Hi, I'm hoping someone will recognize this situation and be able to advise accordingly. I made a $100 payment (online) to my Household Bank credit card in January. The payment cleared my account on Jan 18. On Feb 15, Household is stating that my bank (Bank of America) reversed the payment because I put a claim in to them that the payment was not authorized, and that the $100 was credited back to my BoA account on Feb 15. I never put in a claim with BoA. The funds were never credited back to my BoA account. HHB has the $100 (+$15 late fee now) posted back on my credit card account with them. I've gone through the claims process with HHB to trace what happened to my payment. I just received a letter from them on Sat stating the exact same story, providing me a "trace number" that supposedly proves their story. Speaking with BoA, they cannot go in to another financial institute and take funds back from them without my express written permission, which again I never provided. They show no claim made on my account, only showing the payment cleared my account on Jan 18. HHB is insistent that it's a BoA problem. I'm stuck in the middle. I at least was able to have HHB remove the $15 late fee (I think). Is this going to effect my credit? My plan at this point is to go ahead and file an official claim with BoA to officially have the funds returned to me from this apparent bank limbo, so that I can re-pay my $100 payment to HHB. Does this situation sound familiar to anyone? Any advice? I appreciate anyone's thoughts and help here.
If you were less than 30 days late and they decided to credit you back the late fee, then they might not report you as late to the CRAs. I haven't heard of this exact situation before, but it doesn't surprise me in the least that it's BofA. They're the absolute worst, and their systems have major issues. I would dive into the situation with them first to see if there's any proof that the payment was canceled and the funds were returned to your account. Provide them with the "so-called" proof that HHB has given you too.
FYI, w/ new bill pay software for apps/tablets/etc. you can get a quicker head's up on alerts, bill pay, and other personal finance necessities. The one we recommend most is Personal Capital (it's free, fyi), but places like mint.com and readyforzero.com are also respected personal finance websites that can help consumers get organized. That's not necessarily the complete story in this post, but just something to consider if you're having a hard time getting organized w/ all of your different accounts.
