Bank of America changed the due date on my credit card and charged a late fee of $39.00 and also raised my interest rate. The account was originally with MBNA. Unfortunately MBNA was bought out by Bank of America a few months ago.
I have the payment set up so it is made automatically from my checking account. I have been doing this for over five years with MBNA with no problems; also it was working fine with Bank of America for the first few months. Then this month I had a late payment fee of $39.00 on my statement. They had changed the due date without notifying me or updating the automatic payment system.
I called customer service and they said I was notified on my statement that the payment due was earlier, in the Payment Due By box. And that I am responsible to change the payment date in the automatic payment system. I guess I should read the whole statement instead of just thinking nothing has changed.
I guess the problem I have with this is that I am using their system to pay and I have paid promptly for the five years I have had the card. I have made a payment every month for five years and I am still over due. It seems to me this is just an excuse to collect a quick $39 and raise my interest rate.
Customer service was not willing to refund my $39.00 and felt there was nothing unethical with what BOA did. Yes, technically I did pay late but they did a lousy job of informing me they were changing due dates. Why not send an email saying they are changing the due date, or include a letter in with the statement? The bill has always been paid on the same day for the last five plus years. I told then I would be getting back with them in a few days to close out the accounts I have with them.
I don't know if there is much I can do about this but felt people should know what crooks these people are. I told the service representative if you can not trust your banker then it is time to find another bank. I also told him, if they are willing to do this to their customers then what will they do to you?
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