Anybody out there work for a Credit Card Company?

[napi21]

I paid my bill on line last week, and didn't realize they had 2 options to pay. One is Pay now, and the other is a regular pay my bill. I was in my normal funk mode when I'm paying bills, and I clicked on the Pay Now. They charged me $14.95 for that service, and the damn bill wasn't even due yet! I called them, which is how I found out what the charge was for, and admited it was my error, but would they waive the fee since it was an obvious error on my part.

Of course they said NO!!! I want to know if anyone has any ideas of what else I could do, other than change cr card companies, which I threatened to do. The response to that of course was, that's your decision!

I realize $15 isn't that much money, but it really pisses me off!

[LynneSin]

1. I work for a credit card company

But I can only explain what went wrong if you tried accessing the website and it was done.

BTW - this has worked for me in the past - ask for their supervisor. Sometimes you can get lucky!

[WI_DEM]

2. this is the way those bastards make their money

We need serious overhaul of credit card companies. Instead they make it harder for people to go bankrupt after the cc companies seduce them.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. I pay all my bills online

and I have never heard of a fee to do so. I use checkfree and I go to the individual sites to pay. I think you should switch cards. $15 is a lot of money when if you mailed it, it would have been $.37.

[SCDem]

5. One of my credit cards has that option

If you don't want to wait for the payment to be processed in 24 hours it will give you the option to have it expedited for a fee. I've never done that but my credit card does have that option.

[Midlodemocrat]

7. I only use Amex, and they note the payment on the account immediately

even if it is late.

[NewJeffCT]

4. call them back and talk to somebody else

They might give you another answer.

My wife had something similar happen to her a few years back. Her AmEx card had a big PAY THIS AMOUNT number surrounded by all black, drawing your eye... you really had to dig to find the true balance buried in small print in a column of other numbers. We always pay our total balance off each month... but, I had accidently paid the big PAY THIS AMOUNT total, which was only the minimum payment.

So, we naturally got a statement next month with interest charges, balance carried forward, etc.

My wife called them up and the first two people shot her down, but the third waived the interest charges.

[napi21]

8. Thanks. I'll try calling back.

Although I am also on the account, this is my husband's account, so I'll have him call them back on Friday (his day off). He can always plead internet stupidity (which he is) and admit he didn't see there were the two options.

When this idiot told me on the phone that they incurred costs to process that payment quickly, I broke out in laughter! "You are actually trying to tell me it costs you $15 to process an electronci payment?"

They're all AH's!

[StClone]

6. Credit Card say NO! to everything

Don't use them if at all possible. Even if you pay your bill they will say that the payment was late or charge you arbitrary fees and what are you going to do about it? Get a lawyer? Not pay and ruin your credit rating? They are evil.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Oddly enough...

there is some extra cost in directly hitting your checking account instead of just letting things clear normally. Some sort of fee the bank charges for that direct debit.

But, it's usually closer to 5 bucks than 15, so your card company is making some good change for that option.

There should, at the least, be some warning about the charge. Maybe you missed it, but it should be large enough not to be missed.

Sounds like these people are best not to deal with at all. Unfortunately, credit card companies have been consolidating, so it may not be that easy to dump them.

[prairierose]

10. Certainly try calling them again......

try to talk to someone else & if that doesn't get you anywhere, ask for a supervisor. I used to work for a cc company. They charged $2.50 for a "check by phone" and made a ton of money that way. Of course, that was 10 years ago. Who knows what they charge now?

The way that all credit card companies make money is interest, when you don't pay the balance or just pay the minimum and by various fees. They LOVE for you to make any mistake so that they can charge you fees because that is where the big money comes from. We were told not to explain this to customers so that the bank would make more money from fees. Of course, I was often in trouble for explaining these things to customers. :evilgrin:

[napi21]

11. WELL! I just received a call from the CC co. They're crediting $15.

The excuse this lady used was of course BS. She said she was the supervisor, and the fellow I spoke to felt so very bad about not being able to help me, that she was calling to tell me they would be happy to refund the $14.95 fee. I was such a valued customer, after all.

I don't know if it pays to be a bitch, which I was, or they realized I could very easily go to another card co and tell them to stick it. I at least wanted to let you all know that something happened, and they are being nice for a change.

[Maine-ah]

12. you can get them to do anything

My mom works for MBNA, ask to speak to a supervisor, threaten to close the account, or threaten to transfer balance to other company. They'll wave it.