Comments on: Deceptive Credit Card Offers, Part 4: Due Times

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Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:39:41 +0000

[...] June 9: Deceptive Credit Card Offers, Part 4: Due Times [...]

By: » Best of 2006, January Through June on Consumerism Commentary: A Personal Finance Blog

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 04:41:08 +0000

[...] Debt, Credit and Credit Cards New Emigrant Direct Credit Card Spend More With Cash or Plastic Raising Interest Rates American are NOT in Bad Shape With Credit, Sort Of 50-Year Mortgages Student Loan Consolidation: The Countdown Begins Deceptive Credit Card Offers: Two-Cycle Billing, Universal Default, Over-Limit Fees, Due Times Dustin Diamond (Screech)’s Strage Land Contract [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 14:15:36 +0000

I have also noticed my bill moving up a day every month and then sliding back four days every four months or so. I have actually got my payments so I make one soon as it’s available online to view and another later in the month.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 21:48:55 +0000

Another thing… I’m quite sure BoA’s choice of 23 was no accident. With small enough print (like on, say, BoA’s credit card statements), 28 and 23 are easily confused if you aren’t paying close enough attention or have less than 20/20 vision. Why not 24? Or 22? No, going from 28 to 23 was intentional, and designed to funnel more late fees into their coffers.

“Don’t be such a conspiracy theorist,” you say?

“Don’t be so naive,” I say. =)

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 21:41:37 +0000

Something else for the snail mail folks to watch out for: shorter grace periods. I always go over my Bank of America credit card bill with a fine-toothed comb as soon as I receive it, and one month last fall the first thing I noticed as I slid the bill out of its envelope was that my due date, which for years had been on the 28th of each month, was now the 23rd, where it has stayed ever since.

So if you get paid on the 15th and the 31st of every month like I do, dropping that check in the mail as soon as your direct deposit paycheck hits on the 15th is an increasingly good idea.

(And no, I’m not interested in BoA’s online banking.)