The Price of Freedom is

[Perry]

Eternal Vigilance.

About a year ago, I accepted a new credit card offer. It gets paid in full, each month, like t'other one.

This month's statement had an interest charge on it. I phoned to ask why. I was told,

Your payment was late. All payments have to be received by 15th of the month. That's what's written on the statements.

Hhmmmmmmm.

My statement for that month has 18th printed on it.

Please wait while I check.

<long pause>

So it does, I do apologise for that and I'll reverse the interest change for you.

For me, eh??

I wonder how many others who paid on the date stated might've missed that little interest charge snuck on to their statement?

Error or cunning?

Who's to know?

[donna]

It would be automated so you'd expect it to be happening all the time. Wasn't there some action recently where the banks had to pay out for wrongly taking interest off credit cards or was it the add ons?

cheers,

Donna

[Perry]

The 'automation' works against the cardholders.

No surprises there.

[Keys]

I have a $500 limit on my card. I pay, by automatic payment $250 per fortnight. That is a little more than the card limit.

I have been charged interest. Why? Because the limit has an allowable excess which will be honoured to keep the client (me) happy and not embarrassed if the card declines.

Mmmmmmm.

[Perry]

I understand that many 'systems' are automated. (Helps boost unemployment)

But they need to be programmed carefully.

It was not explained to me why that one statement had a payment date that was different to all the previous ones.

Their system just added an (invalid) interest charge, as an [unintended?] consequence.

No human around to look at things and muse - that doesn't seem right.

It seems just a tad dubious, to me.

The outfit concerned: Latitude Financial Services.

Perhaps there was more latitude than there should have been?

[Davo36]

The outfit concerned: Latitude Financial Services.

They were just operating with a bit of Latitude Perry. Good spotting on your part.

I saw a good doco (sorry I can't remember what it was called) about how credit card companies increase their fees. A guy worked out (he now regrets it) in the 80s how to get poorer people to pay all sorts of fees. Every month in perpetuity, and this is how they make all their money. They don't make money off richer, well organised people at all.

So they get behind, they get charged a fee, plus high interest. Then they get further behind, more fees etc. etc. They can never pay the damn things off. Kind of like how you can never get out of debt to the Mafia.

[Wayne]

Could it be due to February being shorter than all other months?

[Davo36]

Here is the link to the doco I mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg4VhALXgwE&t=2099s

[Perry]

Could it be due to February being shorter than all other months?

Good point and quite possible.

But - if so - that shows up some bad system programming.

[Wayne]

Good point and quite possible.

But - if so - that shows up some bad system programming.

That it does!

[Shalodge]

Hmm .. My CC (mastercard/Westpac) is setup to automatically pay the amount owing as at 20th from my 'cheque' account. I don't even get CC statements anymore? I just look it up on line and print out anything I need.
The 'amount to pay" is not the minimum amount but the amount required to avoid interest accruing.

[flyernzl]

Some years ago a fellow in the UK - presumably with lots of spare time - wrote a computer program that would check you bank accounts.

You obtained the schedule of fees, charges and interest rates from your bank, slotted them into that program and away you went.

Turned out that there a surprising number of errors in the bank calculations and (perhaps unsurprisingly) in almost every case the error was in favour of the bank.

Admittedly there was not a lot of money in each error, but a few pence here and a pound there added up to quite a large sum over their many customers.

[Keys]

I had two $90k mortgages. Taken out on the same day, one 12 month term and one 24 month term (25 year loans the both of them). When the 12 month term rolled over the balances were different by a hundred or so. Interesting.

[Perry]

Laxitude It Is

Another month and another attempt to charge interest. Took 11 minutes on the phone to get someone who could fix it. I said that if it happened again the following month, I may cancel the card.

[Keys]

"May" cancel the card?