On May 15th I made a $1,000 payment to my Home Depot credit card (on a $2700.00 balance). On the 25th of May a payment posted to that account from a balance transfer I had made, leaving me a balance of just over $200.
On July 6th I received a call from Home Depot Credit Department, telling me I had missed a payment and they were going to charge me a "late payment fee". I pulled my records and gave them the information from the 2 recent (May) payments, certain that they would then correct their records.
To my astonishment I was told that because I did not "note" that either of the 2 payments was for June, they were both applied as May payments and I still had a missing June payment. No amount of logic could sway the rep I spoke with. I was incensed that I could pay almost my entire balance and this company regard me as "late". I sent a check, on that same day (July 6th) for $300.00, knowing I had charged a few small items since my last statement.
Then, on July 12th my assistant sent another $25.00 check for the July 20th payment due; failing to realize that the "minimum payment due" amount was my entire balance (which included almost another $200 worth of purchases).
Two days ago I went to Home Depot to buy a bag of potting soil (for $10.88) and 2 small plants; for a total of less than $25.00. The cashier said she received some sort of message to "call in" and did so. She told me that she was hearing all my credit info: the fact that I had a $7,000.00 line of credit and that I had a current balance of $85.20. She was certain there was some mix up with my account. When the credit representative asked to speak to me she handed me the phone.
Again, I was amazed to hear this person tell me that I had an $85.20 balance and a "late payment" due - of $85.00. He said they could not authorize my charge. When I explained about the amount of money I had owed - and paid - in the past 2 months, he said it didn't matter.
Yesterday I spoke with a very nice woman at the credit department who reviewed my files; spent 20 minutes talking with her supervisor (leaving me on hold); and came back to tell me that what her supervisor "explained" to her made "no sense at all"... That they did, in fact, show my total balance as $85.20 and it was, as of yesterday (not the day before when I tried to use my card) past due. I told her what I thought about Home Depot's credit policies and the way they were treating a very good customer (I purchased over $20,000.00 worth of merchandise from them in the past year) and she replied, "Now everything YOU'RE saying DOES make sense!".
I bought my potting soil at Loew's and was pleased that it was actually $2 less than the Home Depot price; but at that point I would have paid double. At 22% interest I try not to carry balances with this company for long, but when they accept 4 payments from me in 3 months and tell me I'm "late" and refuse to authorize a purchase, I know I am doing business with the wrong company.
I will be paying my balance "in full" to Home Depot, when I send them my credit cards and cancel my accounts!
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