Hi Everyone, Normally, as soon as a bill comes in, I pay it. That way, my creditors have their money and I don't have to worry about forgetting due dates. CitiBank is one of my newest cards...I got it last October...and, for some reason, I had it in my mind that my payments were due on the 7th of each month. We bought a treadmill this Christmas, around $1200, and we put it on my CitiBank card. I wanted to pay it off; but, in order to do that, I had to wait for a large check that I was expecting to come in. Consequently, I didn't send my payment in when the bill came. Yesterday, the check I was expecting came so I grabbed my check book and my CitiBank envelope To my dismay, the payment was due today! BUMMER! I went ahead and sent my payment and then I called Citi's customer service to explain what had happened and arrange a pay-by-phone payment. (I thought maybe I could at least cover the minimum amount due until my larger payment arrived.) The rep took my check information and processed the payment. However, I'm still going to be late. Even though I paid over the phone on the due date, it won't post for a couple of days. However, the fact that I made the payment today will be noted on my account. I really wanted to maintain a flawless payment history with Citi. It's my best card and I don't want to do anything to screw up the good relationship I now have. As a one-time courtesy, the rep said the late fee would be reversed and my mistake will not show up on my credit reports. In order for that to happen, the rep said I would have to be 60 days late. In retrospect, I sure wish I would have at least made the minimum payment as soon as the bill came from Citi. Then, when the money I was expecting came through, I could simply have sent in another check. From now on, I'll just have to be more careful. I do maintain a list of due dates for all of my bills and the date I had for CitiBank was wrong. I've already updated that. Considering what just happened, I'm sure I've lost any chance of getting a limit increase after the first six months. The six-month period will be up in February. But my credit line is high anyway so I don't really need it. Thanks for listening and letting me vent. Donna
Don't worry! Donna, Don't worry. I had that happen to me once. I freaked out and the rep told me that the day listed as "date paid" is the date of the phone transaction, not when the payment is posted. The rep said that in the event I was charged a late fee, which she seriously doubted, she'd go back and reverse it. I was never charged a fee, and more importantly, it was never in my internal files as a late payment. I wouldn't worry. The important thing is that you called Citibank the day it was due. I think you'll be fine. Hang in there and keep your head up! Marci
Hey Donna, WE all make mistakes, but atleast you did catch it in time to call them and make a payment by phone, yes this will probably effect your increase at 6 months, but like you said you have a high limit . I am sure all of us have done with one time or another. I use the online feature to pay my Citi bills and as soon as I get the bill I usually go online and pay it and it "normally posts" in 3 business days, if you get it in in the am and one time it posted in 2 days, but I try to use this system so I don't "forget", because believe me I can be soo forgetful, half the time I don't even remember what I made for dinner the night before last LOL. Mom
RE: pay 2 times a month! Remember folks! Pay a little out of every paycheck to each of your creditors. The citibank rep i talked to said "Even though you've only had your account x months, you've made over the minimum amount of payments (6) to qualify for a credit line increase". No i didn't try it, someone else here scared me off But, Pay twice a month, (citi) or more and you'll never have this problem. You'll also save a few pennies on interest if you do that.
If you have a local Citibank branch, you can make your payment at the branch. If the transaction is conducted early in the day during same day business (as opposed to afternoons when the bank goes to next day business), it should get credited immediately. This is from my past experience, though I haven't done it in a while, so it could have changed. Also, there is usually a period of a couple of days when if the payment is posted in that time frame, it is still not considered late. This depends on the creditor.
RE: Don't worry! Thanks, Marci, I appreciate the kind words and I feel better now. Like most of us here, I've been working very hard on restoring my credit and then I had to go and do something dumb, like mess up on the due date. At least I caught my error and was able to do something about it quickly. I'm relieved to know my mistake probably won't be damaging. Thanks again. Donna
Mom, Thanks a bunch. I appreciate your kind words. This online payment thing, that everyone keeps talking about, how does it work? For example, I have my checking account with Wells Fargo. Can I go to the Citibank web site and make a payment from my Wells Fargo checking account? Some of my bills, I'm able to pay by phone threw Wells Fargo. My accounts have numbers and I just call up, punch the number of the payee and then key in the amount I want to pay. I've gotta get CitiBank added to my payee list. Thanks again. I'm definitely going to be more careful. Donna
Thanks, The Other me. Your suggestion of paying at a local branch is great and, if I drove, I would certainly do that. The branch I know about would be too far to consider getting there by buss. I'll just have to wait to see what happens. Maybe I'll get lucky and the payment won't post late on my account. Donna
RE: pay 2 times a month! Sam, hehehe As you can see, I'm not the best record keeper to begin with. I'm not sure I could keep up with paying double on all of my credit cards. Currently, I have five. But I'm certainly going to be more careful from here on out.
Donna: Seems a safe bet that you're covered with respect to this. Please don't lose too much sleep over it.
Yes Donna, you can use any checking account from any bank to pay your citi online. You just have to register online for account access if you haven't already, and then sign up for online payments, you then enter your routing number and bank account, it takes I believe around 5 days to verify your account and then you can pay online. The thing I like is that your next payment is shown on your account about 3 days before you get the bill in the mail, I usually have it paid before I get my statement. It does take about 3 business days for your payment to post, you click to pay, they normally take money out of your account next day then the next day it post to your account. It is very easy to use, I love it Mom
Thanks, Mom, I sure appreciate the information. I've heard folks here talk about paying bills online but I didn't realize you could use your existing checking account. I thought you had to join an online banking service. You can bet I'm going to visit the Citi web site and check it out. If I'm able to navigate the site with no problems, then I'll register. Donna
Thanks, Darrell. I'm feeling better now. If I'm lucky, the late pay won't show on my account. And, if it does, at least I know any fee that is charged will be reversed. I'm just going to have to be even more careful about my due dates. Donna
RE: pay 2 times a month! So sorry, Donna!! Microsoft Money is my life saver. Try it...or I could put a payment reminder on mine and remind you when your payments are due... Hey, anything to help a buddy out!!!
I had the same thing happen to me with my Providian and Cap One. I guess I lost my bill because when I looked at my payment schedule, I noticed I hadn't paid Providian. So I checked and wouldn't you know...it was due THAT DAY! I paid over the internet, but it was still posted as late. And with Cap One, I did the same thing. It was due the 25rd of December and I was out of town....I remembered and did it over the internet. It posted on the 26th and they hit me with a late fee. I just got my new bill so I'm going to call and see if they'll wave it. I had it for almost a year and I've never been late.
My story..... I almost messed up w/ Citibank one time. For almost a year (early 98-99) I was making payments at the ATM machine either on the day they were due or a few days before. Well when May 99 came around, I was looking for my new cards (expired in 6/99) since they usually mail them 1 month prior. I called and they stated that no new cards would be ordered for my account because I had been paying late (but wasn't charged any late fee). I flipped out! I tried to explain that I was making payments at the ATM and that I knew that they initially might appear like they were late (because they don't post for 2 days) but I thought they were back dated. The rep stated that they weren't. I was so sad and sick! Spoke w/ a supervisor and explained my case to no avail (so I thought). A few weeks later my cards arrived and the expiration date was for 3 years later, not 1 year like I was use to seeing . I was happy. That whole time I thought my Citibank account was GONE! Now I notice on the statements that it says that payments must be received by 1pm the day they are due. If not, they are considered late. I have auto pay now so I have no worries. My suggestion is to get auto pay for at least the minimum (you have a choice of mininum, full, or specified) just to ensure that your payment is received on time. Then send them additional funds if need be. They also have where you can pay your account on line but keep in mind that if you have auto pay, you can't pay on line. It's one or the other. I was thinking about canceling auto pay and going w/ the pay on line feature but I was told by a rep that your account gets a higher rating (for the internal records) if you have auto pay.
RE: pay 2 times a month! Thanks so much, Jamie, and I appreciate your willingness to help with a reminder. The truth is I didn't really forget. For some reason, I had the wrong due date in my mind. I really thought my bill was due on the 7th of each month. In fact, when I started to pay the bill, I remember thinking, Great. The check I need is here and I still have plenty of time to get the payment in. Then my co-worker looked at the due date and that's when I knew I messed up. Fortunately, I did call Citi immediately and I also made a phone pay. So City will be getting two payments from me this week. If there is a black mark on my account, I hope it doesn't hurt me too much. Maybe I'll take a look at MicroSoft Money. It may not work well with speech but I'll give it a shot. I can't afford to make anymore mistakes. Thanks again. Donna
