sent wrong payment to CC-what will happen?

[Tickla]

I made a big mistake--I sent the wrong payment to 2 different CC's-one got more than I needed to send, the other one was short by $9. What will this do to my credit? I can't beleive I did that--I am so absent-minded as I age!

 

[WildLodge]

I would call the credit card you short-paid and pay the difference by phone. You will need a copy of a check. There may be a fee, but it is better than them jacking your interest rate and assessing a short fall penalty. If you are beyond the payment date, after you have paid by phone, call them back and speak to a rep and tell them you have paid the difference. They may be able to flag your account to avoid a penalty. Good luck.

 

[MickeyDisneyFan]

When you overpay a credit card you will just have a debit on the account that wont harm your account in any way. I had a charge on my credit card, paid the bill and had a refund issued, I had a (20.00) on my credit card basically if I charged the $20 I would be at zero balance.

If you underpaid the minimum payment by $9 call and tell them you mixed up the payments, I have worked in the banking industry for many years, this happens more often than you would think. You can authorize them to change the amount if its an electronic payment or they will usually give you a window of time to make the additional payment, usually about 10 days or so.

 

[Tickla]

Thanks so much! I was worried-I don't really know the new credit card laws and I just hope the rest of my cards don't jack up my APR because of this mistake

 

[SandrA9810]

Usually if it's your first mistake in like the past 18 months (they don't have access to pull up your whole history if you've had the card for years)... any case, if they only see it as your first mistake, they usually reverse any fees and make sure nothing is reported to the credit reports. Accidents happen, and they're usually very helpful if your polite and want to make sure you corrected things.

 

[Green Tea]

Did you miss $9 off the total bill or $9 off the minimum. Two very different scenarios.

 

[swilshire]

I deliberately overpay my credit cards quite often, especiallly if I'm going to be away on the next due date. No adverse affect and the low or negative balances always feel good on the next statement.

Sheila

 

[bettymae1121]

If you shorted the minimum payment due, I believe the new CC laws state that they can charge you a late fee but can't jack your rates if it's the first time you've been late. Universal default (other CC's raising your rates because you were late on a seperate CC or loan at a different CC company or bank) is also banned, so your other cards won't be affected either. So all you need to do is call the CC and explain, odds are they'll reverse the late fee and then you can just send in the $9.

If you pay off your CC's in full and your payment was short $9, it get's trickier. There is no late fee of course, as you paid well over your minimum, but then the interest starts tolling because you didn't make full payment. To calculate interest they use your average daily balance, so you'd pay interest not on the missing $9, but your total balance divided by days in the billing cycle. Depending on your balance and interest rate, this could cost you a fair amount of money. They don't have to waive that, but of course it never hurts to ask.

 

[Crystal824]

I did something like this last month. I accidently sent our credit card payment on one card to another card that had a zero balance. Both cards are with Bank of America so I made a mistake when I sent out the payment via online banking. We didn't realize it until we received our statement this month. We called and did a check by phone for the payment and they waived the late fee and didn't change our interest rate.

 

[seashoreCM]

Do make another payment for the difference right away, either by phone or by mail.
Without waiting for the next bill or a notice.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Online bill pay is your friend, just saying

Suzanne