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Home >> Lending >> Credit Cards
Making Sure My Payment is Received On Time
My credit card company has received my check late a couple of times and charged me a late fee. What is the best way to get my payment to them on time? Sometimes I think they hold it just to get a late fee since I always mail my payments at least five mail delivery days in advance.
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 You have several options. Lets review them and you can determine which is best and cost effective.
1) Mail your payment earlier. This is the easiest way, but there is no assurance your payment won't still be slowed by the mailman. While late delivery is unusual, it isn't unheard of and should never be habitual if you send your payments a week or more in advance.
2) Send them certified mail. This is both time consuming and expensive. Do this if this were a very large payment and you want to track delivery. This could be certified or overnighted by UPS, FedEx, etc.
3) Use your banks internet banking and bill payment. This allows you to set a due date, and while many of these systems actually mail a check for you, you have a little more assurance that it will be on time, and if it isn't, your bank may have a guarantee that at least repays you the late fee.
4) Let your credit card company debit your account for the payment. This may be the hardest because you are allowing someone else to "touch" your account, but most companies are actually very good about doing this timely and correctly, and if it isn't done on time, who else can they blame so long as there were funds in your account and the bank wasn't closed due to some disaster. Some companies may charge a fee for this. You'll need to check with your credit card company.
On your concern that the company may hold the payment until there is a late fee, while that has happened it is rare. Some companies were fined heavily for that many years ago and that served as a wake up call. In most cases payments are applied the day they are received. If the mail gets to them late, it may be the following day. If you believe this is a trend on their part, however, you can ask who regulates them and file a complaint. If the regulator sees an unusual number of complaints, they'll certainly look into it. No institution wants the risks such a practice brings with it.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 11/02/06
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