crandc
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A small victory but the last 2 weeks have been so abundantly shitty that I'll take anything.
I get my credit card bill and it has a $25 "late fee". Being a tad OCD, I track when I receive and pay bills. I got this one August 10. I paid it August 17; this is one of the bills I pay by mail. The bill said the payment was processed August 24 and their due date is August 23. Aside from the fact that something mailed Aug. 17 should have arrived 6 days later, I had a better argument.
I called and waited on hold an incredible amount of time while a machine told me my call was of no importance whatsoever. Finally get a human and politely explain there was an error on my statement. She asked what and I said the $25 late fee. She explained my payment arrived Aug. 24 and the due date was Aug. 23. I said politely "yes, ma'am, but under the Federal Credit Card Reform Act of 2009 which went into effect Jan 1 2010, credit card companies are required to give customers 21 days to pay the bill and you only gave me 13." Dead silence for a minute, so I then politely informed her that she can look it up on the appropriate federal government web site, which also contains a link for filing complaints against credit card companies that do not comply.
She told me she was immediately reversing the $25 charge. I thanked her politely and hung up.
Most laws are written by and for the 1%. There are a few that benefit us and, ladies and gentlement, it helps to know them. I wonder how many customers have without questioning paid them $25 they do not owe because they didn't know the law?
I get my credit card bill and it has a $25 "late fee". Being a tad OCD, I track when I receive and pay bills. I got this one August 10. I paid it August 17; this is one of the bills I pay by mail. The bill said the payment was processed August 24 and their due date is August 23. Aside from the fact that something mailed Aug. 17 should have arrived 6 days later, I had a better argument.
I called and waited on hold an incredible amount of time while a machine told me my call was of no importance whatsoever. Finally get a human and politely explain there was an error on my statement. She asked what and I said the $25 late fee. She explained my payment arrived Aug. 24 and the due date was Aug. 23. I said politely "yes, ma'am, but under the Federal Credit Card Reform Act of 2009 which went into effect Jan 1 2010, credit card companies are required to give customers 21 days to pay the bill and you only gave me 13." Dead silence for a minute, so I then politely informed her that she can look it up on the appropriate federal government web site, which also contains a link for filing complaints against credit card companies that do not comply.
She told me she was immediately reversing the $25 charge. I thanked her politely and hung up.
Most laws are written by and for the 1%. There are a few that benefit us and, ladies and gentlement, it helps to know them. I wonder how many customers have without questioning paid them $25 they do not owe because they didn't know the law?
