Sometimes, You Make An Error

I am religious about always paying my entire balance on time. Still, there are rare occasions when one thing or another, usually a typo, causes a payment to be late. In those instances, I can usually fix the problem by directly contacting the credit card company.

Even though I never (intentionally) carry a balance, it is obvious that missing a payment and incurring late fees and penalties will destroy anyone’s plan to pay down their balance. Such was the case with the writer of this letter to the Consumerist. Here is an example of someone struggling to pay off their balance who is forced to miss a payment. Granted, this is several levels removed from my occasional typo, in which I have the money and want to pay, I just screw up.

Yet it is interesting to not that the result is the same. The fees were waived and her interest rate was reduced, just by making a call. You can think of the credit card companies like cowardly bullies. They will take and take to no end, up until you ask them not to. The lesson is clear from both sides, it doesn’t hurt to try. From the credit card company’s perspective, most of their customers will grunt and pay the higher fees and interest rates without complaining, to them at least. From the consumer’s perspective, it never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is no!

And Sometimes, The Error Is On Them

Another article in The Consumerist shows what happens when the bank “accidentally” neglects to count a customer’s payment as being received on time. Worse, this is one of those promotional rates that is zero to start and then goes up retroactively when you are late. The amazing thing is that Chase actually admits that they have been having a problem with this. We are left to wonder how many accounts are affected by this, and how many people do not notice and pay the interest when they should not have. This is especially troubling for the majority of people who still mail payments in with the postal service. Not only are they likely to assume that the mail was delayed, but they have no way of proving it wasn’t, unless they paid extra for some sort of delivery confirmaiton.

If you hare one of those people who still lick stamps, delivery confirmation is probably a good idea for paying off those “promotional rate” balances.

Finally, the article points out another key problem with the “promotional rate” terms. The “payment due date” is after the “promotional rate” expires! That means that if you try to pay by the “due date” you will be charged interest retroactively as your balance is now outside of the “promotional period”. Very confusing stuff indeed. While it is possible to construe a situation where Chase actually made a mistake with his payment, the whole game of different due dates is clearly a scam.

Another Word On Debts From The Deceased

Mr. Credit Card has an illuminating article on the obligations of a surviving spouse to pay off the debt incurred by the deceased. While this is a difficult subject to consider, it is a good thing to think about, not just in the case that such a tradgedy should occur to you, but in the more likely instance that it would occur to someone you know and that you might be able to assist them at a very difficult time.

The New York Times has an article about how debt collectors are going after not just legitimate debts owed by spouses of the deceased, but are soliciting payment from any family member. Of course, family members are not obligate to pay the debts of the deceased, but it seems that debt collectors are literally turning on the charm in order to convince the survivors that the deceased “would rest more peacefully” if you paid down their credit card bills. The mix sympathy with guilt in order to enlist the cooperation of relatives in robbing the graves of the deceased.

Not surprisingly, very few people are up for this kind of work, as the article shows. While it is nice that collection agencies are turning on the charm, the whole thing is predicated on a lie, that the survivors should pay the debt of the deceased. It doesn’t matter how nice I am when I scam you, it is still a scam. Unsecured debt, such as credit card loans, is offered at a higher rate for a reason. In the event I die, there is no legal way for the company to seize any assets from me or my survivors.

One day, if someone calls you up and very politely tries to convince you that you should pay off a debt that is not yours, my advice is to very politely ask them not to call you again.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 23:55 and is filed under Maximize your Credit Card Rewards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.