Another Unpleasant Credit Card Payment Surprise
I am mad as a hornet. My wife went to pay her credit card bill online and realized it was the due date. She dutifully called Citibank to confirm her online payment would post that day. They confirmed that, yes it would, except that only $1,000 of the $1,300 balance could be paid. Back story: We ‘connected’ this card to our checking account with another bank (I would never do traditional banking business with Citibank) so we could pay directly out of it. Because of a delay in this, once before she was charged a late payment fee.
So now we’ll be get hit with finance charges for the unpaid $300 balance. That’s if she was informed correctly and the payment will be processed that day. At this point, I don’t know if any of what she was told by the CSR is correct. It’s quite possible we’ll have to pay a late fee, too. We’ll see.
By the way, it’s not necessary for anybody to point out that she should have paid before the date it was due. It was a legitimate mistake and I’ve made worse. I’ve actually forgotten completely and paid late!
Needless to say, she cancelled the card immediately. I hate you Citibank.
credit
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Citibank credit cards don’t offer automatic scheduled payments (unless requested). I’m sure they do that on purpose.
To avoid this, you can:
- Set up monthly reminder (outlook, yahoo!, msn, whatever)
- Get a card with automatic scheduled payment option
- Pay when the statement comes and not wait until the due date
It’s a lesson you and your wife have to remember.