The Late Payment Trap That I Fell Into

by Scott
(Texas)

I received this brilliant little package in my mail recently carrying a credit card offer that had an unbelievably low monthly rental and interest rates and a very attractive credit cap.

I decided to immediately go for this once in a life time deal, or so I thought. However, little did I know, there was a trap waiting just for people like me who think they are too smart.

The thing is that I never thought that there was a loophole anywhere with this credit card offer because I had already gone through the exhaustive fine print. My wife and I used the credit card for a slew of things ranging from groceries to a night out in town. We made sure to keep the use simple and basic because we had heard of all the credit card problems.

The problems began when I received the credit card statement on 24th December with a due date of 25thDecember. My immediate reaction was that the postal service may have messed up. I now trusted the card company and hence used the card even more expansively the following month.

However, the real shock came when I got the next statement. I received the next statement on the 23rd January and obviously I was not worried as I still had a couple of days to pay up. However, later I realized that the due date of the payment had been pushed forward to 20th January and I had been charged with a late fee of a whopping 29 percent.

I had to pay because, as my lawyer friend told me, technically the company did nothing wrong. I now realize that this is a regular tactic used by credit companies.