Q: When is a payment due date not a due date?

[Belle0101]

A: When you're talking about credit card companies.

Hindsight is 20/20 - I'm kicking myself right now.

DH has only the one credit card and he recently used it for the first time.
No big deal, we had the money to pay for the purchase but not in the account that he had the debit card for. I knew I should have paid it as soon as we got home or when we got the bill but I didn't.

So I'm sitting down to pay bills online today and even though today is the due date and I pay it at their site or via the phone it will not credit today. Unless that is, I opt to pay and aditional $15 "Rush Processing Fee".

Totally my fault, I should have read the fine print, should have paid it before now, etc., but in my defense I thought a due date was a due date. I have a card in my name for emergencies and no matter how I pay it as long as it's in by 5pm it's counts for that day.

I'll be paying the $15 since it's cheaper than a late fee but do you know how many Mickey bars $15 dollars is?

 

[sbell111]

I feel your pain. It is for this reason that we have nearly all of our bills set to autopay.

 

[ajk912]

I know, that ticks me off as well. Not much you can do about it, though.

Along the same lines, I don't understand why you have to make deposits before 2pm for them to credit that day. Withdrawals happen immediately, but for a deposit..oh no..you have to wait till tomorrow because it's 2:01.

 

[Belle0101]

I feel your pain. It is for this reason that we have nearly all of our bills set to autopay.

I should have thought of that.

I know, that ticks me off as well. Not much you can do about it, though.

Along the same lines, I don't understand why you have to make deposits before 2pm for them to credit that day. Withdrawals happen immediately, but for a deposit..oh no..you have to wait till tomorrow because it's 2:01.

I've heard of 4:00 but wow! 2:00 seems awful early. So if you get your paycheck, no direct deposit, late Friday then your deposit wouldn't count until Monday.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

When you process an online payment, the system still needs to withdraw the money from your account. That's why the payment isn't credited right away.

The $15 charge is because of the extra work that needs to be done on the part of the company you owe the money to and because they're taking the risk that the funds aren't actually in your account.

ACH transactions are not instantaneous, because someone has to put through the file to pull the money out of your account. There is a lot of backoffice work that goes into these kind of things that most people never really see (or even think about).

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

I had that happen two months in a row on DH CC. I usually go to the website a week beforehand and schedule the payments for a day or two before the due date. But for whatever reason, I guess the due date fell on a weekend, I was late and in order to pay on time (on the due date) I had to fork over a rush-payment fee. Lesson learned - schedule payments well in advance, even if the payment date is the due date, to avoid extra fees.

We refinanced our mortgage at the beginning of the year. We were with Chase 11 of the 12 months since we bought our house, but wanted to take advantage of the lower interest rates. Chase never had a fee to pay after the 1st buy by the 15th of the month. The new company charged $12 after the first of the month!, so that was an adjustment. Good thing that loan was sold to Citi/BoA, who has a fee from the 6th to 15th of the month of up to $6, but free from the 1st to the 5th. $3 or $6 is not as harsh as $12.