Bank tricks my wife screws up her credit to make a few cents profit...

[old mark]

My wife is paying off a large dentist bill with a credit arrangement she got theough the dentist's office. She pays online using a bank account-linked credit/debit card. She just got a notice yesterday from the dental billing outfit saying her payment was late - again - and she is being charged a late fee ans her interest rate is now near 30%. Turns out the bank from which she takes the money to pay this bill (every month, on time) debits her account immediately , but does not pay the bill for a week afterwards, probably transferring the money into a pool account to make interest or some such scheme before transfering it to the debt holder. This has caused my wife's payment to shpw up late, no matter when she actually pays it, leaving us with late fees, high interest and a "bad mark" on the credit rating.

FWIW, it's Sovereign Bank, and we are closing the account, our last account not in a credit union, and one we started years ago solely to use to pay bills online.

Wanted to share this - check ALL online transactions carefully - Banks are not your friends.

mark

[rfranklin]

1. Sounds like fraud...

do they tell you that they will not make payments for a week after debiting your account. If not, they are responsible for correcting your credit problem.

[SoCalDem]

2. The problem is that some banks actually cut real checks and mail them

so they need a "lead" time to make sure a payment';s not late,, WaMu's online bill pay said "estimated delivery date"..

One would think that they would do it all electronically, but some do not..

The one time this happened to me, I printed out the page that showed the money was removed from my account, and they waived the late charge...but they did also tell me to be sure and add a few days to what the bank claimed was "enough"

[old mark]

8. We found this out after my wife called them yesterday. The dates we

told them to pay the bill are on our computer, and the bank's record. They simply delayed payment after taking the funds from our account, for whatever reason - I assume for profit.

The only reason we had this account was to pay bills online to avoid checks, late fees, etc. We do all our banking asind from that at our Credit Union, which didn't have online services then. They do now, and we are closing our last remaining commercial bank account this month.

Check your credit card receipts for dates if you pay online - make sure you are not being used.

mark

[exboyfil]

3. It is really getting weird out there

I have a coworker who paid a medical bill with his Health Savings Account Debit card. The bill was due and paid about a month ago. The hospital claims it did not receive payment and has already turned over the bill to a collection agency. I can't even imagine why they would do this after one month.

[Vinca]

4. Get a copy of the payment record and mail it to the dental billing outfit.

Complain to your state's banking commission. Don't let the bums get away with it!

[yy4me]

5. I'd report this to my state Attorney General. They are stealing

your money for a week for their own gain. It may take some time but I bet even the threat of doing this would make then refund what they have messed up.

THis is egregious behavior.

I'm waiting for B OF A to pull some kind of a cutie on me. Everyone I know seems to be talking about some kind of mistreatment by larger banks. I switched all my banking to my small local bank but unfortunately have a CC balance with B of A. I have an interest rate of 9.5% so I'm quiet about it for now. When that is paid, I will get a CC locally.

[SmileyRose]

6. This is illegal

by federal law they have to handle electronic transfers within 24hrs and they have to have a paper check in the mail within 24 hrs. They also have to process all deposits within 48 hrs, including international transactions.

Contact the creditor for the dental bill, explain what happened and provide whatever proof they request to show the date of your payment request at your bank, and the date the money was removed from your account. They may work with you as long as no more payments are late - meaning change how you pay and write a check yourself 2 weeks in advance of the due date.

this should be easily solved.

[Buzz Clik]

7. It's illegal.

[piratefish08]

9. Report them to your State AG immediately - Illegal!

Find other victims online and file a class action suit.

[high density]

10. Seems to be a misunderstanding about how online bill pay works

The bank will either issue an electronic payment or a physical check that gets mailed depending on who you are paying. It sounds like the dentist office is not set up for electronic payments, so the bank is mailing them a check on your wife's behalf. You need to give the bank time to print the check and the USPS time to deliver it. Then your dentist office has to enter the payment into their system. I'd give this process at least six business days. Most banks indicate which payees are electronic and which ones are paper.

If the payment is truly late "no matter when she pays it," I'm guessing this is a problem at your dentist office and not your bank. I assume your other bill pays are working properly.

[old mark]

11. I didn't explain this well. The dentist will set you up with a credit

card that is only good for dental bills at their office. We are paying a credit company online via EFT, not the dental office - they got their money already from the credit company that holds our debt, plus they are charging us 29+% interest.
Tha bank is the one that is doing this - we were in touch with the credit company yesterday and they told us when they got paid, and we told them when we authorized payment.....it's the bank.


mark

[Tracer]

12. I don't get it.

If your wife has the money in the bank to pay the dentist, why doesn't she just write a check each month and avoid the CC entirely?

[high density]

14. "online via EFT"

How do you do initiate that EFT, from the credit card company's website or from your bank's website? It sounds like you're probably submitting it at your bank's website and you really need to confirm that the online bill pay is truly an EFT and not a check being mailed. The bank does not have a slush fund that they put pending bill pays into for a few days. The money goes out of the bank either via ACH (EFT) or paper check on the day the money is withdrawn. The payee should then have any ACH payments posted to your account within 3 business days.

There are times when bank infrastructure failures may delay this processing, but that is a very rare occurrence. (I worked for a bank that outsourced our billpay service and issues did come up a few times with the contractor.)

[lonestarnot]

13. Same trick done to me, didn't pay, won't pay not now not ever!