(work in progress)....

With scattered "I screwed up!" posts appearing in this forum, the purpose of this thread is to have a CENTRALIZED place to discuss screwups involving bank/credit mistakes. This will avoid forum clutter and others can read and learn from similar situations if all located within one thread. The problems (and their resolution) are often the same, or very similar, and readers will be able to use this thread as a centralized resource if they encounter a problem.instead of creating an "I need help/I screwed up" thread, post it here

I will be listing many steps people can take to reduce/minimize problems in this thread.

I also want to list helpful hints for what to do WHEN you make a mistake, so you can limit/eliminate any financial damage. Perhaps the first and simplest rule here, if its the first mistake youve made with your account, is to CALL YOUR BANK and ask for a "courtesy adjustment" based on your excellent history. Many banks and creditors extend "one time" courtesy waivers to keep you a happy customer.

In the interest of keeping the discussions organized and fitting within existing threads, this thread is intended for RESPONSIBLE customers who occassionally make a mistake, such as a missed payment, failed to understand terms, were assessed finance charges, etc.

if you did NOT make a mistake , but your bank took adverse action against you due to your unusual usage patterns, that is a different topic. Discuss it in the existing thread here

This thread is NOT INTENDED TO BE A CREDIT REPAIR THREAD. if you have bad credit you need much more assistance than what is contemplated for this thread, and there are forums on the internet dedicated to credit repair, such as creditboards.com , debtorboards.com , creditnet.com etc. If your problem is simply a debt collector calling/writing you, dont ignore it and take quick action, and be sure to read the Debt Collection FAQ

SUCKISSTAPLES said:....

I will be listing many steps people can take to reduce/minimize problems in this thread.

One obvious thing to prevent missed payment is to set up automatic monthly minimum payments from your checking account for CC and other loans. And I learned the hard way that it is best to set this up as a pull from the original creditor, rather than a push from your checking account. If for some reason the payment doesn't post correctly, the creditor is likely to be unsympathetic if mistake originates with your bank.

Ryan431101111 said:revheck said:SUCKISSTAPLES said:....

I will be listing many steps people can take to reduce/minimize problems in this thread.



One obvious thing to prevent missed payment is to set up automatic monthly minimum payments from your checking account for CC and other loans. And I learned the hard way that it is best to set this up as a pull from the original creditor, rather than a push from your checking account. If for some reason the payment doesn't post correctly, the creditor is likely to be unsympathetic if mistake originates with your bank.

It has been explained before that this may not be the best way as CC companies will change their terms and conditions, so if you always pay it the same time of the month, you may miss a payment if they move your due date up. Chase did it to me and luckily i got them to adjust it.

Most CC companies I deal with allow you to set automatic pull on the due date, whenever that is.

SUCKISSTAPLES said:I also want to list helpful hints for what to do WHEN you make a mistake...I see people admitting their mistake and then spinning their wheels trying to get a credit, get accounts re-opened, get charges reversed, etc. At some point, just take your lumps and move on. A closed account, an extra inquiry, a finance charge, etc., is not the end of the world. Sure, try to get that courtesy waiver, but at some point, just move on. There are plenty of other deals out there.

SUCKISSTAPLES said: ..if you are determined to do them. Monitor them carefully. Try not to set them for the last day/last minute, so you can double check and make sure they went through in SUFFICIENT TIME to make a last minute payment.

I personally would go insane with worry if I only depended on manual payments. When given the option, I make minimum auto payments on
the first day the ebill is sent.

SIS, won't this really be a YMMV? i mean, i see those kinda posts, but really, it comes down to your phone skills. i almost always win over the phone, if not, i succeed by emailing through my account online. so you gotta have written skills too.

maddybeagle said:I still think a lot of the "HELP.....what should I do" threads are folks just pushing the limits and getting some backlash from their favorite financial institution.....

I agree with you 100%. Lately I see lots of posts for example: I pulled on the due date using the credit card web page from my savings account and the payment was rejected by my bank, I paid on the due date using the credit card web page to a closed account, I pulled using the credit card companies web page from the wrong account which had no money in it etc.

First off if you insist on paying your bill on the due date then make sure you paying from valid accounts that have money in them. Personally I dont think it worth the risk vs the reward of an extra 1-3 days interest. I dont care how big your credit card bills are even if they are $100k a month average and you are pulling from a 6% savings account we are talking about $16.43 per day and for smaller amounts many of you report having problems with it is really not even worth it as I seen people defend there reasons for doing this so they can collect the extra interest on there $500 monthly payment on a credit with a $50k balance at 0% on it. So to try to squeze 8 cents a day X 3 days for a total of 24 cents they are risking late fee's, bounce check fee's, loss of there promo rate plus there own time calling everyone involded 2-3X and spending more than likley a couple of hours on the phone to fix the problem. Congradulations you make less than a begger an hour as even a begger can make more than 8 cents a hour.

Personally I think it is much better to just pay your bills using a bank bill pay system. First they grantee the payments. 2nd you can't make a mistake paying using the wrong account. 3rd your bank wont reject the bill payment. 4th almost all the banks grantee your payment will arrive. If there is a problem you call your bank who takes care of everything for you.

Lets assume in an average month you pay $5000 in credit card bills by paying on the credit card web page on the due you managed to get 3 days extra interest. Your are talking about $2.40 a month or $28.80 a year. First time you make a mistake the fees involded will be much more. Maybe you get lucky and you get your credit card to forgive you for the mistake but they wont do it more than 1X every 2-3 years.

Always be persistent. I have fought many late fees. Back then with MBNA, I had up to 3 courtesy credit given. The 3rd courtesy took me through 5 CSRs and 3 managers before one of them cracked. While its best not to yell and scream obscenity over the phone, but don't worry about using a slightly raised tone to indicate that you might explode if you can't get a credit for your mistake. Most CSRs hate to deal with an angry customer, aka IRATE customer, and will rather end the call quickly than getting into that situation. However don't let the CSR end the call so easily. A CSR CANNOT hangup on a caller (unless you're really abusive or they want to be fired or disciplined), so keep going in circles to draw information or break them. Listen also to what they have to say and use it against it them. If they tell you've been a valuable customer, there's probably a good chance why they said that in the first place. Use that and tell the next CSR. Once you feel that its out of the CSR's power to give you the credit, insist that a mgr get on the line. Many occasion I get the BS all the mgrs are busy with other callers. INSIST that you will wait with the CSR until a manager is available. Always try and get a Manager's name and direct extension. Sometimes on a new call, ask right away for a manager and offer no details. Again insist you will wait. Many times a CSR wants to keep her phone stats good, they don't want to burn minutes waiting with you and might cave in. Always call with some kind of game plan. Don't expect to beg and get it. Blame it on something. Blame you never got your statement. Blame it to this new "e-statement" thing. Blame the USPS. Blame it on the ACH/debit e-payment system. Focus on positive things about your credit history also. If you made thousands of dollars in purchase, let them know it and repeat it. Don't worry that it was completely your fault. I have had multiple fees removed and credit ding being removed from my report for being persistent. I have never gone the route of threatening to cancel to get fees waived because most likely they wouldn't really want me as a customer also so I stay away from going down that path. My effort to keep the CC companies from making money off my carelessness and enjoying the AOR game has paid off very well. Thanks SIS!

SUCKISSTAPLES said:I dont recommend autopayments at all. I recommend everyone be vigilant and manually check all their payments. The big negative to autopayments is that it LULLS the consumer into being less vigilant.

The problem with autopayments (whether the CC issuer pulls them, or your bank account is setup to push them) is that there are still MANY instances of failed payments and many things that can go wrong. As noted, if setup on your banks end, the CC issuer could change statement dates, so the payment may be applied in the wrong month or after a due date. You might be more likely to have fees waived, promos reinstated if you have the autopay setup on the CC issuers own site IF the problem wasnt with the bank account is was trying to pull money from. The cc issuer may say "we tried to process the autopayment and your bank declined it". Then youll be asking for the "courtesy adjustment"/goodwill credit.

The moral: dont "set and forget" autopayments if you are determined to do them. Monitor them carefully. Try not to set them for the last day/last minute, so you can double check and make sure they went through in SUFFICIENT TIME to make a last minute payment.

This might not be the best method for those who are obsessed with the extra few days of interest but here's how I pay my bills on time. I took a look at the due dates of all my credit cards and fixed a date that is common to the grace period of all my cards... in my case this is the 16th of every month. In other words, on 16th of every month, all my credit cards have issued their statements and the due dates for none of them have passed. That is when I sit down for 20 minutes and pay all my credit card bills. If this doesn't work for some of you, you can always call some of your CC companies and ask them to adjust their statement dates so that all of them come around the same time.

Like SIS said, I hate auto-paying anything at all... if nothing else, sometimes companies (CC, cable, DSL whatever) bill erroneously... and I'd rather not pay a wrong bill in the first place than spend 'n' hours on the phone trying to get it reversed.

EDITED TO ADD: of course the reminder for paying bills on 16th is set on my Outlook calendar. Additionally, I have reminder alerts set in all CC websites.

revheck said:Ryan431101111 said:revheck said:SUCKISSTAPLES said:....

I will be listing many steps people can take to reduce/minimize problems in this thread.



One obvious thing to prevent missed payment is to set up automatic monthly minimum payments from your checking account for CC and other loans. And I learned the hard way that it is best to set this up as a pull from the original creditor, rather than a push from your checking account. If for some reason the payment doesn't post correctly, the creditor is likely to be unsympathetic if mistake originates with your bank.

It has been explained before that this may not be the best way as CC companies will change their terms and conditions, so if you always pay it the same time of the month, you may miss a payment if they move your due date up. Chase did it to me and luckily i got them to adjust it.

Most CC companies I deal with allow you to set automatic pull on the due date, whenever that is.

I setup an auto payment from my Bank of America to a credit card account. For 3 years, this went without a hitch. Recently, my bofa payment didnt post to my CC account and on further investigation, bofa said the zip code changed for the cc account. I told him it's a load of cr@^.
Now the credit card company charged me 25 dollars as late payment fees and assessed finance charges on the outstanding balance for the entire month. Surprisingly, the check mailed out by bank of america reached the credit card company 5 days late and bofa refused to reimburse the cc penalties.
Retribution: I opened a Charles Schwab checking account that pays 4.25% and provides free ATM across all ATMs in the US and many ATMs worldwide. No ATM fees! They also have bill pay. So, I transferred all my money from bofa to schwab and started bill pay from schwab and couldn't be happier. Bye Bye to bofa.