Has this happened to you?

**joyb** · 03-15-2006, 01:19 PM

I wasn't sure where to post this, but one of the sub-forums here is rant and I guess this is a mini-rant so I am posting it here.
I once had quite a bit of credit card debt, but DH and I have work diligently to get everything paid. We now pay credit card bill in total when it comes to avoid interest charges. We have paid a lot of those in the past and don't ever want to have to do that again. We each keep one card for ease of purchase and for emergencies.
Well, this past month(February) I sent my payment on the 17th and my payment never got there. I checked with my bank and indeed the check was never cashed. Today we found out the same thing happened with my husband's payment on his card. Two different payments to two different CCs sent on two different days never got where they were going. So far it is costing us $5 to stop payment on each check, $20 late fee on mine, $39 on his plus interest on both cards. We did everything we should to pay these bills and someone somewhere lost or mismanaged the mail. The price of postage goes up everytime the moon changes and we still can't depend on our USPS.
I know things happen in this life and there's certainly much worse things. But doggone it, I have been so careful with my spending and someone else's mistake is costing us the money I was so careful not to spend.
Does anyone else's mail get lost? This was a first for me.

**nodmicks** · 03-15-2006, 01:25 PM

Yes it has a few times. Once with the electric compaNY AND ONCE WITH CITIBANK. Since youve been a good customer call them and ask them to remove the late charges. It'a a competitive business. Citibank was glad to remove ours.
As far as losing mail goes we once got a card we sent to my husbands cousin back the following summer with all kinds of stamps on it and practically shredded. I sure felt bad!

**joyb** · 03-15-2006, 02:04 PM

Rodmick, thank you so much for your advice. I called my CC company and was told to call back in a few days after my new payment cleared(gosh, I hope this one makes it through) and they would work with me as I have been a good customer. I have decided they will either remove the late fee or I will just cancel my card. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt as I have always paid on time before. Thanks again. Your advice has been very helpful and I appreciate it.

**madhen** · 03-15-2006, 02:26 PM

I pay all my bills electronically. My bank guarantees payment will be made or they will pick up any late fees/interest charges.

**nodmicks** · 03-15-2006, 03:29 PM

Good for you Joy!!!!

**joyb** · 03-15-2006, 03:32 PM

Thank you, madhen. I will certainly take that up with DH when he gets home from work. DH reported this situation to our post office and was told the mail ALWAYs get through. Yeah, right.

**madhen** · 03-15-2006, 03:42 PM

I have a small business on eBay, and I can attest to the fact that the mail does NOT always get through!!

What a jerk the postal worker was to say that.

If your bank offers on-line bill payment free (and most do), you might want to check it out. I had one situation where a direct deposit didn't go through, and about seven checks bounced. My bank not only reimbursed me for everything, but also sent out letters to each of the vendors taking full responsibility for the bounced checks. You can schedule the payments ahead of time, set up payments to go out automatically every week, month, etc, or just go in every time you have a bill and pay it piecemeal. I would never go back to mailing my bills. I'm too spoiled.

Also, you can think of it as not paying U.S.P.S. thirty-nine cents every time you send out an electronic payment!

**joyb** · 03-15-2006, 03:49 PM

Good idea. I will report all this great advice to DH. He's my computer genius and he can help me set all this up. You ladies are a fountain of information. Thanks to you all.

**joyb** · 03-15-2006, 03:49 PM

Good idea. I will report all this great advice to DH. He's my computer genius and he can help me set all this up. You ladies are a fountain of information. Thanks to you all.

guest7 · 03-15-2006, 03:50 PM

I'm going to look into electronic payments!!

**joyb** · 03-15-2006, 03:52 PM

My mail doesn't get through, but my post did. TWICE. My oops, I hit the submit button twice and it works.

**madhen** · 03-15-2006, 03:59 PM

I am NOT computer savvy (or only adequately so), and I have set up on-line bill payment on both of my bank accounts. It is usually pretty easy to do. You just need to set up your "payees," then pick which ones you want to pay and when.

It is a great way to prove that payment was sent, if it goes missing. I've only had that happen that one time with my banks (and that was a problem with a deposit not being recorded on time rather than payment not being received) and I've been doing on-line payments for over a decade now.

**shoefairy3** · 03-18-2006, 11:15 AM

i pay most of my bills on the bills direct site (90% of my cc's have a bill pay option) Cheaper than paying my bank for oniline bill pay since it is free on the bills site

**madhen** · 03-18-2006, 02:21 PM

Neither of the two banks that I use charge for on-line bill pay. A lot of cc's offer "auto" pay, but then you typically don't have any control as to when the money is taken out of your account. I don't like surprises! I had one set up for auto-pay, got an email saying the payment would be taken out in 6-7 days, and it was taken out two days later. And going to each individual site, logging in with a user name and password, getting to my account, and scheduling a payment, is just too much work for me.

**dcompton** · 03-18-2006, 03:57 PM

I'm one of the lucky ones who has free online bill pay through my bank. I had been paying through individual sites, but when a couple of years ago I really looked at the bank's option, I found it was indeed much easier and I could have kicked myself hard for not doing it sooner. It's really great and I cheerfully recommend to my friends who don't do it.

And by the way, my best friend works for the P.O. and would never, ever say that the mail always gets through. It doesn't. Accidents happen. Mistakes happen. And I'm sure that sometimes some not so accidental or mistaken things happen.