Just a little loan vent

[BriarfoxinWA]

from a Banker! If your payment is due on the first of the month and you're paying every month on the 15th... yes your payment is late. Don't get angry with me when you go beyond the 15 day grace period and pay on the 16th. Yes you will get a late charge. If you can't make your payment consistantly on the due date, ask to change the date it's due to later in the month...


end of rant!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Perhaps the person is having money problems? Not all places will change your due date.

 

[Kathi OD]

I try telling people this all the time, and I'm NOT a banker. Most people think that the 15 day grace period means their payment is not due until the 15th.

No amount of discussion will convince them otherwise.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Perhaps the person is having money problems? Not all places will change your due date.

ummm no - the person is actually well off and money is not an issue. I see it quite often that as the PP mentioned people think that a 15 day grace period means that the payment isn't really due yet.

 

[Darsa]

I have had to change my car loan payment's due date twice (due to DH job changes) with our lending institution, and had no problems at all. I usually end up paying early, which to me is a good thing

I have FAR too guilty a concsience to make payments late if I can help it; if a time does come up (and it has) when I will be, I call and am usually in tears and excessively apologetic...

 

[Aisling]

I try telling people this all the time, and I'm NOT a banker. Most people think that the 15 day grace period means their payment is not due until the 15th.

No amount of discussion will convince them otherwise.

I've paid on the 15th a few times (due on the first) and I was never charged a late fee. Does it still go on my "record" as late??

 

[puffkin]

I am not sticking up for the person the OP is talking about because I have NO idea what their financial situation is.

However, I can tell you that we always plan for our mortgage on the 15th because most of our other household bills are due the beginning of the month. We are paid biweekly on a Friday and I can tell you that if the 15th falls on a Thursday that is an absolute killer for us because we have to pay all the household bills AND the mortgage on the same paycheck.

Before it wasn't a big deal because we had savings to "float" that money from for a day or two, but now with a job loss and that savings eaten up, it isn't easy! The calendar really does affect our ability to pay bills sometimes, and unfortunately some things are paid a day or two late due to that reason.....

 

[Kathi OD]

I've paid on the 15th a few times (due on the first) and I was never charged a late fee. Does it still go on my "record" as late??

Probably not, but I'm sure it depends on the lending institution. I know that the bank where my son has his student loan considers marks his account delinquent if the payment is made within the grace period. They actually start calling the day after it is due (within the grace period). However, I wouldn't worry unless you hit that 30 day mark.

 

[bettymae1121]

Hah! When I last refinanced a mortgage (not my current home, this was about 8 years ago) the bank I was lending through would only give me the low teaser rate if I signed up for ETF payments from my checking acount, which I was happy to do since I pay bills online anyway. But when they went to set it up, they tried to tell me it was okay to pay on the 10th because even though the 1st was the due date, I had a 15 day grace period, and why pay "early" if I didnt' have to? I told them if the due date is the 1st then I wanted the ETF on the 1st. I actually had to talk the bank's rep into payment them on time! It was nuts, I tell you.

Oh, and FYI, things don't make it to your credit reports until they hit the 30 day mark. So as long as you aren't that late, all you have to worry about are late fees.

 

[blana]

Weird, I know I was told by our mortgage person (the person you deal with when you're applying, I can't think of the name....) to take advantage of the 15 day grace period, because she did. (And yes, this was a big bank, not a little fly by night operation.) I thought she was a nut job & set up auto payment for the 1st of the month anyway, though.

 

[tar heel]

I tried to pay my January mortgage on December 30, and it wouldn't go through. I ended up with a customer service rep, who said they were not yet set up to take 2010 payments online or by phone. I thought that was really crazy.

 

[Aisling]

Probably not, but I'm sure it depends on the lending institution. I know that the bank where my son has his student loan considers marks his account delinquent if the payment is made within the grace period. They actually start calling the day after it is due (within the grace period). However, I wouldn't worry unless you hit that 30 day mark.

Thank you for the info.

 

[barkley]

we ended up (with our current home) basicly banking one month's mortage payment ahead of time so we can be be ahead of the game in paying (budget wise). reason we had to do this is social security changed their issuing practice several years ago-it's no longer a set date for pensioners. when you apply your payment delivery date is driven by your birthdate-the later in the month it falls, the later wednesday you receive your direct deposit.

i consider myself lucky, my bday is within the first 7 days of the month i was born in so i was assigned one of the earlier wednesday deposit days-the second wednesday of every month. if it had fallen after the 7th i could have ended up with the 3rd or the 4th. so-while the earliest i every get a direct deposit is the 8th of a given month, depending on the month it could be as late as the 14th (i have another family member who was surprised to see his bday ended up with him receiving his near the very end of every month).

 

[KramBerries]

Just set up your mortgage to autopay. I do it with all our bills. It makes life so much easier.

 

[luvsJack]

Someone told me (and this was a very well to do lady) that her accountant advised them not to make their payments until the last day of their grace period. That way their money continues to gain interest until the last possible moment.

The company my husband used to work for did this same thing.

 

[FireDancer]

Someone told me (and this was a very well to do lady) that her accountant advised them not to make their payments until the last day of their grace period. That way their money continues to gain interest until the last possible moment.

The company my husband used to work for did this same thing.

If you are not charged a late fee and have your money in an interest bearing account this is very sound financial advise. It is one of the reasons I use online bill pay. I can pre set my payment to be made on the day they are so so I have my money in my account as long as possible. I also pay every bill I can with a credit card that gives me a percentage back. I pay that off every month so I don't have any interest but I get a 1% to 4% rebate on every bill I pay with it (Mobile, DSL, Insurance, DirecTv, etc) and while 1% doesn't sound like much it adds up and it is basically free money.

I work for in I.T. for a regional credit union and I have to thank all of the people out there incapable of managing their money well. You fees really do help the bottom line, especially with the margin pinch we are experiencing at the moment. Keep it up

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Someone told me (and this was a very well to do lady) that her accountant advised them not to make their payments until the last day of their grace period. That way their money continues to gain interest until the last possible moment.

The company my husband used to work for did this same thing.

I've always heard this and done it this way as well. Granted, the interest is probably miniscule but why part with your money any sooner than you need to?

I agree auto payment makes life a lot easier.

 

[phorsenuf]

We tried to get our mortgage due date changed to the middle of the month because that's when I receive my income. They couldn't change it but told me as long as I pay it by the 15th don't worry about it. I asked if it was considered late and they said no. I asked if it would get reported as not being paid on time and they said as long as it doesn't go past 30 I'm good.

I actually just looked at my credit report today and it reports as paid on time.

Now if I was to pay on the 16th I would get a late payment charge.

 

[It'sWDW4me]

Someone told me (and this was a very well to do lady) that her accountant advised them not to make their payments until the last day of their grace period. That way their money continues to gain interest until the last possible moment.

The company my husband used to work for did this same thing.

This only "works" when the interest rate on your mortgage is lower than your savings/money market/whatever interest rate. This is so not the case right now in this economy. My mortgage is at 5.75% but my savings is at .5% - I would be losing 5.25% for those two weeks that I "saved" my money.

 

[bumbershoot]

I try telling people this all the time, and I'm NOT a banker. Most people think that the 15 day grace period means their payment is not due until the 15th.

No amount of discussion will convince them otherwise.

My husband thought that the grace period for our car payment worked that way.

And, basically, it did. What he did NOT realize was that they were charging interest for every second of those 15 days.

And since our car loan has sick and wrong interest, that was BAD.

We're saving over $100 per month in interest since I took over the car payments and started paying on time. Well actually now we pay a month ahead (with extra every month and one BIG lump sump paid), but just in the first couple months of paying on or before the due date, vs paying into the grace period, I think DH almost was sick, to think of all the money he'd wasted by paying interest on those days.

He truly had NO idea they were charging interest during the "grace" period. Not much grace with the grace period!

I work for in I.T. for a regional credit union and I have to thank all of the people out there incapable of managing their money well. You fees really do help the bottom line, especially with the margin pinch we are experiencing at the moment. Keep it up

Although we are taking control of things and being/doing much better than ever before, I can't help but think of the devastation to jobs and industry, should *everyone* reject credit and pay in cash and all that.



I don't know how mortgages work, but just make sure you aren't paying extra interest by making use of that "grace" period!