Credit Card late fee iregularities

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NDK123

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Hi,
I've got a credit card which I direct debit out of my account on the 10th of each month. Looking at my statements my due date has been the 8th of the month. They have been charging me a late fee every month even though I have been paying more than the min payment to them on the 10th of every month.
I agree I should be charged a late fee for the first month as my payment was due on the 8th and I payed on the 10th but I don't see how they can continue to charge me a late fee for every following month as I've actually payed them really early in the month (2 days after the previous due date).
I've contacted them and they say that my card is being processed between the 8th and the 11th of each month and that my payment goes in as late but still gets counted in that month and therefore I am late for the next month again as this pattern reoccurs. Is this legal to charge me a late fee every month even though I'm making a repayment every month. I know now I can just change my DD date but can I recoup the late fees I've already payed as the credit card company say I cannot. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
NDK123 said:
Hi,
I've got a credit card which I direct debit out of my account on the 10th of each month. Looking at my statements my due date has been the 8th of the month. They have been charging me a late fee every month even though I have been paying more than the min payment to them on the 10th of every month.
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Paying more than the minimum payment is irrelevant to this situation. Your payment is late. In fact, you should be making your DD for 2/3 days before the credit card bill due date.

NDK123 said:
I agree I should be charged a late fee for the first month as my payment was due on the 8th and I payed on the 10th but I don't see how they can continue to charge me a late fee for every following month as I've actually payed them really early in the month (2 days after the previous due date).
Click to expand...

Your late payment is a late payment, not a prepayment off the following month's bill.

NDK123 said:
I've contacted them and they say that my card is being processed between the 8th and the 11th of each month and that my payment goes in as late but still gets counted in that month and therefore I am late for the next month again as this pattern reoccurs. Is this legal to charge me a late fee every month even though I'm making a repayment every month. I know now I can just change my DD date but can I recoup the late fees I've already payed as the credit card company say I cannot. Any advice would be appreciated.
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I'm sure that the charge they're levying is covered by terms & conditions.

FWIW, my December Mastercard bill was due for payment on 24 December. I knew I'd be busy doing other things that day so used a facility to set-up a future dated payment from my current account to the credit card. When the payment was processed, there were insufficient funds in my current account so the payment was not processed. I realised this when I saw an interest charge on my December bill. I dislike paying credit card interest and do what I can to avoid it. The interest on this bill is my fault and provides motivation for me to not repeat my error.
 
I have no problem paying a late fee when I miss a payment as I did on the first occasion but where I fail to understand this is that, I can get charged a late fee 2 months in a row with a sufficient payment in the middle. If i kept my current DD date, then I would be making my payments each month but receiving late fees every month also. I find this confusing. The "month" for the credit card company seems to go from 11th to the 8th and anything I pay in the remaining 3 days from 8th to 11th is irrelevant.
 
I think your view of how your credit card account should work, and how it actually works, are out of kilter. Your view is costing you money. I suggest you consider taking the CC provider's view ;) ?
 
NDK123 said:
...
I've got a credit card which I direct debit out of my account on the 10th of each month...
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Are confusing a standing order and a direct debit.

If you signed up for a Direct Debit by your CC provider then they schedule the debit and take payment according to their calendar. If they are taking payment late then you shouldn't be charged late fee.

If you pay by standing order then you pick the day/date of the withdrawal from your account and it then goes by giro/credit transfer to your CC account. If it is late then you will be charged late fees!
 
Maybe I'm just looking at this all the wrong way, I was looking at it as the late repayment for 1 month would be seen as being early for the next. I was confused that when I'm paying every month that I was getting charged a late fee every month also. It was a standing order and I will obviously change it to be early for the repayments.
Thanks for all the advice!
 
I was looking at it as the late repayment for 1 month would be seen as being early for the next.
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It's a very interesting way of looking at it which I had not thought of before. Let's see how it might work

| January| February|March
Due date|8|8|8
minimum payment|€100|€100|€100
Paid date|11|11|11
Paid amount|€200|€200|€200
You are saying that the €100 in January is 3 days late, but that the February payment was made on 11 January, almost a month early.

That is not the way the credit card company looks at it though.

There is a new minimum payment due on 8th January. Eaten bread is soon forgotten.

You can reduce the minimum payment amount in February and pay it early in March.

A very fair credit card system would allow for your system. If you pay in full in January, it would treat the minimum in February as paid in advance. I suspect that the Central Bank would not allow it. It is a good discipline to pay off your credit card in full every month. But it is essential to make some payment every month, even if you can't make the full payment.

Brendan
 
Yes, That's exactly what I was trying to say, badly perhaps!
I fully understand the first late fee but not the subsequent ones.
I've changed my standing order date now anyhow.
Thanks.
 
NDK

If you are a good customer, you could ask them to waive the fees.

They do have some discretion in this.

Brendan
 
In Brendan's example what hasn't been factored in is the billing date though. If your payment is due on the 8th of the month, then you probably have a billing date of around the 20th of the month, ie the date your bill is issued to you. Your payment then falls due between the billing date of the 20th of the month, and the payment due date of the 8th of the following month. Any payments made to your credit card before your billing date are already factored into any minimum payment due.
 
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