by a.b.
So my husband has a great new BofA credit card with 0% interest for the next seven months, hopefully. Since it was a new card, I hadn’t put it in automated billpay yet. Unfortunately, this particular bill is due on the Columbus Day holiday. I set it up so that it would pay by today, but at last check it’s been pulled from my checking account, and not applied to the credit card.
After having a minor panic attack, I tried to cover my bases by setting up a transfer to the credit card as well. According to the bank, no matter how long it takes for the transfer to occur, it will post effective today.
I know that I’m panicking, but I don’t want to pay the ridiculous interest rate because of this mistake, that isn’t even a mistake. When I enter a request into BofA BillPay and it says it will deliver by today, I expect that to happen. I really only expect it to happen because it’s a BofA credit card. I know it’s not as simple as someone walking down the hall and saying, “Hi George, here’s a payment from Mrs. B,” but since the money is never leaving the BofA system, it darn well better be handled or I’m going to be severely peeved.
Even though they declare the Deliver By date an “estimate,” I did feel better when I read this:
If we fail to process a payment in accordance with your properly completed instructions, we will reimburse you any late-payment-related fees. Please contact Online Banking Customer Service to request that the fees be reversed.
So there is something that can be done in house to make it all come together. I will continue to panic until I see the payment post on the credit card bill. Something similar happened once before, and when the payment posted it did have the correct effective date, but a balance transfer wasn’t on the line. I just can’t see BofA wasting an opportunity to jack our interest rates up to 20%.
So I have learned my lesson, I’m just praying it doesn’t turn out to be an expensive one.
Update: It appears my payments posted as advertised, and two days before my due date. I’m grateful my mistake did not become bigger.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
My advice is never ever ever again let yourself even get near a due date for a credit card. Instead, schedule your monthly automated payment *from your checking account* for 3 to 4 days after your credit card billing cycle ends. That gives you an entire 20 days if something goes wrong with the payment to fix it.
If the card in question is one you use for monthly purchases, simply schedule the automated payment for an amount that you know will always cover the minimum payment. for example, I never charge more than $600 on my credit card. And I need a 2% minimum payment, which comes to $12. So I could get by on, say, an automated payment of $20 just to be secure. In fact, my auto pay is set up for $100. Then when I see the bill only on the statement ending date, I adjust the auto pay amount up to cover the entire bill.
But if I forget, I still won't get hit with interest rate increases and late charges, because my bank always autosends $100 to the account, more than taking care of the minimum payment.
I have been doing it this way for about 3 yearsand it has destressed my life immensely.
@bugbear: Thank you, I hadn't thought about the 2% minimum payment coverage. I was sort of kicking myself because this happened to me once many years ago. Afterwards, I fully automated all of my bills to pay within 5 days of the statement coming out. It keeps my stress to a dull roar and reduces the interest I'm paying while paying down my debt because it drops the average daily balance.
I became so automated, that when my husband got this new credit card one month ago, I completely forgot to add it to BillPay. Trust me, it won't happen again!
No problem!Keep in mind that some cards have gone to 4% minimum payments recently. You may want to check before setting up your autopay.