A warning to Bank of America credit card holders.

[Blue_In_AK]

Be careful not to make your payment too SOON.

My husband had about a $1200 balance on his BOA credit card. The minimum payment was around $15. Being a very conscientious Virgo-type person, he always pays his bills when his pension check is direct-deposited into his account on the 1st, and he always pays more than the minimum. Thus, on December 1 he made a $300 payment to BOA. Checking his records a couple days later, he discovered that BOA was saying he had a payment due. He called them on it and was informed that their billing cycle ended on the 1st, and so his $300 had gone towards his November balance. They made it very clear that he shouldn't pay until after the 1st.

Fine. So he sent them another $300 for the December payment around the 7th. Yesterday, the 4th of January (three days after the 1st), he went online to make his $300 payment, assuming it would be for January. Today he checks his account to make sure that everything's okay, they show receipt of the $300 yesterday, and show a minimum payment due of $15. Apparently, this month their billing cycle ended on the 4th, instead of the 1st. Last month a 28-day billing cycle, this month a 34-day billing cycle. Go figure.

Very upset, of course, having now paid $900 on his December balance, he called them again and was told that he just really needs to not pay his bill so promptly, that it's his fault for not paying closer attention to closing dates -- despite the fact that he was told specifically last month that the billing cycle closes on the first. Except when it doesn't, I guess.

Anyway, he's going to pay the thing off and cut it up. He only got the credit card because it offered companion fares on Alaska Airlines anyway, and we can live without it. I just wanted to warn everyone to watch the billing cycles very carefully.

[niyad]

1. k and r--these companies are doing everything they can to screw us--which, when you think about it,

really doesn't make any sense. WHERE are they going to be when they have pissed off ALL their customers? WHO are they going to screw then?

[RagAss]

2. Thanks...what scumbags !

[dana_b]

3. he should cut it up

I hate B of A and am changing to a local credit union soon.

Can your husband just make the $15 payment for January since he has already paid so much?

[Blue_In_AK]

8. That was my suggestion,

but he's so pissed off he just wants to get rid of it NOW. He's only going to keep his America Express for when we travel and the VISA from our credit union.

I've said it here before, I've had the card issued by my credit union for years and years, at 10.5% interest, and they've never raised my rates or reported me to anyone, even when I got behind for a couple of months several years ago. You can call them up, talk to real people and make arrangements, work out deals. I have little doubt that in this same circumstance, the credit union would have allowed my husband to skip this month's payment, given that he paid $885 more than the minimum last month.

Credit unions are THE way to go.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

30. AMEN!

My VISA with a credit union is also 10.5 and has been forever. A home equity loan is 6.5. On the rare occasions I call, they couldn't be more courteous and helpful, and I make sure I tell them so. Their membership is going up, happy to report.

[ProfessorGAC]

35. Absolutely

There is a definite difference between being a member and merely a customer.

Our CU is great and has been for the 25+ years we've been members. (Full disclosure: I was on the Board there for hearly 20 years, so i have a close personal relationship with the management staff that everyone wouldn't have.)

But, i only agreed to be on the board because everyone had already been so helpful and courteous.

CU's are, and should always be, a strong alternatives to chain banks.
GAC

[Sherman A1]

37. My thought would be

pay it off, keep the account open, pay them about $10.00 extra so you carry a credit balance and have them mail you a statement each month. In the long run he will end up costing them more money just in the postage and processing. Eventually they will cut you a check for the credit amount, but that also costs them money or you can just periodically pay them an additional $5.00 or so every other month, just to keep the paper statements coming to you as you have activity on the account and again it costs them money to send you a statement.

[ixion]

4. I just paid mine off this month

and now it gets shredded. :woohoo:

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

20. Congrats!

Agree, Woohooo!

[wryter2000]

5. I watch for that all the time with all credit cards

I don't pay anything until I see that there's a payment due now. Otherwise, the payment goes to the previous month and they want another payment immediately.

[gleaner]

6. This is typical of other credit practices....

I keep hearing about from Bank of America and Chase. It is a good idea to get rid of the credit card and if you can, change to a small bank or a credit union. I changed from Chase to a credit union and I am much happier. Their account policies are consistent and fair and so are their credit practices. There is not enough regulation of the monopolistic practices of the big banking chains. They need to be dismantled so that we can have more competition in the market again.

[MilesColtrane]

7. I suspect they do that to try and induce late payments.

Most people probably ignore the payment due notice thinking, "Hey, I already paid."

Then the bank gets to hit them with a late fee and an increase in the interest rate.

They also do things like change the address where you submit payment. They'll change it to a processing center clear across the country.

The check you've always sent them now takes two or three more days to get there than you accounted for. Wham. Another late fee.

[SoCalDem]

15. yes..and they keep changing your date due..sometimes it's even on a Sunday

and with the mail service, you can never really tell when a bill payment will get there.. I sent my Jan Mortgage payment on Dec 23.. it was credited on JAN 4. I deliberately sent it early, to get an extra month's interest..but they screwed us out of that :grr:

[Vinca]

We should all work our hardest to pay the bums off and

have a mass grinding up of all credit cards. Cash only.

[Jamastiene]

34. + a trillion

It would be the best thing if everyone in the WORLD did it and left them with no business at all. Let them have some time to rethink their business practices. It would be the only way to ever stop them from sucking us dry.

[L0oniX]

9. Cut my BOA card up years ago and closed a checking account too.

[cilla4progress]

10. Went through the exact same thing with Chase!

On our HELOC loan for a car. They kept moving the ball, so our supposed extra principal payments kept going to interest They said we were paying too soon!

[lunatica]

11. Capital One and Chase did the same to me

Knowing that no one has funds left in their banks on the last day of the month they changed to due date to that day. So, because I couldn't pay on that day I received a late fee charge from then on.

[county worker]

12. I know what you mean. It isn't only B of A. I did the same thing one time.

I paid before the billing cycle date and the payment did not count for that month. I in effect made two payments in the prior month.


Now I call the number on the card and wait until they say a payment is due. I was going to make a payment last week but the phone message was that no payment is due so I didn't make the payment fearing that they would not count it toward the next payment due.

[The_Commonist]

13. They really are doing everything they can...

...to screw us.
They're going to nickel and dime us to death, and then they will have no more customers.
I haven't used a credit card since before Dubya was selected.
Haven't missed 'em for a moment...

[Ignis]

14. Virgos...

Sometimes you just need to wrap them in duct tape to prevent them from being a danger to themselves.

:D

[Blue_In_AK]

24. I'm tellin' ya...

:rofl:

[Ignis]

26. Mother AND mother-in-law.

Just don't leave anything out that needs organizing. :scared:

[laughingliberal]

16. This is an old trick. I got slammed by it once, too

Made a payment before the due date and it was credited as a 2nd payment for the month before. Changing due dates has always been part of a scam to collect more fees. And it's not just BoA who does it.

[diane in sf]

17. They did it to me too, but I got them to adjust it when I talked to a supervisor

[Sherman A1]

18. I pay off the balance each month and in some cases

pay a few dollars more. On one charge I paid them $10.00 each month with no balance due. I like to pay ahead just a bit to avoid such intrigues by the rascals.

[RC]

19. The way around that is to make them send you a paper bill.

don't pay on line. Send them a paper check and the bill.

[fascisthunter]

21. if you have an account with Bank of America, close your account

and put your money in a trust or local bank.

[SoCalNative]

22. Even if the billing cycle normally ends on the 1st

if the 1st is a holiday and you know the bank is closed, or it falls on a non-business day (anything outside M-F)you can guarantee that it will not close on the 1st of the month.

[LostinRed]

23. Not to defend BofA but

obviously they're not going to apply the payment to a future statement. That would be like paying $1000 in Jan and expecting it to cover a years worth of minimum payments. You have to wait for a closing statement before you pay your bill. That is typical of every credit card company. I would suggest setting up automatic payments.

[HipChick]

29. Set it on autopay..it will be paid on holidays and weekends

[petronius]

25. I noticed a few months ago that our due date was jumping around. It had been

the 4th or 5th of the month for years, and then all of a sudden it jumped to the 1st - I almost didn't catch it. A bit later it went to the 11th or 12th, and it's been there for a while; I can't see any other reason for this than a deliberate attempt to make people miss their payments...

[truebrit71]

36. That has happened to me too...I almost missed one because of it too...

...I checked the previous month's bill to verify the due date, and sure enough the bastards had shortened my month, brought the due date forward and didn't inform me...

I hope there is an especially warm place in hell for these userers....

[Fuzz]

27. WTF? Criminals, all of them.

[roamer65]

28. I treat my BoA card like an AMEX card.

...and have had no problems with it. They do have screwy billing I must admit. They are real fast to send the bill when I do use it.

[Hekate]

31. I write the due date on the front of the envelope when the bill arrives. They are such crooks.

I have a Chase card, B of A, and Macy's. The only reason I have the B of A at all is it used to be my Working Assets card. I decided to start making donations (such as to DU ;-) ) and small purchases online, but wanted to have a card with a low limit to reduce my exposure to theft--when I called Customer Service and explained they lowered the limit on that card, and sent me a B of A.

Well, dang -- because I never wanted to be part of their system in the first place. I just do not like them.

What they've done to your husband is so crooked it hurts, and they're doing it on purpose to (I think) catch people out so they can charge exorbitant interest and late fees.

Hekate

[unc70]

32. Manipulating due dates common elsewhere -- phone, cable, other utilities

Many of these companies are moving their due dates all over the place. It makes it much harder to set up automatic payments following your pay schedule. Since most of those vendors have become aggressive at suspending their service if you have a late payment, you have little recourse.

Another trick they use is after you are late on a payment and they assess a late fee of maybe two dollars; it is posted as an adjustment to the original month, leaving it with a "partial balance" outstanding in the next billing cycle and justifying an additional late fee some time mid billing cycle (45 days "outstanding").

These are also favored behavior for insurance companies trying to cancel personal and small group plans in order to avoid having to cover some expensive medical care.

[NMDemDist2]

33. when i'd do that with my credit union, the bill would show no payment due

cut up the stupid thing and call them and close the account and tell em why