I'm pretty upset today.. I just got off the phone with Capital One to dispute some charges. Apparently I accrued $85 in past due fees and $39.54 in interest charges for the past 3 months. I was shocked to hear about this especially since I have enrolled myself in the Automatic Bill Payer with Bank of America to avoid this exact type of thing. I called Capital One and told them that my account gets debited every month on the 11th to make a payment and that my statements say the bill due date is on the 12th. They told me that it takes a few days for payments to process and that it was Bank of America's fault for not processing the payment on the said date. I'm going to have to call Bank of America tomorrow to get things straightened out because why am I getting debited money on the 11th and it going no where until the 15th. Then, if that was the case why don't they just take my money out on the 15th instead of the 11th??
Also, why is it when I didn't have Auto Bill Payer and would pay my bill online at CapitalOne.com on the same day, they were able to process it the same day? They're telling me that B of A must've debited my account but just not process it until 3-5 days later, according to my files. Nevertheless, they are sticking me with the $85 in past due fees. Oh don't I feel like such a valued customer. If I could just cancel my account with Capital One without it affecting my credit score I would do it in a heartbeat. It's like credit card companies just take advantage of people for this reason.. I'm hoping for a policy change soon!
Let's also not forget, that we all make mistakes. In the previous months, Capital One has "accidentally" increased my credit limit twice in one month to 7 times its original limit. I was surprised and flattered at the same time. I thought, wow, I must be doing really good credit-wise for them to do that. Then, a month later, I receive a letter from them saying they apologize for increasing my credit limit the second time and that they will excuse any over-the-limit balances and interest fees caused by this. Well alright. We all make mistakes..
But here we are, months later, and have they fixed these charges? No. I have to go out of my way to make sure they do what they say. I was able to get 2 months waived (March and February), but not the very first month (January), which makes no absolute sense at all. The customer service rep said he would make a note now and to just call on my next billing statement to get it fixed.. Okay, so here I am again, needing to make time to get them to do what they said... This is just ridiculous. With this in mind, people/businesses make mistakes, they should waive all accessed fees. They should understand that my past due fees were not intentional and that I have corrected them by changing the future due date of my bill to be a week later to account for "processing." I have been an outstanding customer so far and they should value customers like me :).
I think I will be writing them a letter to get them to waive those fees and make a customer service dispute online as well. Maybe someone else will handle my problem differently and to my advantage. Well, with that said, I'd like to offer some credit card tips.
Credit Card Tips That Will Save You Money:
1.
Pay your credit card statements a week before the due date to avoid any mishaps, like mine.
2.
Sign up for Auto Bill Pay through your credit card company, if free, or with your savings/checkings account company(they are usually free).
3. To make sure you have an even flow of money going in and out,
pay your credit card bill in the middle of the month when you have no other large bills to pay for. Let's say you have to pay rent and electricity on the first of each month. By paying your credit card statement mid-month you are able to have some extra cash flow throughout the month after paying your rent. This method leaves you with less stress having to pay a large lump sum at the beginning of each month. You can
change your billing due date online or by calling customer service and this is a relatively easy task.
4. If you have credit card debt and are unable to pay off your credit card bills in full each month, you should
pay your credit card bill days or weeks before their due date. Let me tell you why. Each day you have money owed and interest is accrued. By paying long before the due date you are saving yourself these interests.
Just because you pay the minimum amount due, does not mean no more interests will be accrued the following month, it will decrease them if you pay early though. Interests are accrued until the balance is paid in full. That is why it is important to pay your balance in full each month.
5. Another variation, of the above tip for those with budget constraints is to
make micropayments. You can pay $5 each day to the credit card company, if they allow this to decrease the daily interest rates or even try splitting the bill in half, and pay half of it early and the other half by the due date.
*Remember to make sure that this method is okay with the company otherwise they may hold multiple payments for next month. Also, remember to clarify which payment goes to which cycle, never assume they know to avoid any fees and hassles. To read more on micropayments go here:
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/pay-credit-card-bill-early-and-save-2.aspx
6.
Don't spend more than 1/3 or 30% of your credit limit. Using any more than this and your credit score will go down. Now, if you do use more than 1/3 of your credit limit, just make sure to pay all the balances on time to avoid any charges. But, if you go this route, and you get a credit check mid-cycle and they see you are using more than 30%, your credit score will be lower, and this could affect that interest rate you get for that new car loan or mortgage.
7. Another thing that will affect your credit score is how frequent you authorize credit checks or credit inquiries, for example, to get that rewards card from retail stores like Victoria's Secret, Macy's, JCPenny's or Best Buy. The more hits you have of these the lower your score will be. Make sure to
avoid any hard credit checks authorizations a year prior to getting a big loan to ensure a higher score and a lower interest rate. Also,
make all your hard credit checks in one period, 30 days, and it will all count for a single inquiry, dampering your credit score only slightly.
To read about Credit Inquiries, click here:
http://credit.about.com/od/creditreportscoring/a/creditinquiry.htm
Well, I hope these tips help!!
Remember, you can get a
free credit report each year. Just go to:
www.freecreditreport.com 
