I use a credit card company based in DE. I was told by their phone rep that it is against the law for them to hold a payment (that is, if they receive a payment, hold it for a day or two, then hit you with a late fee). What’s the dope on that?
My bill was due on 3/3, I mailed through the US post office it at 9am on 2/27. That’s four days for the mail to get there. Supposedly the credit card company only received it at 3/5, after six days.
The credit card company and I ended up splitting the late fee.
(I was considering threatening a cancellation before I called, but the lady was nice enough).
Two of those days were Sat & Sun. I’d say you cut it close. You don’t give your location so it’s hard to say what’s a reasonable time to get to Delaware. Also, they may be based in Delaware but where do you send the payment? Could be almost anywhere. I don’t know about the legality issue but it certainly could have taken until 3/6 for your payment to be received.
They may not be able to hold a payment after it arrives at their payments desk, but I don’t think there’s any law that says anything about how efficient their internal mail delivery system has to be.
In other words, the post office may deliver it to them 2 days after you mail it, but it may take 6-8 days to make its way through their building to the correct desk.
I’ve always been advised to make sure I mail the payment at least 10 days before the due date to make sure it gets credited properly.
Better yet, if your bank has an electronic bill-pay system, use that to send your payments. That way you know exactly what date they receive the money.
That’s fine if it’s truly electronic. With my bill payer service, it’s electronic if the payee is set up to receive payments that way; otherwise, the bank (or its third-party agent, like Metavant) just cuts a check and mails it. So, you can’t always count on being able to cut it close on the timing.
Best advice remains to allow 10 days, whatever method you’re using to making the payment. I’ve had checks mailed to me from the far side of my townhouse cluster (I’m the treasurer) that took a week to get here!
I don’t have a cite, but it’s probably almost safe to assume that a credit card company is set up to accept electronic payments. They want their money. The only company – credit or otherwise – that won’t accept electronic payments from me is Auto Group Insurance Co. (AAA). They receive a paper check from my bank, which really screwed me. Dang thing took 15 days to post to my account, so I was technically uninsured for a while there.
Typically checks are received by a lockbox check processor, which may be part of the issuing bank (i.e., your credit card comany) or a third party service. The check processor deposits the funds immediately after they are received (gotta get that cash ASAP)and prepares a data file of the deposits, forwards them on to the credit card company. The credit card company should credit you with a payment based on when the check was received and deposited, not when they get the data and finally get around to booking it. You should check the endorsement on your check to see if it shows when it was deposited, as well as your bank to see when it cleared, and see if that’s consistent with a 3/5 receipt date.
However, not clear what you’re really asking in the OP. The subject asks if it’s illegal to sit on payments just to be able to charge a late fee. Don’t know.