How to Avoid Credit Card Late Fees
If you are receiving credit card late fees it is time to wake up and start to do something about your situation. By failing to make payments on time you will just harm your credit rating which will impact on your whole economy. The sad truth is that often those payments are missed not because the money isn't available on your account, but because you didn't bother to send the payment on time.
The more fees you are charged, the more popular you will become in the eyes of your credit company. The reason is obvious as credit card late fees and over limit fees are a big source of income to companies issuing credit cards. Sending in a $50 payment late can cause your credit balance to increase if a $30 over limit fee and a $35 late payment fee are standard for your lender.
Pay those bills on time every month. If you have trouble getting organized, make a list of your credit accounts and the payment due dates and post it where you will see it often. One trick of lenders is to change the date due and it seems that every change is to an earlier day. It makes no sense as there's no reason for dates to be different every month - except it results in late payments and more fees.
Schedule Your Monthly Bills
The best method of paying your monthly credit card bills is to schedule them to pay just after the bill is received each month. You don't have to worry about due dates if you use this method. Chances are the bill arrives almost on the same date every month so list a date 5 days after that average date as when you will pay that bill. Problem solved - as long as you have the money for the payment.
There is no excuse that lenders will accept to justify a late payment. They may sympathize with accident or illness excuses, but the late fees will still be charged. In extreme cases, the lender may grant you extra time to pay but that does not cancel out late fees that will be added to your balance.
The only exception is if you use an online account to make payments and they sent the payment late or to the wrong account in error. This very seldom happens but if it should the credit provider may allow a one-time exception and remove late fees. If they don't, you may have an agreement with the payment site that provides repayment to you of any late fees caused by their error.
In Rare Cases...
A lender may allow you to skip one or more payments on your account but this is rare (and will likely not happen). Some lenders have a skipped payment as an option that you can use once a year and in this case a late fee is not charged. However, you are charged the interest for the month you didn't pay so don't take the options unless you can't avoid it.
If you have a minimum payment due of $200, it's possible that $80 or more dollars of that amount is interest charged for the month. If you skip that payment you won't have to pay $200 this month - but your balance will rise by $80.
If you are strapped for cash, you might be tempted to pay only the minimum amount due on your credit card statements. You might have to do this occasionally but it's a bad practice and will hurt your credit rating if you pay only the minimum due each month.
By setting aside money to pay credit card bills each payday you can avoid credit card late fees and interest rate increases associated with them. This will take discipline on your part but once you establish the habit of paying bills on time, you will never need to worry about late fees again.
