Another Example of Being Careful Making a Credit Card Payment

Dear Bob,

- In August of '04, I was moving from California to Dallas, TX and I lost my checkbook in the meantime so I couldn't send my payment to Chase Credit Card. I called them to let them know the situation and they said I can make payment by phone but they'll charge $10 to do so. Well, I was a college student at the time so $10 goes a long way. I refused and told them that I'll make the payment on-line. They said okay. I made the payment on-line and it was a done deal. Well, the next months statement said that I didn't make a payment and they charged with a late fee and everything else they could think of. I called them immediately to find out what happened. Well, they had the wrong acct number that I had originally entered. I confirmed with them that if the internet system works and they said yes. So I tried again and it showed an accepted payment. Unfortunately, the situation occurred again and the payemnt quadrupled. Every assistant I talked to did not help me at all and gave no grace, but just demanded the payment. There was no solution. Eventually the payments were so high that I couldn't make it. I left it alone and they handed my acct to the collection agency. I talked to an agent and he himself was surprised because I've had perfect credit since '98 and all of a sudden there was a tragedy. I had to transfer all funds to one credit card and continue making high payments with that card. Is there anything that I could have done, or anything I could still do in that/this situation? Thanks.

Henry

You are not going to like this answer. The bottom line is that the payment (regardless of the issue) did not make it to the account. My assumption is that the payment was never drawn from your account. If it was drawn from your account and credited elsewhere, then that would be a different story.

They look at it from the standpoint that the payment never arrived. From their standpoint you could use any excuse as a reason for not making a payment. It is unfortunate. It is a sleazy system set out to damage credit for the smallest of mistakes.

Keep the Faith

Bob