Missed a credit card payment -- seeking advice.

[Denninmi]

Hey, all. I got a phone call from the Mastercard people. I forgot to pay my credit card payment that was due 12/23.

No special reason -- I literally just forgot about it. I had been in the habit of paying it online as soon as the bill comes. But, December was a busy month with a lot of stuff happening at work and at home, plus a couple of bouts of car trouble, out of town company, and so on and so forth.

I've never, ever done that before. I did have a payment bounce once, years ago, because it was around mother's day (I was the manager of a florist/flower shop at the time), and I literally forgot to go the bank and deposit my paycheck, too busy at work putting in a week's worth of 16 to 20 hour days.

I don't begrudge them the late fee -- it WAS my fault. But, should I do anything else to follow up. Should I call them and ask for mercy? Or, is this no big deal.

I paid it tonight online. It will clear tomorrow, since it was already after the 5:30 PM EST cutoff for same-day processing when I found out about this.

Is it a big deal? Will they zap me with a big rate increase or something? Will they ruin my credit history?

What should I do, if anything?

TIA.

[kayakjohnny]

1. No they shouldn't hit you with an increase. That only happens for two or more late payments.

And maybe even more now that the rules have changed.

They are usually ok with one or two glitches, esp. if spread apart.

It's certain patterns they look for, and it doesn't seem like you fit a bad pattern.

You could call and state your case, and they may even spot you the fee.

They are desperate to hang on to the good customers.

You sound like one.

The situation still favors you for now.

[Kali]

2. December should be a bill paying amnesty month, if you ask me.

you might call customer service and tell/ask them the same thing - be "proactive" about it rather than trying to fight it later. You SHOULD be ok - they generally allow one error in 6 months or a year, but these days...they are all so asshole-ish about EVERYTHING who knows?

[PassingFair]

3. Call them during office hours.

They will almost certainly remove the late fee.

[seabeyond]

4. with citi bank in the past, if a good customer, we had three graces/ooopses, lol

every once in a while i would forget and call and have them do a draw directly out of my bank account and they wouldnt charge me. customer service told me they allowed, if you called adn asked them to wave the late fee. i dont do often. seldom. did it months ago (maybe a year, maybe more, lol) and called and the service person says doesnt do it anymore. so i didnt do anything. but could just be i had a dick customer service dude. or citi hurting and they arent giving the service anymore. if i was late again, i would try one more time to see if they no longer have the policy.

wont hurt to call them in the morning and ask

[hippywife]

5. Not much you can do at this point

other than what you've done. At least it didn't go over 30 days. That would be a big issue, or so I've been told.

I wouldn't talk to them at all about rate increases or anything like that. Just make your payments. I've heard too many stories about people with good credit and no missed payments calling to demand a lower rate and getting their credit cancelled or their credit line lowered because the credit card companies are just so shitty these days.

[quakerboy]

6. I would say

the main thing is to make a point of paying on time in the future.

[csziggy]

7. I was late on one a couple of months ago

Same thing - just forgot it. I called the company before they called me and let them do a "check payment" over the phone. Because of that, they waived the late fee and the fee for making a telephone payment.

[BlueCollar]

8. bad news/good news

bad news...they hit you with a late payment fee.


good news...your credit report stays clean because they only report payments late over thirty days...

[Old Troop]

9. Call them immediately. The folks that answer the phones seem to

be very nice (yeah it happened to me recently).