Disputing credit card changes advice sought

Last spring I bought a digital camera at Circuit City using a free interest for several months offer. When I received the first bill and a new Visa card, I found that it was thru Chase. Last month I was a couple of days (literally)late with the payment. In my defense, when first received the bill, I only had about seven or ten days before the due date and I let it sit on the shelf for a week thinking I had more time. This month I find I am socked with a $35 late payment fee and a $1 interest charge, all on a $300 balance. Now I am sure if I read the fine print, what they did is probably spelled out but I am wondering the best way for me to dispute the charge and possibly get them to rescind it and also is there a minimum allowed time to pay by law when receiving the bill. Should I call Chase directly or Circuit City? Is Chase part of Circuit City or entirely separate? I have spent mucho dollars thruout the year at Circuit City. What wording should I use for my best chance to have the charges be dropped?

This is just one of the new things that credit card companies are doing these days. (Less time between billing date and due date.) I had a late charge reversed a while back. I just called and asked for it to be reversed, gently reminding them that I get at least 5 credit card offers a week. I have had the card for some years so I don't know if that matters, but I did mention it. Also it wouldn't surprise me at all that one late payment could bump your interest rate and/or make interest due on the full amount of the "interest free" purchase. Good luck!

Call Chase, say it is your first late so can they drop it? remember to say "please"

The Citi Simplicity card is pretty good. As long as you use the card at least once during each billing period they'll waive any late charges.

If this is your first time late and it was only a few days late, they may be inclinded to drop those fees. Call the card's CS dept. number and ask nicely.

Go through the 800 number listed for your account/card. If it is in conjunction with Circuit City and they have access to records on how much you spend with them--they might be willing to dump the penalties. There is really nothing for you to "dispute". They wrote the rules and you signed that you would follow them. Most of the companies out there seem to be in the 20-25 day range for grace periods—so unless yours was special, it was not a huge change.

If you tend to carry balances (i.e., pay interest), the CC company themselves might be willing to wave the fees to keep you as a happy customer.

Whatever happens, go look for another card with better terms (based on your needs). They are out there. There are a couple websites out there that track credit cards and ranks the good against the bad.

And, never carry a balance on any credit card... That is a disaster waiting for you and a cash cow for the CC company. Pretend your Credit Cards are checks and you only use them if you have the money in the bank and can pay off the balance at the end of the month.

And terms will change over time—so you have to keep watch on that too. My credit union had a good program for decades, then changed to MBNA. Within a year, got the notice that they would be adding fees upon fees for everything (the breaker for us was excess fees for currency exchanges while traveling). Called to drop them and the MBNA agent lied to my face… Told me there where no fees of the type I complained about—so I started reading the 6 page notification of fee changes to the agent and they quickly canceled my card.

AMEX through Costco has pretty good terms and 1-3% cash back too (don't know about interest charges).

Here seems to be a reasonably easy to use site to look at the Credit Card basics (interest rates, grace periods, annual fees, etc.). I am sure that there are better sites out there.

Yahoo Finance Credit Card Listings

-Bill

After you hopefully get the late charges reversed, Never let time slip away and send it in late again. The credit card companys make their major money from folks sending in their payments in even a day late. Then the CC co. can bump the interest rate up near the international space stations elevation. The worst part is it is legal for them to do this.

I have always gotten unfair charges removed from my credit cards. Call the 800 number and ask for the retention department. When you get transferred their say you want to close your account, and when they ask why, you have license to launch into a tirade hahaha.

They'll do just about anything to keep your account open; remove fees, reduce interest rate, etc. I'm pretty sure your Circuit City card is a revolving account, which means they make $$$$ when you carry a balance. You might have to "promise" them to use the card... usually that means you have to charge $20 or more within the following three months... no big deal.

Anybody know how I can find a number for Chase that allows me to talk to a real customer service agent? The number listed on my statement and also on the initial agreement papers only direct you to an automatic information line. The directions in the statement tell you to mail in disputes but I don't want to do that.

Bob G, thanks. That's a great site and I've bookmarked it in my favorites. However earlier in the day, I called Circuit City and they gave me a number to call Chase that worked. The account representative readily cleared the late fee but let it known that was the only time it would happen. I thought that was fair. I only got that credit card to buy the digital camera at Circuit City and give me a few months to pay it off. Next month I will finish paying it off and then cancel the card as the interest rates are quite horrible compared to much of the competition.

Yeah Bob, Great site. bookmarked it myself and even saved the page to my pc.

BB said:

And, never carry a balance on any credit card... That is a disaster waiting for you and a cash cow for the CC company. Pretend your Credit Cards are checks and you only use them if you have the money in the bank and can pay off the balance at the end of the month.

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I usually try to do this, but if I make a several hundred dollar purchase that can't be paid off in a month, I usually try to send a 100 per month minimum instead of the basic 15 or so they charge. And I pay online through electronic payments and skip all the stamp/postal hassle. It ensures a timely payment.

Likewise, rather then have a $4800 condo roof job assessment tacked on to my condo fees for five years, I put it on a credit card that is 4.something percent until the balance is paid off. I've been paying on it for nearly two years, hope to have it paid off by this time next year. The secret of course is to make sure and not tack anything else on the credit card. There are certain circumstances where credit cards can be a life saver even if it puts you in debt for a period of time.

Probably about 15 years or so ago, my roommate at the time was in pretty heavy credit card debt. His montly minimum payment was actually less then the monthly interest meaning if he only made the minimum payments he would go further into debt. I wonder if any credit cards still hold that practice.