Query regarding questionable late fee

Hi, I have a Visa credit card issued by an Irish bank. A statement was issued on the 4th of November and due date was the 29th. I made a payment in excess of the minimum on the 16th of November. I then made a payment on the 4th of December for my December payment and subsequently received a statement with date of issue as the 4th of December. I received a statement in January with a late fee applied. On questioning the late fee I was informed that the payment on the 4th of December was treated as a payment for the November period and that no payment was received in December.
Long story short...by paying on the date of issue of the statement can that be considered as a payment for the previous month?
Any thoughts/advice greatly appreciated.
Noel

Another stupid fee on the consumer. Change Credit Card supplier at once, if you have any cop on.

Unfortunately this is a standard process for all CC companies AFAIK. You are required to pay at least the minimum required amount each month following issue of the statement in order to avoid a late payment fee. 2/3 payments in the previous month are not sufficient for this purpose. You can certainly plead your case with the CC company and they may be prepared to refund the fee.
As an aside you must be aware of the high cost of using your CC for longer term borrowing. Almost any other method of borrowing will be cheaper.

Thanks for the feedback. The CC has already been paid in full and cancelled. The purpose of the card was for a recent trip to the US where I was informed that the car rental company may not accept a debit card.
November payment was paid before due date and December payment was made on the same date as the December statement was issued. If a statement is issued on the 4th of the month and payment is made on the same day the statement is issued, 4th of the month, am I being penalised for not waiting to receive the statement in the post? The late fee is an annoyance, my main concern is any impact on credit rating.

No impact on credit rating. There is a logical rationale for imposing the minimum monthly payment which is to ensure that there is at least an acceptable level of repayment to the card balance each month. The T&C's should be pretty clear on this requirement and the associated penalty. Failure to meet this payment is not equivalent to a loan default & would not lead to any credit rating risk!!