Damn Credit Card Company's

[Atrocities]

I, like most people, have learned the hard way that one must diligently watch his/her credit card statements for ill begotten and dubious charges. I learned the hard way that mailing a payment to the credit card company is a game of chance, even if you mail the payment well before the "recommended" mailing date they will most assuredly say that the payment didn't arrive on time and assess you a whole slew of charges. Afterall this is how these megaevil villans generate record profits.

Even if you mailed the bill Certified, Return Receipt Requested and know that the payment had arrived several days before the due date, they will still try and pull a fast one.

MBNA, Citibank, US Bank, and many others have earned a despicable reputation over this kind of practice. But since the Controller of the Currency regulates the Credit Card industry, and the Credit Card Industry funds them, efforts to quell these nefarious practices have met with little to no success.

Well after being bilked out of countless hundreds, perhaps even thousands of dollars by these "your payment was late" scams, I opted to start making my payments on line.

Since then none of the many credit card companies that I owe money to have billed me a late fee, say for one, DELL.

Yup, I was just assessed $29.00 late fee by Dell Financial for not making my Dec payment. Oddly enough I just happen to have a copy of the Check Free receipt that says otherwise. Unfortunately, according to Check Free, when I scheduled my payment, way back on the 18th, the process did not finalize and thus the payment that was scheduled was never made.

To boot, the verification number I thought I had was not a verification number at all. Now the Dell customer service person to whom I spoke with just minutes ago assures me that he will reverse the late fee and that my 0% interest rate is still intact. (We will see about this.)

This just goes to show you that even with a new year, the same old bad luck just keeps following me.

So if you pay your bills electronically MAKE DAMN SURE that your receipt is valid and you can prove that the payment was scheduled to be made. Otherwise they can hit you with a late fee by simply voiding your scheduled payment and hope that you just pay it without catching it.