I used it for dental work.
But I won’t be using it anymore…
So, auntie em, what happened?
Zev Steinhardt
Zev! Just the person for whom I was looking! For a couple of days, I kept forgetting to bring the number to work with me to call them. (Sure, I could have called them from home, but I don’t like to spend free time on this crap.)
Today, I remembered, and they waived the fee, just like that! I was informed, however, that the late payment would still show up on my record, thus preventing me from getting a credit line increase for six months. Boo hoo.
So now it’s official–I’m done, done, done with Capital One! I considered just having him close my account while I had him on the phone, but I feared that if they knew that was my intention, they might rescind that whole “late fee waiver” thing. So I’m waiting until I get written documentation that I owe them NO MORE MONEY before I close the account.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Zev!!
Now the question is, what am I gonna do with that extra 30 bucks? I’d buy you dinner, but it’d be a hell of a drive… 
**
You’re very welcome. 
Nah. Just hop on your tornado… 
Zev Steinhardt
Honey, that’s how my niece travels. I prefer a limo.
More evidence of the power of “just call the credit card company and ask”: earlier this month, I called the issuer of one of my credit cards and asked for an APR reduction. With no haggling at all, he dropped my rate from 19.9 to 13.9. I could probably have gotten it even lower if I’d haggled.
Calling your credit card company and asking for stuff: catch the fever!
You know, the whole “Just Call And Ask” phenomenon falls under the heading of Things It Doesn’t Occur To Me To Do. Not because I think they’re bad things to do, it just… doesn’t ever occur to me to do them.
Like, it doesn’t occur to me to walk out of a movie I dislike (nor would it occur to me to ask for my money back at the box office, even if it did occur to me to walk out of the movie).
It doesn’t occur to me to pawn things for emergency cash (although I did recently unload a bagful of clothing at a consignment store, and walked away with 65 bucks… perhaps I’m learning!).
It doesn’t occur to me to haggle at a garage sale. Tag says five bucks, I either pay five bucks or walk away.
You get the picture. It’s not all stuff to do with money–those were just the examples that came off the top of my head–but there are quite a few “sensible solutions” which just escape me on a regular basis…
I could be a lot richer right now.
By the way, auntie em, I wouldn’t be too hard on Capital One. It’s not like there was a CapOne exec sitting there with a list of delinquent accounts saying “Hmm… Em’s a day late, let’s sock it to her…” Your late fee was all done automatically by computer. The computer sees who hasn’t paid by the date and charges the late fee.
Zev Steinhardt
Oh, Zev, I realize that one mustn’t take these things personally… but it’s much more fun to kvetch about if you do!
And would it kill the computer to incorporate a grace period? 
I’m a newe customer of capital one and like the YE consolidated statement, the fact there are no annoying telemarketing calls from them nor annual fee, I like the online access and money market availability. I used to have Bank one and they showered the gifts on us, and waived the late fee at least three times in our relationship. CapOne lured the business away with a better rate.
Well so far it’s been 4 days and no overlimt fee so that is a good sign. I’m not concerned about my credit rating, because it was crap when I got this card.