What part of not going to be home do you not understand?

[TawnyMyst]

So I have a card that I have paid on time for the last two years. I screwed up last month though and the payment for it ended up going to a different bill, I use internet banking and hit a wrong button, oops, first time in two years I missed. Didn't realize I had done it till this past week though. My bill date is the tenth of the month, I get the bill about a week before. I look at it and see late payment fee and larger than normal amount due, figure out where I went wrong, pay the amount that should have been due and will pay the rest on Wednesday when I get paid again. My fault, I'll fix it and pay closer attention right. I pay the card in full as close as I can each month and only carry a balance for a month at most if I have to. I pay next week and it should be the end of this right? If that were right I wouldn't be posting.

I get a call on Tuesday, day after I got bill asking when I will make a payment and clear the late fee, okay, not due for another week and a half but whatever. I tell them I had already made a partial payment and will pay the rest before it is due. Lady calling me asks me to call when I make said payment, not sure why, but I agree to do so. I get off the phone and go about my business, phone rings an hour later, same people. Go thru the spiel again, they want to know when I'll call, I tell them that I'll be home Wednesday afternoon but gone until Monday after that and the payment will be the following wednesday, they remind me to call when I make the payment. I'm starting to wonder at this point but whatever. First time I've been late and technically I'm not even late for this month and already made a partial payment but there still hounding me.

I go away for the next few days and just got home a while ago, so gone for 4 days. I checked my phone when I got home and they have left 12 messages and I have 37 missed calls from there number. I think I will be clearing the balance on this card Wednesday and then canceling it, if this is how they are with a first missed payment from someone, I want nothing to do with them and will get a different emergency card to use.

[GiggityGiggityGoo]

I think I will be clearing the balance on this card Wednesday and then canceling it, if this is how they are with a first missed payment from someone, I want nothing to do with them and will get a different emergency card to use.

Good move. Imagine if you were home and they kept calling you every five minutes.

Screw them.

[BrenDAnn]

Reminds me of the bank (the one with the stagecoach as a logo) that I had my last car loan through. I was 3 days late on a payment once due to having to wait three days after the bill was due to get my pay check and they called me over and over and over about it. I even let them know about my situation, and still they called. Of course, this is the same bank that told my sister once that she was fine to pay her late payment the day after she called them, then took her car away in the middle of the night anyway. So glad I have that paid off now! Also, yes, CANCEL that card! ASAP!

[blas]

Dell did that to me when I attempted to pay off the entire balance. They tacked on one more finance charge AFTER that payment cleared. For whatever reason, I forgot to pay the $15 finance charge, and within a few days span, they had called my cell phone no less than twice per hour every hour during business hours those days.

[It's me]

Sounds like it's time to get a different card!

[Racket_Man]

sounds like a store CC that I had like 20 years ago.

I had a job at this time. I needed a new dress suit because I was just about to embark on a job hunting spree. OK we put the suit (about $300 at the time) and some other needed stuff for daughter who was starting school needed new clothes (about $300 more) on the store CC card and figure we will pay down the balance over a 4 months or so.

6 weeks later I get let go at the current job and proceed (do not pass Go do not collect $200) right to unemployment bennies. this means a significant cut in my income. I call up the store CC center and let them know what is going on. I tell them I WILL be paying the bill off, just not as fast as I would like.

well things happen whilst on an almost year long job hunt. bumps in the road happen. got a temp job that lasted only 2 months and still got behind on the rent and other bills so the CC bill was not a priority but we still tried to send them something.

it all came to a head when they were calling us 2 or 3 times a DAY. it finally came down to me asking them to NOT call me as, at that moment we were flat broke. they agreed to stop the calls.

Yeah right. the calls kept right on coming. so rather than pay them off (a balance of $300) we included them on a bankruptcy we had to do for the Ex's medical bills (about $38k). I really did want to pay the CC bill off, as I did like the store,but they kept hounding us and hounding us.

[Syriilord]

This kind of unacceptable behaviour is just another reason why I steadfastly refuse to even consider getting a credit card.

I pay cash in person and get one of those prepaid disposable credit card thingies if I buy something online (and I pay in cash for those cards too )

[PepperElf]

Dell did that to me when I attempted to pay off the entire balance. They tacked on one more finance charge AFTER that payment cleared. For whatever reason, I forgot to pay the $15 finance charge, and within a few days span, they had called my cell phone no less than twice per hour every hour during business hours those days.

One of the guys I knew in the military had tons of issues with that.
He would send in his checks 5 days before the due date and the checks would be received but not processed until 3 days late, then they'd try to tack on charges. and then all the calls etc...

Then he remembered that he was a month ahead of payments, so technically they were trying to charge him "late fees" say on his February payment, when he was actually making the March payment.

So - twice - he asked for their legal department. And ended up getting the fees removed.



Oh and on a side note... I don't know about my coworkers, but at work I have to do daily calls sometimes, to remind people to pick up their shit. If someone says to me "Hey i'm out of town until XX date" etc, then I'll mark it down and won't call them until I know they're home. I know my supervisor wouldn't like it so much cos he wants to get the stuff off the shelf but... calling someone daily when they're on the other coast won't actually get the item off the shelf before they get back. So I'm applying common sense.

[greek_jester]

Sorry, not sure where you live, so I don't know how credit cards work where you are, but in the UK you can set up a direct debit to automatically take the minimum payment every month. That way if I've forgotten to pay it, or the standing order I'd set up has expired because I've got my dates mixed up, at least I won't get hit with a late fee before I get my payment set up.

[TawnyMyst]

I did have direct debit for a while but stopped it after they took three payments in one month out without warning and only gave me one back when I threatened legal. In hindsight, that was when I should have cancelled the card.

Update: they called another three times today, the first time I talked to the person and said that I had told them I was going to be away and that I did not appreciate having my voicemail filled up by them when I got home. She apologized and said that there had been no note on the account and the dialed just kept dialing but they she would put a note on my account that I was paying on Wednesday and to not call again. An hour after, I got another call, this time I asked for a supervisor. Funny how my call was dropped during transfer. Called again 20 minutes later and I escalated again, got a supervisor this time and told them that I had already cut up the card and was extremely frustrated with them, I would make the payment wednesday as I had agreed too on the first call and after that I wished to NEVER hear from them again. And no there is nothing they can do at this point to retain me as a customer.

[csquared]

As soon as they got the payment for the past due amount, the calls should have stopped.

Getting rid of that card is a good idea. Take a look at were your interest rate just went. Can you say "Penalty APR?"

As you are looking for a new credit card, take a look here.

[EmiOfBrie]

I was once accused of card fraud.

I had a card that had a limit of 20 grand, but sadly, I had to max it out to pay off some medical expenses that were not covered by insurance That was in July 2002.

In March 2003, I lost my full-time job and went on unemployment. Until early 2004, I had at least still been able to make minimum payments due to my unemployment bennies being rather plush at the time, but after the unemployment ran out, I had to file for Ch. 7 bankruptcy

The CC company tried to fight the bankruptcy, their law firm called me saying I accepted the credit line increase in 2002 with no intention of paying it off. My payment record, however, said otherwise. I told them to look at it.

I could just hear their lawyer deflate on the other end, as their spokeswoman admitted that no, they actually had no case against me.

I successfully filed Ch. 7 in August 2004. It will fall off my credit report in just over 3 years from now.

[dougall]

I am wondering if they get some sort of commission on payments they take over the phone?

[Heksubah]

Dell did that to me when I attempted to pay off the entire balance. They tacked on one more finance charge AFTER that payment cleared. For whatever reason, I forgot to pay the $15 finance charge, and within a few days span, they had called my cell phone no less than twice per hour every hour during business hours those days.

As far as the interest charge, I can explain that much. Most credit bills interest in arrears. You don't get interest on the first statement, but it starts calculating on the next. They figure it from when a statement opens until when they get a payment and then calculate based upon whatever the rate is. Then it shows up on the next statement. Where I work I tend to describe it for people as... say you are planning on moving in the next two weeks and you want a final bill right now from your utilities. They can't give you one because you could use them more before the bill is done, the calculations aren't complete. It's the same with credit cards. You could add more charges before that statement closes so they don't know what the interest is, or if it should be there (if you pay in full each month) until the statement date. (Not sure if that would work for Dell if it is just a computer loan, but that is how CCs work.)

[blas]

It was a line of credit for $2,000. I bought my laptop with it (can't remember how much it was but nowhere near that, and never bought anything else).

I just thought it was downright sucky and wrong that they'd call as often as a damn unwanted admirerer for $15.