep, I use Capital One. I receive my statement online and pay it online every month for free. I've had the card for 3 years now and I've never paid an extra penny in fees or finance charges. I don't even know what the APR is and I don't care. It doesn't affect me. They keep raising my limit hoping that I'll spend more and not pay it off every month, so they'll start making some money off of me, but I won't budge.
I resent Capital One so much for the credit card mass mailings that littered my mailbox for so many years that I refuse to ever do business with them under any circumstances. Fortunately I paid off my car loan right after they bought Hibernia. They are close to #1 on my list of businesses to avoid at all costs.
you should have just paid it off and never used it again instead of closing the account. closing cc accounts usually affect your credit score negatively.
Forgetting you had that account and someone using it for identity theft would probably do worse. I would hate to have to keep track of more credit cards than I actually used.
I use Capital One for the same reason as imadrummer but I've been thinking of getting a card with cashback. Also, sending companies their junk mail back plus trash does work....
I've still got three other credit cards so it might not be too big of a deal and losing the account will affect my credit score less than if they try to pull some other BS like moving my payment due date ahead another week.
Credit cards with a revolving credit line are evil. When you use credit cards, you are feeding this dude: The best thing I ever did for myself was pay 'em off and cut 'em up. I did it when I refinanced my house a couple of years ago. My outstanding balance wasn't huge compared to some (around $6K). I rang it up buying stuff for my house after I bought it in 2001. If you are not careful (and, of course I'm not...I'm a musician dammit! ) it can become a millstone around your neck quite quickly. I paid em off and now all I have is an Amex which I pay off each month, and a Visa with a zero balance that is hidden in my house (in case of dire emergency). I know it can be tough, but the best thing you can do for your wallet is do whatever you have to in order to get rid of the CC debt. It's the only way to fly.
Never call and b****, when you plan on dropping a bill. If you even think that the receiving end of the phone gives a rats ass about you, you're crazy. Action speaks volumes. Sweet talk them until you get what you need. Then call the next day and drop em nicely. When you deal with money, play nice. They don't have to do a damn thing for you. Good luck SC.
My wife and I moved to Houston with nothing but our cars and credit cards over a decade ago. We are just now finishing paying off our debt. We haven't used credit for anything for about the last 7. It's too bad they charged you that $15 SC. We had a similar experience paying off one of our cards last week. We paid what we thought was the whole bill a month ago but they hadn't applied the interest charge, so we got a $1.42 bill this month. We went to pay it online and they wanted to charge us $14 to pay the account off. We explained to them how small the bill was and they waived the fee.
Actually, most of them don't give a rats ass whether you cancel your account or not. Having worked in a call center before, I can tell you that most people on the other end of the phone are just waiting until the end of their shift. It doesn't affect their paycheck whether you cancel or not, so why would they care? Every rep is different though. They have the authority to waive charges etc. but some do it all the time and some never do it. Just depends on which one you get. But if you start out with an attitude, they are less likely to be in a forgiving mood.
My wife got a Macy's visa card. If it is used in a Macy's store, the charge goes to one account. If it is used as a Visa card in another store, the charge goes to a different account, thus you end up with 2 separate payments for the same card. Of course, they neglected to tell her that (although I suspect it's in the fine print) I was paying what I thought was the whole card via an online bill pay service. Imagine my surprise, when I had a look at last month's bill and noticed a late fee on the other account associated with that card. We called and they waived the fee with no problem.
CC are evil and should only be used for emergencies and to get points...Having said that, I didn't follow my own advice...I've consolidated them at a low rate and have a plan to pay them off... A lot came from my ex and via the divorce, but now I only spend what I can afford, thus no credit cards other than My AMEX that I pay off each month and my debit card, which well, is a debit card...
