For the first time in my life, I finally got nailed by a $25 late fee. When I opened the letter I was very disappointed to see that somehow I hadn’t paid the monthly bill on our credit union credit card. We always pay the entire balance off each month and last month somehow we missed it. Arggh. To add insult to injury the total balance due on the card was only $29.
This was bound to happen sooner or later because I stopped getting paper copies of our bill a few months back and the only notification I get that the bill is due is an email. With the amount of email I get I just glossed over the notice.
Since this has never happened before and I maintain a balance of more than $30K in my credit union accounts, I decided to call them and play the “good customer and this never happens†card. I called and talked to a lady who was happy to remove the fee. Phew.
I don’t think this will happen again simply because I’ve learned my lesson. When I get one of those emails, I need to address it right away, as opposed to putting it off and thinking I’ll get back to it.
Check to see if they have an automated payment program which automatically deducts from your checking. I am setup this way at the bank and I always pay in full each month. And it deducts at the last possible moment (or you can choose the date of deduction as late as possible) to get the most float.
Thanks Tim. I’ll check in to that!
Wow, $30k in your CU accounts.. I would definitely link that sucker up to autopay from your bank account.
Good thing you had a great history with them. $25 for $29 balance would eat me alive.
Same thing happended to me once. I was able to have the fee removed too. If you have a cell phone with unlimited text you can set it up to get your alerts on your phone. That way the alerts do not get lost in email and you can still maintain control of when the payment is actually made.