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Missed Credit card Payment deadline- Charged Late Fee ? How to get Refund ?

Credit card payments can be very tricky…you can end up paying lot of late fee, if you miss the actual deadline. I am not a big fan of auto payments for credit cards, so I have a reminder on my calendar to pay credit cards on a certain day of the month…occasionally, I tend to snooze the reminder for next day….you guys know how that “remind me later” goes…anyways, sometimes I end up paying the credit card bill a day or two late… If you are someone, who reviews credit card statement every month, you may see a big late fee on your account, if you miss the payment deadline even by a day….Some of you may think that it was your fault not to pay the credit card payment on time and give up on the late fee….Let me explain my experiences.

Credit Card payment Late fee – Refund ?

Over the past few years, I might have missed paying credit card bills on time a handful of times…I have had late payments on various credit cards involving a variety of credit card companies…Usually it can be anywhere from $25 to $50 or more depending upon the credit card type and the company that gives it…In my experience, I have got refund of all the “late payment fees ”.  So, if you are with a perception that you may not get refund…that is not always true…let me share on how to get that refund..

How to get credit card late payment fee refund ?

All it requires is a phone call to your credit card company.  You just look on the back of your credit card for the 24 hr toll free number and call them. Make sure you select option to speak to a customer service representative. Once you are in call, tell them that you are calling to check about the late fee assessed on your account. Last time, when I called them, they did not even ask me anything, he said, “I have refunded the late fee and it will be credited to your account”. Sometimes, you may be asked what happened, tell them your real reason and what happened…You can also say to check your payment track record to see you are a prompt payer of bills…They should refund you. If the customer service rep does not answer well, you can tell them to connect to their supervisor and  you should get a refund….

Let me put a big disclaimer, I am not sure if this works if you pay your bills past the due date very often or every time…It only works if you are good customer and pay your bills on time most of the times….Also, this worked for me and logically speaking it should work for most of the people if you are a good customer to the bank…from the credit card company perspective, they want the customer to be happy and will try to do their best as long as you are good to them…

What are your experiences dealing with credit card payments ?

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7 Comments

  1. I don’t understand all of these “you should just pay it on time” comments. Obviously that’s what we all try to do. I just got assessed a late fee for the first time in over two years. I was literally one day late. Sometimes people have a lot going on like a move, or a death in the family, or they get sick and are in the hospital for a few days. This is only meant to give tips on how to ask for them to cut you a break. I have a Chase credit card and they told me their policy is that they will waive the late fee once every 6 months. So if that’s their policy and your truly not trying to take advantage then why not ask for them to cut you a break? It’s not like our credit card companies are 100% reliable either as shown by some previous comments. They screw up too. It’s called human error.

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  2. You are borrowing money from your credit card company, just like for your car or mortgage. The due date is the due date regardless of whether or not you received your statement. You know you made a purchase, and you know you will have a payment due. PAY IT ON TIME. Taking the attitude that the cc company SHOULD refund your late fee is ignorant. Most will waive one late fee every 12 months. People think they are “entitled” to pay late and have fees removed. You are not. If you can’t pay on time, pay cash.

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  3. I have a VISA credit card through HSBC . I recently received an “friendly reminder” email from them saying that my bill was due on the 16th of the month (it was the 10th at the time ) and that I eeded to make my payment within 2 business days of my due date to avoid a late fee. I called to ask why they would charge me a late fee before the due date and was instructed by the automated phone system that I should pay my bill that day (the 10th) to avoid a late fee. Upon speaking to an agent, he apologized and said would look into the matter.

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  4. I have to deal with this often with BoA. I am on automatic payments for the full balance each month. However, they will very often have a due date that falls on a weekend or holiday (since my due date is the 18th each month), and each time this happens I get hit with interest and a late fee. It’s usually reversed. However, this weekend I was hit with the weekend and Presidents Day holiday (18th on Saturday, next business day Feb 21), so the fees have shown up on my statement rather than just online temporarily. My other card (AmEx) has NEVER had this problem, nor has my mortgage. Were it not for the perks on the BoA card (an airline card with a companion ticket each year), I would have abandoned this backward company years ago. (Oh, and the automatic payment date is fixed, either immediate or on the due date, so I can’t just tell them to initiate payment 3 days in advance to avoid any problems.)

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  5. Why all this hassle? It is our obligation to pay the dues on time. My understanding is that the statement date is fixed for each user of credit card, and the payment due date is around 12 days thereafter. If someone can pay just after a couple of days after the due date, he/she might as well pay two days in advance of the payment date. This is what I do, and I have never paid any late fee on my credit card, and there occurs no reason to claim late fee, assuming the company agrees to reimburse the same. In an exceptional case, what you suggest might be useful, but this shouldn’t become a norm in one’s life. I live in Jakarta, but what I say might be applicable in the U.S. also.

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    • Chandramouli, I agree with you, why all this hassle 🙂 This is just a tip for those, who occasionally miss it (like myself) ! Not encouraging anyone to pay the bills late 🙂

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