Not too long ago, Best Buy changed to HouseHold Bank for handling their retail credit card. As a Best Buy card holder for 6 years, I never had a problem. The last several months with HouseHold has been a different story. They posted a payment three weeks after I mailed it in the pre-printed envelope. The payment of $648.00 was intended to pay off a promotional balance--i.e. if I paid the balance by a certain date, no interest/finance charges would accrue on that portion of my overall balance. I figured mailing it in over two weeks early would get the payment in on time. It got to a point where I was calling daily to see if the payment went through. Of course, it went through the DAY AFTER the promo balance was due. What's worse...unbeknownst to me they closed my account because they said my minimum payment of $22.00 was 14 days late!! Well of course it was...they took two weeks to process the payment!! I found this out embarrassingly when I was in line at Best Buy to make a purchase and my card got denied. When I called HouseHold Bank, they said that they didn't know why the payment was processed late, but they would not reopen my account. I asked how they justified one late payment in 6 years serving as criteria for closing an account, especially when normal creditors allow up to 30 days before a payment is classified as late. They said it is all computerized and they can't override it. My wife--a manager of a credit union loan dept--said that she now understands why she has seen a number of people who have great credit reports with the exception of one blemish: HouseHold Bank late payment(s). I recommend folk contact investigative television programs (e.g. 20/20), as well as local media. I am still analyzing a strategy that will have the government focus on HouseHold's questionable practices.
I have had NUMEROUS problems w/these scumsuckers(being the "lighter" word).Please feel free to e-mail me for further information(mssistergirl@yahoo.com). Peace, Sister Girl
HHB was once successfully sued for posting payments late. Sadly, their banking day still "ends" at 6:00am, which I think should be illegal. ACH transfers are the only way to go these days to avoid illegal behavior like that. Sorry for your troubles. Marci
I, too, have filed complaints with the FTC, the Dept of Thrift Supervision and the State Attorney General's office. Feel free to contact me at glewis@prec-aero.com if you need further assistance.
FIRST USA tried to say I was late once by two weeks, but when I produced the EVIDENCE that the check cleared the checking account TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE DUE DATE, they said it was a computer error and all fees and interest was credited... I hope you were trying to buy $500.00+ when it was denied AND YOU LEFT IT THERE!!!
This sounds like the crap DMB does. Send a complaint through planetfeedback.com that is visible to others. Send complaints to BBB, Atty General, Reps, etc. My local bank Visa allows 10 days after due date for receipt. Why can't other CC companies do that? Oh yeah, I almost forgot, CC companies must screw the consumers out of as much money as possible to pay off politicians to look the other way. Mike
HHB, with an already questionable record, has joined the club of First USA and Fleet, both sub-prime issuers with horrible service, mistakenly thought of as prime lenders. These banks are plain crooks, but I still don't associate them w/ CCB, who in my view is a criminal organization. Saar
Planet Feedback http://www.planetfeedback.com I would go there and file a complaint. I've noticed that anyone who files a complaint through them does not go unrecognized.
Household Bank Has anyone had problems with these people with regard to posting payments on time with their Gold Master Cards? I just mailed a payment for this today (two weeks ahead of time) and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I had a problem with Citibank recently regarding the same issue and they gave me 5 extra days for receipt of payment. I was about to cancel the Citibank card if they kept taking too much time to post payments. I'll probably cancel the Household card in a few months even if it posts on time because I'm just tired of calling these kind of banks every day to check on my payments.
Re: Household Bank marci & mike - I never realized that the HHB banking day *ends* at 6am! A former gf had an account at some store chain back in LA and all of the store accounts were sold to HHB. So before sh even gets her new card in the mail (the old ones were deactivated) she gets a bill from HHB! The only problem is she had a $0 balance to begin with--she hadn't carried a balance on that account in over 6 months. That was back in 1993 or so. Back in January one of my Visa banks was bought out by HHB. I have a bank account that offers web banking and web bill payment service. It's nice because it electronically sends the funds right into my Visa/MC accounts (except one which has to be mailed). With the old Visa bank, if I schedule a payment for the 5th and it shows on my account on the 7th. So far that has held true for HHB for my first 2 cycles with them. I'm hoping they play nice but if they don't, I figure I can have my checking bank fight them
Re: Household Bank George, I never anything so far with First USA and I had their Yahoo Visa for over two years. I used their on-line payment to pay the card. Ron.
THE AUTO PAY that ISN'T an AUTO PAY. I have HOUSEHOLD BANK for years, I had Auto-Pay set up on my account originally for $50 and then dropped auto pay to $30 and my payment was always $29.00. Well last month they charged me $39 for membership against my account balance so then they changed my minimum to $31 but they only took out $30.00. so I got charged $25.00 late fee because I was 1$ short according to them in my auto pay. This month it is back to $29.00 per month. I called household bank to find out why they didn't take out the minimum. They said they could only go up to the $30 limit I had. I said WHAT!!!! I have auto-pay, They told me I should have gone online and checked. I said that is ridiculous, why would auto pay not be an auto-pay. if I have to go online every time then what is auto-pay for! I said why do I have to go online and check to see if they are tricking me every month. That is why I have AUTO-PAY to AUTO-PAY. Makes sense to everybody except HOUSEHOLD BANK. my other banks take out the $ amount or at least the minimum. So $1 cost me $25.00 and higher interest fees because I was late on $1.00 Way to go Congress, you really fixed the bank system if this is considered logical. IT IS UNETHICAL at very least if not downright THEFT!!!!! Robbers go to jail and these guys are robbing everybody with their little banking schemes and then ruin your credit so you canâ??t get a loan because you were short $1.00. Then everybody else can take a shot at you, your lenders, your insurance companies and anybody else that can take a shot at you. And it is amazing why people think the lower income earners are broke and in POVERTY!!
No kidding! I just noticed that I have been a member here for longer than that ... To the most recent poster: You said the following: Your auto-pay wasn't set up to take out the "minimum due". It was set to allow $29. They did EXACTLY what you told them to do, and now you're upset? What if they had changed your minimum payment to $500 for that month, and they had done EXACTLY what you are NOW complaining about -- taken $500? You'd be right here, complaining that they took more than the amount YOU had set up. Beyond all this ... it's foolish to set up "auto-pay" to allow a creditor to TAKE money from your account. NEVER let a creditor TAKE money. Instead, you should set up monthly e-Bills @ your BANK, and have the bank SEND money TO them each month. That way, you (a) retain control over your finances and (b) are actively involved in making sure that this kind of crap does NOT happen (comparing monthly statements to scheduled payments).
