Ever Been Almost Late With a Credit Card Payment?

Factual Questions
1

…And so you called 'em and did an “instant payment” against your checking account which costs you 15 bucks?

Well, that’s happened to me twice in the last two months now.

Could be Alzheimer’s, could be I’ve got a lot on my mind (what with RN school and work and stuff), and I’m letting the due date creep up on me to where I remember it before the due date, and but not long enough before to where I won’t go past due. (Most places require three business days to post a payment).

So anyway, in addition to costing a 15 dollar fee, does this also reflect on my credit history?

Thanks

Q

2

Not to my knowledge. I’ve done that before, and I check my credit report yearly. Haven’t seen any ding for it yet! :smiley:

3

No, it doesn’t reflect on your credit history.

AFAIK, a payment has to be at least 30 days late to be reported to the credit bureaus.

4

I actually called my credit card bank (MBNA) about this, cuz I was late for the first time ever in 8 years of being a cardholder. I called about 4 days after the payment was due.

I asked if they could do anything for me and help keep the late payment off my credit score. They said it wouldn’t be on my credit score at all, don’t worry about it.

So you weren’t even late, I wouldn’t sweat it.

5

Exactly.

If you’ve always been prompt with your payments, you can also ask to have the late charge removed. Often, they will.

This happened to us twice recently, on two different credit cards. We just moved, and our mail was messed up for a while. I called both companies, and asked nicely if the charge could be waived because we’d never been past-due before. Both companies waived the fee immediately.

6

If your credit card has online payment (even if you’ve never used it before), you might be able to pay it online with no extra charges, depending on what time of day it is (if it’s due today, and you pay after 2:00, you’re out of luck, for example). I’d check into that option for the future.

7

Yes, online payments. I have three cards I use for different merchants and pay them online. I still get paper statements, but have an automatic email reminder a week before the one that cycles first is due. The others are due 3 days later. I’ve started paying them all on the day I receive the reminder.