Once upon a time, in the land of Tinalicious, I made my credit card payment early.
No, really, George, I'm serious. And I was totally reveling in pride at my personal financial achievement. For about 5 minutes [OK it was more than 5 minutes, but that's not the point]. Until I was checking my account online a few weeks later, as I often do, to make sure the payment had cleared and all.
That's when I saw it. The stupid $35 late fee charged to my account. For a "late payment." Talk about a buzz-kill. I was so distraught and in need of comforting.
But never one to miss an opportunity to browbeat a customer service rep eat a $35 late fee, I decided to call the credit card company and semi rationally discuss the obvious mistake on my account on their behalf.
And I just asked them, point blank: "Why is there a late fee on my account?"
And their perfunctory reply, "Because your payment was late."
So yeah, I guess my inner Jacki Chan got the better of me just then. I just couldn't control myself.
And I clarified, "[WTF?!!] How can my payment have been 'late,' when I paid the bill on the 3rd, and I didn't even get the bill until the 9th, which showed a due date of the 16th?" [This isn't rocket science, nor is it even advanced math; the payment was made well ahead of its due date.]
That's when my inner Captain Jack Sparrow took over to voice the only thought in my head.
And then the CSR politely (kudos to her for having to deal with a whiny biatch like me) explained to me that my payment was made before the new bill had even posted, and when that happens and no subsequent payment is made, the system doesn't recognize payments made prior to the post date as payments for the current billing cycle.
Cue the lightbulb moment, people.
No. Not this one.
This one.
Once she cleared this up to me, she promptly removed the offensive $35 late fee from my account, and all was well and good again in the land of Tinalicious.
And the moral to this story?
- Don't pay your credit card bill before the billing date.
- Never waste the chance to use photos of some of your favorite celebs in a WTF Wednesday blog post.
