That's the fun part.
This reminds me of a $75 parking ticket I received in Chicago. I was late paying and saw a 100% penalty. I had to pay $150 for parking legally (I had no time to go to court to contest it). Don't you love big government?!
Working at Capital One (IT department) for a few years taught me a bit about stuff like that. They have a constant battle going on to find ways to squeeze more money out of "good" customers that don't use their cards, or pay them off every month. They mooted, at one point, charging an annual fee to any customer that had a card and didn't use it at all for a one-year period, even "no annual fee" cards. If you used the card once and paid it off, you were golden, but if it sat idle for a year, they'd nail you for a fee. I never knew whether they actually did it or not.
And yes, they generally dislike people that keep their cards paid off. Ones like me--the customers that ran them up to the limit and then got behind on their payments, but not far enough behind to default or go bankrupt--they love.
Let me tell ya, being 38, married, and unable to save much for retirement because I'm still digging out from over $20,000 of credit card debt, sucks. It's a long, hard, crushing slog.
}:-)4
Actually I don't believe that's true. You may be making the payment 30 days after the purchase, but in some cases it takes merchants like 60 days to get paid, so the CC guys are STILL getting paid before the money has to go out, and can collect interest in the meantime (in addition to the 3% or so of the transaction in the first place). They seem to have all the angles covered.
Part of my problem with Fleet Bank was that no matter how soon I sent off my payment, it magically posted the day *after* my due date so I could be dinged for a late fee. If you then call and complain about the late fee, they will cheerily take off the charge "this time" but you've still been hit with the interest on the higher balance and put your account in jeopardy of having your interest rate jacked.
I listened as they explained they have a very secure payment system that posts payments as soon as they get them and that I should trust their accurate record-keeping. This was the same company who sent me a new card two months after I had closed the account.
After I closed it, I sent letters to the Better Business Bureau and every member of the U.S. House and Senate banking committees. I received several letters and a refund check. But it's all the folks who don't pay attention to their bills that they count on to make their scam profitable. And the government is not going to crack down on them so long as they make sizeable campaign contributuons to your favorite Dems and Pubs.
"And if you pay every month in full, the CC companies refer to you as a "deadbeat" because you get to borrow money for free for 30 dayz."
Most cards are at 25 days and all seem to be moving towards 20 days grace.
What ever happened to usury laws?