Jim Charter wrote:
>> Same thing with the majority of utility bills - the invoice comes 
>> through  and the payment drawn a few days later. In some case they'll 
>> charge you an  'admin' fee for not doing it this way.
>>
> Yeah, I might try and get organized enough to try something like that. 
> At least for bills.  I didn't know you could do it for credit card.

	I never opted for this. Times have arisen where I wanted to dispute a 
charge or two. I'd rather dispute first and pay later than the reverse.

	If it's your first few offenses, you can usually get fees waived. In my 
first so many years of using a CC, I'd rarely been late on a payment and 
always called and got an extension or a waiver. Then one time it 
happened again. I just got sick of it all - the reason was that whereas 
before it was late if it were paid after midnight, now it was late if 
paid after 5pm. Then it became late after 4pm (they invoked a time zone 
argument). So I just said to them:

"I'm kinda sick of this. I won't dispute anything. But please shut down 
my account and I'll pay whatever's left + fines".

	They "convinced" me to keep the account open if they'd waive the fines.
	
	I've been late only once after that, and they played a new "trick" on 
me. Deadline to pay was, say, May 1st. I missed it and thought, "What 
the heck, it's too late, I'll pay when I get the next statement and pay 
both together". So I got a late fee and interest, which showed up on my 
next bill. I paid it all on time (I always pay the whole balance). Then 
on the *next* bill, I get another interest charge. How come? I had paid 
the whole balance! Well, it was a sort of residual interest on the 
earlier interest. Once I'd paid that, I got no more interest charges. It 
makes sense, but a lot of CC companies didn't do that in the past. I 
hear it's becoming more common.

	I now try to use the CC for online-only transactions. There was a long 
while where I just kept it at home. I try to pay whatever I can in cash 
now. Not to save money, but I got wary of various companies knowing my 
shopping habits.

	Paranoia, as Sabrina said. 	

-- 
The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.


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                        >>>>>>mue### [at] nawazorg<<<<<<
                                    anl

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