Posts Tagged ‘Cancellation’

The first step in doing a credit card payment is to understand your monthly billing. The following are terms you will encounter:

Statement date The date that the bill was printed.

Payment due date this is the day that the cardholder must pay any outstanding balance. Payments made after the said date will be credited, but will also be fined a lateness fee.

Total Amount Due It consist of the unpaid amount from the previous month, as well as purchases, payments and interest charges for the current month. When the cardholder pays this amount on or before the payment due date, no interest charges will be imposed.

Minimum Amount Due this is a smaller fraction of the total amount due. To maintain a good standing with the card company, pay at least this amount, if you cannot afford to pay the total amount due.

Finance charge if the cardholder is not able to pay the total amount due, then he is charged a fee for borrowing money from the company. It is calculated based on the interest rate of the card. For detailed information on how this is calculated, go to http:www.abcguides.comcreditcardscci_faq.htm#finance_charges.

Late charges Paying or not, after the payment due date, is penalized with late charges. Avoid this as much as possible as this is almost 2X the interest rate of the finance charge. Consistently missing payment may lead to cancellation of the card and a bad credit standing.

Having understood the information on your monthly bill, here are simple strategies for paying your credit card charges:

Always pay the total amount due. Paying only the minimum amount due means being charged for a high interest rate on the unpaid amount.

If you cannot pay the total amount due, pay as much as you can above the minimum amount due. This strategy aims to reduce the finance charges that you have to pay for settling partially.

Do partial payments as early as possible (as soon as you receive the billing). Finance charges are based on the unsettled amount and the time it remains unsettled, so the shorter it is, the lower it will be for finance charges.

Some card companies reward loyal cardholders by accumulating points for their spending. Check if reward points can be credited back as payment.

Lastly, pay the total amount due. Just to emphasize the point!

There are many avenues to pay your card bill. Theres the traditional way of waiting in line, or the faster way of paying electronically through your computer, cash machine or mobile phone. With all these conveniences at hand, it is quite unforgivable to miss your payment due date.

Therefore, settle smart: pay the total, pay on time.

Five Credit Card Billing Problems and How to Fix Them

It goes without saying that your first and best defense against paying fraudulent or unfair charges on your credit card is knowing what your bill says! When you receive your credit card statement each month, sit down with it and check each item to make sure that you actually DID purchase it. If you do run into inaccuracies or problems, there are procedures to follow to report and deal with the charges. If you don’t follow the procedure and the card company decides to notify a credit reporting agency, it could affect far more than just your balance on that one credit card. What are the most common billing problems and how should you deal with them?1.Hey, I didn’t buy that! If you notice a charge on your credit card statement that you didn’t make, take steps to deal with it IMMEDIATELY. It could be a store error – but it could be the first sign that someone else is using your identity. Heading off problems before they start is vital. Call your credit card company and report the charge that’s in error – but don’t leave it at that. Follow up with a written letter stating that you dispute the charge, and requesting that they investigate the situation. The credit card company has 45-60 days to complete their investigation and notify you of the result. During that time, they can not make any attempts to collect that amount from you, nor report you to a credit reporting agency because of it.2.Wait – I canceled that subscription!If you cancel a subscription for which you pay via credit card – to a magazine, a club or internet service provider for instance – it may take a month or two for the cancellation and ‘chargeback’ to show up on your credit card statement. Again, notify the credit card company that that account has been canceled and request that the charge be removed from the bill.3.My bill just doesn’t add up right!They’re rare, but mathematical and reporting mistakes do happen. If you notice a discrepancy on your bill between their reports and your receipts, write a letter to the credit card company – being sure to use the address for reporting credit card disputes. Include copies of both the bill and your receipts for the disputed charges.4.I returned that dress!Like a canceled subscription, it sometimes takes a billing cycle or two for charge-backs on returned items to appear on your credit card bill. Write to the credit card company and enclose copies of your return receipt, asking that the charge be removed from your bill. 5.What do you mean, there’s a late fee??Your best defense against late fees is to make sure you send your payment in plenty of time to reach the credit card company by posting date. Keep in mind that credit card companies date payments by date received andor posted, not by date mailed. Because of the effect a late payment can have on your credit card billing and your credit history, though, it’s sometimes worth a try to get them to ‘take it back’. If you have evidence along the lines of a check cleared to your bank account before the payment was posted to your account – and it’s before the late payment date, you can write to the credit card company and ask for a review of the charges.