Chase: No minimum payment?
June 11, 2009
Here’s a new one on me. I slipped on scheduling my Chase credit card payment due to a number of excuses that just don’t matter. The due date was the 9th, and it wasn’t until a day later that I realized that I couldn’t remember paying the bill! I went back and forth with myself, checking banking and bill pay records to make sure it wasn’t just a glitch in my mental matrix.
*ugh* Nope, no record of paying it.
I quickly hopped online, made the necessary transfers to my checking account, and paid the bill, all the while, kicking myself and muttering under my breath about fools being parted from their planners.
In the follow-up phone call to the company to check the potential late fee and finance charge damage, I recalled that the balance due had never showed up in Yodlee. [Full disclosure, I’d been mucking about with my Chase account online and had signed on a number of times in the last two weeks so I knew the due date, it just got lost amidst the meetings, conference calls, and job applications.] I mentioned that I didn’t recall seeing any minimum payment amount listed online, was that just a glitch?
The customer service rep said that for some accounts, they weren’t requiring a minimum payment and that meant there’d be no late fee. [That’s really odd.] He also said that there would only be finance charges for the time elapsed between the due and payment dates, but he was sure that it’d be waived because of my activity history.
Chase was roundly berated earlier this year for charging $10 monthly service fees, and had to refund millions, but I had no idea that this other practice of not charging minimums even existed. Of course, the rep said not to count on it because he didn’t know what the rules were regulating the exceptions. That just makes me think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Has anyone else seen this before? Heard of it?
Me vs. Debt talked about it in her blog as well.
http://mevsdebt.blogspot.com/2009/05/feel-free-to-skip-payment.html
I haven’t heard of this, and I use Chase. Interesting. I got pretty riled up when they charged me a fee a year ago by mistake. I don’t like fees. š
Wow, that truly is a new one for me. Never heard of that. There are many people who probably have this option, but are not aware of it cuz they are on autopilot in paying it.
The Lost Goat: Thanks for the link!
frugalCPA: I hope they removed the fee for you! I’m not a fan of fees either. š
MoneyFunk: It’s a very strange option, but I guess it makes sense if they’re coming after you for interest payments. I fell for it! [Though, I didn’t know what I was even falling for so much as had a brain spaz.]
Ha! I WISH this had been my experience. I DID have a record of having told my bank to send a check, but since Chase doesn’t consider my check ledger to be sufficient evidence (and sinc emy bank wouldn’t write a formal letter accepting culpability for the charges), Chase charged us forty-dollar late fees on both our credit cards and wouldn’t budge. So we cashed out or rewards checks and closed most of our accounts.
“Of course, the rep said not to count on it because he didn’t know what the rules were regulating the exceptions”
LMAO – how can you still do business with these nitwits?
MoneyDummy: Gr, now that would have frustrated me to no end.
MoneyMonk: Because up to this point, they’re paying me a 1-5% discount in cash. Other than when I screw up, they haven’t cost me anything. I’m ok with that, I just have to remember not to forget payments!