So I’m lying in bed this past Friday morning and a realization hits me. The due date for my Chase credit card is June 29, which is a Sunday. Since I normally pay all my bills online through my credit union and I realize that all payments made to Chase are electronic and take one day to be posted to the account, I know there is no way I can get it paid on time. The soonest I can get it to them would be on Monday, the 30th.
Why credit card companies allow due dates to fall on weekend days is beyond me. The due date seems to fluctuate a little from month-to-month, so it does not seem that avoiding weekend days as due dates would be all that difficult.
I log onto the Chase web site to check things out. Sure enough, the payment is due on Sunday the 29th. After a little digging around in the site I find that there is one way that I can make the payment that very day, but there appears to be a catch.
Chase provides the option of paying my bill right out of my checking account. All I need to do is enter in some of those strange-looking numbers on the bottom of one of my checks and off goes the money from my checking account to pay my bill that very day. Problem solved, right? Not so fast!
My reading of the details regarding this method of payment suggests to me that doing this will result in the implementation of automatic payments from my checking account every month, which is essentially allowing Chase to reach into my checking account and pull money out of there at their discretion.
Call me old fashioned, but I never have and never will allow any type of automatic payment to be made from my bank account. It’s like giving them the keys to your account. I do have some automatic payments set up which are tied to some of my credit cards, but to me, that just does not have that same intrusive feeling I would get from some company snatching money right out of my checking account while I’m out mowing my lawn or something!
Seeing that my only option to get this bill paid on time and avoiding late feeds and possible other penalties was to grant them access to my checking account, I decided to call Chase and see if there was any chance that my payment arriving a day late could be excused.
I got a friendly fellow on the phone who asked me the usual questions about my name and account and all that. I then proceeded to inform him of my situation and ask if there would be any problem if my payment arrived a day late since the due date was a Sunday.
He assured me that it would be no problem.
Now this is one of those situations where you want to be 100% sure you understand what is being said. So at that point, I asked him to simply confirm for me that I would not be facing any late fees, interest rate increases or other penalties if my payment arrived on June 30th. Again, he assured me it was no problem. He could not have been more clear.
I then asked him his name and if he had some kind of employee ID number or something. All he would tell me was his first name and that he was located in Springfield, Missouri. At that point I thanked him for his help and we ended the conversation.
I then logged into my credit union web site and set up the payment for the 30th and assumed all would be well.
Past experience, however, has given me hesitation when it comes to an employee of some big company providing me with advice that involves money that might be coming out of my pocket!
I made detailed notes about the time of the call and the first name and location of the fellow at Chase that I talked to.
This morning I logged into my Chase online account to see that my payment was received and guess what? My payment was indeed received but was accompanied by a $39 late fee. Maybe that’s why credit card companies allow due dates to fall on weekend days!
I got on the phone to Chase immediately and explained the situation to the first employee I managed to get on the phone. She politely told me there was nothing she could do, but would connect me to a supervisor.
The supervisor was very friendly and polite, one might even say “perky” in this particular instance. She asked me how I was doing and I responded “Not so good.” In a tone that might best be described as “pouty,” she asked me what the problem was.
I explained the entire situation to her and she agreed to reverse the late fee and also assured me that no other penalties would be forthcoming. She also wanted me to know that there was no grace period for payments (no kidding!) and that I did have the option of paying the same day from my checking account, at which point I advised her that I was aware of that, but did not think it was necessary after my conversation with the Chase employee on Friday. She did apologize for his mistake and she was very nice throughout the entire conversation. I also remained calm and never raised my voice or anything like that.
I did however, encourage her to listen to the recording of my conversation with the Chase employee on Friday for verification if possible. You know how they always give you the old “this call may be recorded for quality control purposes” spiel when you dial them up. I thought this time it might actually serve a useful purpose for me — the customer!
I am beginning to wish I had a nickel for every incompetent employee I have encountered when calling to address a problem or ask a question of some big company. To say nothing of the shenanigans that have resulted from some of the calls that were answered by one of those overseas call centers that are so popular with big companies these days, who apparently want us to believe that there is nobody left in this country that would like to have those call center jobs.
Anyway, I suppose the point I am trying to make with all this rambling is that you should always take the time to verify what some corporate employee tells you — especially when it involves your money! Don’t let some poorly-trained or just plain dimwitted corporate employee cost you your hard-earned money!
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