Why Paying Late Doesn’t Pay?
Filed Under (Credit Cards Blog) by creditblogger on 18-07-2008
As someone who has worked in the credit card industry, I have come to know that the majority of customers feel they do not put a step wrong, and the blame should always be on the credit card companies. There is no question that the main aim for credit card companies is to stay and become more profitable. One way to do that is to charge you fees and also increase your variable APR. If your APR goes from 8% to 30% then you can be a whole lot of trouble and you are going to be making credit card companies a lot of money.
Credit card companies don’t just pick and choose people for APR increase. A lot will depend on your history with them. I have talked to many customers who send their bills late or pay online the same day their bill is due. In both cases, you are going to be called late and there is a good chance your variable APR increases dramatically as a result. Don’t take it personally. It’s just how the business works.
It’s crunch time for most credit card companies these days so they are desperate to make more money. What you can do is pay your bills on time. Allow at least 2 weeks for processing to happen if you are paying your bill by mail. Don’t forget to get in touch after one week if they still haven’t received it. If you are paying online, make sure you allow 5 business days for the payment to process. You can always use Express payment but paying $10, $20, or $30 is not really reasonable, especially in these hard times.
Don’t pay your bills late, and you can be on the safe side with credit card companies. And whatever you do, be nice to the representatives. Being mean or sounding angry doesn’t solve anything on the phone. Being nice sometimes does!
