Our family of seven has a few credit cards that we use for convenience and pay off every month. When the mail comes, I write out checks for all bills and send them out return mail directly from the post office. We don't have much money, so keeping our credit clean is important to us.
This past week I received a statement from Household Credit (Household Bank) listing a late charge assessment of $29. Apparently my payment was due on 9/20 but reached them 9/21... I understand how this could happen, since I received my statement LESS THAN THE 7-10 DAYS the company asks consumers to allow for mail to travel.
I contacted the company and talked to an employee and a floor supervisor, both of whom told me they would absolutely not refund the late fee. I explained again that the statement had not arrived in a timely fashion... And if they were not responsible for getting the mail to me on time, how could I be held responsible for the delay? I mailed out the payment the very next day from inside the post office!
The floor supervisor was very rude. She told me I should have kept track of the date my payment was due and made it even if I didn't have a statement... (so now a busy family is supposed to remember what date all bills are due, the mortgage, utilities, phone, internet, credit cards, car insurance, home insurance, etc and make payments without any word from the lenders... Hmm... Sounds like a rip-off to me!)
Apparently Household has no customer service at all. I understand why they want our money so badly, after all, we do pay off our entire balance every month, so the only money they make is the 3% they charge the merchants... But to so boldly and blatantly thumb their noses at prompt paying consumers is rediculous! I have cut up my card and sent it to the company. I will pay off my balance due, but will NOT pay the late fee! Let them come after me for it... They can spend a lot more than $29 in trying to recover the late fee. It takes 6 hours to net that much (after taxes, insurance, etc). I'm not that worried about my credit... I have a great record of on-time payments with all of our creditors and lenders.
I would not recommend Household to anyone!
Denise
Syracuse, New York
0 comments