Rumblestrips
New Member
(Sorry for the length, I felt that the details might be important)
I had a deferred interest Promotional Balance on a credit card for a year. Each month the statement came on the 8th (the 8th was the closing date for each billing cycle). The due date for each statement was always on the 4th of the following month. For example, the 6/8/10 statement had a due date of 7/4/10; the 7/8 statement had a due date of 8/4; and the 8/8 statement had a due date of 9/4.
The statement dated 7/8/10 was the very last statement I received before my Promotional Offer expired on 7/19/10. It had the following language front and center on the first page:
"You must pay your Promotional Balance in full by 7/19/10 OR the payment due date for the billing cycle in which the Promotion expires, whichever is later, to avoid paying deferred interest charges."
Common sense dictates that the expiration date of 7/19/10 falls within the billing cycle of 7/9 to 8/8, making the due date 9/4 for that cycle. I ended up paying the entire promotional amount via online bank transfer on 8/9/10, thinking it was still nearly a month early. As I was paying online, I noticed the huge interest charge had posted to my account on 8/8. I called the company immediately, and they told me that the due date was 8/4 and gave no rational explanation for that (see above examples on billing cycles/due dates). I called again and again and was given 7/19/10 as the due date and 8/4/10 as the due date, each date twice over 4 calls, 4 different customer service reps including a supervisor on my last call. The supervisor was the rudest of all of them and flat out told me after 15 minutes of arguing "if you're calling to have the interest charges dropped, that's not going to happen." So I stopped with the phone and wrote a letter.
I sent a letter certified mail explaining the situation. I promptly received a reply in the mail which was just a boilerplate response letter two sentences long. No details, no explanation; just "we are correct and you are wrong."
So, to sum up, the company gave me two conflicting due dates: 7/19/10 ("original" due date) and 9/4/10 ("new" due date as referenced by the language on the 7/8/10 statement). This language was the most up-to-date instruction on due dates since it was the very last information I received prior to the expiration of the promotion. I considered the MOST CURRENT due date to be, well, the most valid (isn't that how things usually work?). It was so clearly interpretable to me, that I felt no need to call and verify the dates. It was in writing, after all, and right there on my statement. 9/4/10.
So after I paid on 8/9/10 and noticed the interest was charged, in their phone explanations I was given yet another due date of 8/4/10. All of these differing dates are not only misleading, they are clearly CONFLICTING. To me, it's not a case of misinterpretation, or confusion, or fuzzy language or anything else. It's simply a case of CONFLICTING due dates, and they are obviously going to claim the earliest one(s) are the correct one(s) so that they get the interest charged for my payment being late. I've never dealt with anything so shady in the entire two decades I've been using credit. I've never even HEARD of anything like this. Just the fact that I've been given different answers over the phone makes their story wreak of foul play. Then the response letter which provides ZERO explanation to their side of the story. Something is fishy.
Obviously I've already learned my lesson: pay off deferred interest promotions before the EARLIEST provided due date, or even earlier to be safe; or better yet, don't even sign up for these deals in the first place. However, before I just give in and pay these swindlers this lump of interest (about $500.00 worth), I want to know if I have any other recourse other than filing a half-dozen complaints with AGs, the FTC, OCC, BBB, and state representatives. It's great to be able to whine and complain but in the end it doesn't accomplish what I want to accomplish (not paying them what I strongly believe I do not owe). Digging back through all of the documents I saved, I've learned that the original card agreement calls for mandatory binding arbitration to solve disputes. But upon researching this subject quite extensively online, it's clear that arbitration is likely rigged to favor credit card companies (arbitration firms & cc companies have been under fire recently for this adultery). A private attorney is out of the question (if for nothing else but cost feasibility sake), and arbitration is untrustworthy.
Should I continue to send letters to the company threatening to report the matter to every regulatory office and agency I can think of? Also, what will most likely happen if I don't pay this -- interest will keep accruing, late charges...then eventually a collection agency and even higher costs and penalties?
Man if I could just go back and pay this offer prior to 7/19/10 and avoid all of this BS. Of course, if that happened I wouldn't have learned much...how corrupt this whole business is from every aspect. But I guess I should have already known that much.
Thanks in advance for your time and input. It would be much appreciated.
I had a deferred interest Promotional Balance on a credit card for a year. Each month the statement came on the 8th (the 8th was the closing date for each billing cycle). The due date for each statement was always on the 4th of the following month. For example, the 6/8/10 statement had a due date of 7/4/10; the 7/8 statement had a due date of 8/4; and the 8/8 statement had a due date of 9/4.
The statement dated 7/8/10 was the very last statement I received before my Promotional Offer expired on 7/19/10. It had the following language front and center on the first page:
"You must pay your Promotional Balance in full by 7/19/10 OR the payment due date for the billing cycle in which the Promotion expires, whichever is later, to avoid paying deferred interest charges."
Common sense dictates that the expiration date of 7/19/10 falls within the billing cycle of 7/9 to 8/8, making the due date 9/4 for that cycle. I ended up paying the entire promotional amount via online bank transfer on 8/9/10, thinking it was still nearly a month early. As I was paying online, I noticed the huge interest charge had posted to my account on 8/8. I called the company immediately, and they told me that the due date was 8/4 and gave no rational explanation for that (see above examples on billing cycles/due dates). I called again and again and was given 7/19/10 as the due date and 8/4/10 as the due date, each date twice over 4 calls, 4 different customer service reps including a supervisor on my last call. The supervisor was the rudest of all of them and flat out told me after 15 minutes of arguing "if you're calling to have the interest charges dropped, that's not going to happen." So I stopped with the phone and wrote a letter.
I sent a letter certified mail explaining the situation. I promptly received a reply in the mail which was just a boilerplate response letter two sentences long. No details, no explanation; just "we are correct and you are wrong."
So, to sum up, the company gave me two conflicting due dates: 7/19/10 ("original" due date) and 9/4/10 ("new" due date as referenced by the language on the 7/8/10 statement). This language was the most up-to-date instruction on due dates since it was the very last information I received prior to the expiration of the promotion. I considered the MOST CURRENT due date to be, well, the most valid (isn't that how things usually work?). It was so clearly interpretable to me, that I felt no need to call and verify the dates. It was in writing, after all, and right there on my statement. 9/4/10.
So after I paid on 8/9/10 and noticed the interest was charged, in their phone explanations I was given yet another due date of 8/4/10. All of these differing dates are not only misleading, they are clearly CONFLICTING. To me, it's not a case of misinterpretation, or confusion, or fuzzy language or anything else. It's simply a case of CONFLICTING due dates, and they are obviously going to claim the earliest one(s) are the correct one(s) so that they get the interest charged for my payment being late. I've never dealt with anything so shady in the entire two decades I've been using credit. I've never even HEARD of anything like this. Just the fact that I've been given different answers over the phone makes their story wreak of foul play. Then the response letter which provides ZERO explanation to their side of the story. Something is fishy.
Obviously I've already learned my lesson: pay off deferred interest promotions before the EARLIEST provided due date, or even earlier to be safe; or better yet, don't even sign up for these deals in the first place. However, before I just give in and pay these swindlers this lump of interest (about $500.00 worth), I want to know if I have any other recourse other than filing a half-dozen complaints with AGs, the FTC, OCC, BBB, and state representatives. It's great to be able to whine and complain but in the end it doesn't accomplish what I want to accomplish (not paying them what I strongly believe I do not owe). Digging back through all of the documents I saved, I've learned that the original card agreement calls for mandatory binding arbitration to solve disputes. But upon researching this subject quite extensively online, it's clear that arbitration is likely rigged to favor credit card companies (arbitration firms & cc companies have been under fire recently for this adultery). A private attorney is out of the question (if for nothing else but cost feasibility sake), and arbitration is untrustworthy.
Should I continue to send letters to the company threatening to report the matter to every regulatory office and agency I can think of? Also, what will most likely happen if I don't pay this -- interest will keep accruing, late charges...then eventually a collection agency and even higher costs and penalties?
Man if I could just go back and pay this offer prior to 7/19/10 and avoid all of this BS. Of course, if that happened I wouldn't have learned much...how corrupt this whole business is from every aspect. But I guess I should have already known that much.
Thanks in advance for your time and input. It would be much appreciated.
