Credit Card Interest Personal Battle Update

In a previous post I reported on the result of having forgotten to pay my credit card bill one month. I was hit with interest for three consecutive statements, even though each of the three times I paid off the bill in full plus the amount owing on purchases too late to appear on the bill.

I was unable to square the wording of my credit card agreement with the way I’ve been charged interest. It seemed to me that I shouldn’t have been charged any interest the third month. So, I was left unsure of my status.

This led me to start my own personal battle with the credit card company. I haven’t paid for anything with a credit card for a month now. My latest bill arrived with no interest charged and no amount owing. Hopefully this means I can start using it again without being charged interest. If not, I’ll have to break down and call them (shudder).

Based on my experience, it seems that you could fail to pay your bill in full just a few times per year to end up paying interest on almost all purchases.

Comments

  1. Michael JamesSeptember 23, 2009 at 9:43 AM

    No Debt Guy: I had never heard of a bank offering monthly balance payments. This would be very convenient. I think I will call.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Michael JamesOctober 31, 2020 at 8:52 AM

      This comment is a reply to No Debt Guy's comment:

      Call them! Lucky this only happened to me once, but I have mistyped in the date when I was paying my credit card online. Needless to say it was paid three days after the due date.

      I called them, explained and they deducted half of the interest. Naturally I wanted all of it deducted, but I did make the error and they owed me nothing.

      It was at this time I set up automatic monthly balance payments. I am thinking this only works if your credit card is from the bank you deal with.

      Call them!!

      Delete
  2. Big Cajun ManSeptember 23, 2009 at 12:41 PM

    Calling and stating that you missed paying your bill on time and they should reconsider their Credit Charges works as well. I called Mastercard and they forgave the interest and my card had no more interest on it.

    Keep tiling at those Windmills Mr. Quixote.

    ReplyDelete
  3. geneSeptember 23, 2009 at 7:01 PM

    I have an autopay feature for my CIBC Visa card that works well. My PC Mastercard doesn't offer this service.

    Like No Debt Guy, I signed up for the Visa autopay after I screwed up my payment (in my case for the umpteenth time).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tom @ Canadian Finance BlogSeptember 27, 2009 at 1:22 AM

    I'd call them and see about that second month.

    Maybe set up monthly reminders in a program like Outlook or Google Calendar?

    ReplyDelete

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