I just got off the phone with HSBC !@?*!%@!

[county worker]

I make my payment on line on the due date. I got a late charge! They said I have to make the payment before the due date or will get charged a late charge! WTF?

[dionysus]

1. are you serious?!? i pay my mortgage on the 15th and never get hit... wtf...

i'd get a manager on the phone and get them to drop the fee, they can do that if you complain enough (trust me)

[notadmblnd]

10. good luck with that.

they closed all their offices in my state and now you only can get in touch with collectors working from India. If the OP gets a eal live American on the phone who actually has the authority to do anything, I'll be surprised.

[dionysus]

14. ah, when i cleared my problem up it was in person at the local branch...

yeah that's not happening over the phone.

[kjackson227]

19. Me too, and my lender is the dreaded Wells Fargo.

[graywarrior]

2. Capital One did that to me once

I paid online on the date due and they charged me a late fee. When I called and asked they said I had to pay before the due date. They are filthy rotten bastards.

[HopeHoops]

3. Um, "DUE DATE" is pretty unambiguous.

I think it is time to file a written complaint with any and every agency that is relevant.

[Statistical]

9. They played that game with me too.

They say due date = payment received.
When you "pay online" it is a check draft and they receive it the next day.
So you are requessting a check draft on due date and your bank gives them the $$$ the next day = late.

Yeah crappy!
There was a time when common sense ruled. Common sense is guying paying online is making a good faith effort to pay you.

Not know more. Need a lawyer just to use a credit card.

I pay twice a month to make sure they don't play that scam.

Statement comes out on 11th I have an automatic payment every 12th for $100. Then on the 1st I figure out how much more I can pay down.

[HopeHoops]

12. They are required to post the terms for online payment.

Most say "Payments received by 3:00 p.m will be credited the same day" or something like that. If they don't post the terms, then they can't be charging a late fee. That's deceptive and worth challenging.

[Statistical]

16. Exactly. Payments RECEIVED.

Some of them don't consider an online draft to be payment received.
They consider when the bank pays them the payment received.

Or at least that is what I think they said. Hard to understand them.

[asjr]

21. Common sense is headed for oblivion.

I have had calls sometimes 3 or 4 times a day from one company telling me it is my last chance to get a lower interest rate on my credit cards. I have had at least 30 last chances. And I do not have any credit cards. They tell me (automated voice) to press 3 if I no longer want calls. The 3 has vanished from the keyboard I have pressed it so many times.

[dkf]

4. That totally sucks.

You should get an auto deduction for your minimum. That is what I do. If I pay it all off before the deduction date, then the auto pay doesn't go through.

I do this all at the same credit union and it works really well.

[napi21]

5. First I have to ask you...did you make the online payment before 2PM

on the due date? The reason I ask is becaue most banking operations have a cut off processing time of 2 or 3 PM every day, so if you made the payment at say 3:30 PM or later, it would be considered the next day's business.

If you made it early enough in the day, I'd call them back and insist on speaking to a supervisor!!!!

[Ms. Toad]

13. That is for check processing

Because of the times banks must make funds available by law, they are permitted to cut off processing by a certain time for purposes of when the funds will be available.

It shouldn't be applicable unless your agreement with the entity you are paying has a time clause (i.e. due by 3 pm on the due date). (In other words, whether they can deposit your check (or payment) in time for the daily cutoff is irrelevant to whether they received payment.)

[napi21]

22. Maybe not, but I can tell you that I pay all my bills on line, and

MOST of them say "after XXPM, payment will be processed the next day. That's not only financial institutions but utilities, cable co. etc.

I usually schedule my payments a day or two before the "due date" in the event I encounter some problem, ie net connection down, problem with the web site. I won't give them ANY excuses to hit me with some stupid fee!

[Ms. Toad]

23. If you are using an online account

from which you direct the bank to send $ to other utilities that is a different issue. Your relationship with the bank will govern when and how quickly they can process the payments. Whatever rules they have set up to provide this convenience on your behalf is what will govern when they process the payment from their end - and regardless of whether they follow their own internal rules, you are ultimately responsible for getting the payment to the payee by the due date.

Bottom line, if you use an intermediary for your convenience (like on-line bill paying, or paying your utility bills to the bank), you will be stuck with whatever additional rules the bank imposes AND if the bank screws up the ultimate payee does not have to excuse your failure since it is your responsibility to get the payment to the payee by the end of the day on the day it is due. In other words, even if you schedule your pays a day or two before the due date you are not necessarily safe.

Our on-line payments are actually mailed by the bank, rather than electronically transferred. We normally allow 5-7 days to reach the payee, depending on whether it is in town or out of town. If the mail is delayed, as it has been a couple of times, we're out of luck. Same deal as when we were mailing payments directly. One time we paid $10 for express mail since we cut it short and only had 4 days to get the payment to the payee on time. Even though the USPS "guarantees" second day delivery, it arrived there (150 miles away) fourteen days after we mailed it, we were charged a late fee by the payee (our mortgage company). It isn't any different if you hand your money to the bank (or direct them to pay the bill on your behalf), it it doesn't arrive to the payee's location on time they can legally charge you a late fee.

Legalities aside, if you have a history of paying on time through an intermediary, payees are usually pretty good about waiving fees. The mortgage company reviewed our record, and our efforts to get the payment there on time, and waived the fee.

[napi21]

25. Not what I meant. I pay my Chase card on the Chase web site, the utilities on their site,

cable bill on their site. I do have a billpay account at the bank but only use it for things like the doctor bills & the newspaper every three months. Billpay actually asks you to allow 10 days for the payment to actually reach your creditor.

I dont know for sure, but I suspected these other businesses simply adopted the same cutoff times as most banks for their own convenience.

[MilesColtrane]

6. Does your bill say "due by"?

I think that means before.

[sharp_stick]

8. I don't know about that

I'm due at home by 6:00, that means by 6:00 not at 5:59. Although that fine print crap can have anything crammed in there so you might be right.

[sharp_stick]

7. Start bitching, and I mean a lot

I don't know if they still do it but this kind of shit from a credit card firm (aka: dirtbag assholes) can seriously impact both your credit rating and the interest rates on any other revolving balances you may have.

I know there is a law to prohibit this kind of scam but I'm not sure if it's enforced yet. My guess is your dirtbag assholes may be trying to sneak as much out of their customers (aka prey) as possible before they are stopped.

If this has only happened once you should be able to get the decision reversed and I suggest you don't stop until you do.

[zipplewrath]

11. Semantics

Roughly speaking they mean the "clear our books" date. If the payment is in their hands on day 0, it is typically credited "the next business day". The vast majority of transactions actually occur that way. I have to admit though that usually "date of receipt" is usually used for anything that generates interest. If they are going to issue a "due date", it would seem they are burdened with that either being the date of receipt, or put a time stamp on it as well for when the "day" is done.

[CountAllVotes]

15. damn!

what crap!

:mad: for you!!


:dem:

[NYC_SKP]

17. I try to pay one week early.

Once there's a late or a collection it is HELL trying to get it off your credit report.

[bkkyosemite]

18. Some say you have to pay by 5pm Eastern time and you are in say CA give me a break.

Why is it okay for Eastern time to have those three hours and Pacific time not too. This was not for a mortgage but for another payment I had to make.

[Sebastian Doyle]

20. This is exactly why I dumped HSBC

Never signed up with them in the first place, and never signed anything that said I agreed to insane policies like that. They just happened to buy out the bank that issued my credit card. I never even had a card with the name "HSBC" appearing anywhere on the plastic, and only in the microscopic fine print on the monthly bill.

But the billing pattern and the "customer service" sure changed. So did the amount of ridiculous fees and charges they tried to stick me with.

HSBC sucks ass.

[Toucano]

24. I hate HSBC.

They once tried to charge me an annual fee for a card I never applied for and never activated.

Then they wanted to charge me late fees for not paying the annual fee.

Pure scam.

When I pointed out that activation of the card constituted agreement to their terms and I had NEVER activated the card, they went away quietly.

[pinniped]

26. I owe those fuckers $20 more dollars and fuck them.

I used to have two CC accounts. One, you had to online pay one day prior. The other BS scam card required 2 freaking days prior. I called those assholes and they said it was just one, trying to trick me. It was obvious. You couldn't set the payment date to the next day, only two days later. What a load of BS.

Of all the CCs I ever had, these fcukers were the only ones that required an online payment 2 days prior.

Dump those clowns.