Nobody likes late fees and being late will cost you
thousands of dollars. For some credit cards today, if you
are late, you will have to shell out as much as $40 each
time. This can put a nice sized hole in your pocket very
quickly.
Now, I will provide you with some tips and strategies on
how to steer clear of those monstrous late fees. This will
not only save you a lot of money in the long run, but it
will also keep those money-hungry credit card companies,
from getting your hard earned money in their pockets.
This can be one of the easiest ways to avoid a late fee, is
to just pay your bill each and every month by paying
online, sending in a check, money order, or other type of
payment to your respective credit card issuer. Just make
sure you follow the numerous guidelines, which are usually
outlined on the back of each credit card bill, on how to
send in your payment. These guidelines must be followed
precisely if you want to guarantee that your payment will
go through as expected.
The payment guidelines may include everything from a
specific payment address to the time of day by which the
payment must be received to be credited that day. Many
issuers also stipulate that payments must arrive in the
preprinted envelope sent to the consumer.
With the Fair Credit Billing Act in place, it requires
issuers to credit payments the day they are received, each
issuer is allowed to set specific payment guidelines. So if
any of the guidelines are not met, then the issuer can take
as many as five days to receive credit.
A on-time payment could easily become late during that
five-day period, so follow those payment guidelines
carefully. Just skip the payment. One of the more rare
types of methods you hear of, are Skip-A-Payment services.
You can use these services to skip mortgage, credit card,
or loan payments. Usually you would need to get in contact
with your bank just to see if you even qualify or not.
There are also independent companies out there that will
allow you to do the same thing, no matter what bank you are
a member of. Depending on whose service you use, the fee's
associated with it may vary. When you use these types of
services make sure you know how much you will be charged
then decide if it's worth it.
Pay minimum due immediately. One of the best ways to
prevent a late fee from being charged to your account is to
pay the minimum due immediately. As soon as you receive
your bill, send in the minimum due. This will always insure
that your credit card issuer received payment. You can
always send in more money later if you decide otherwise.
This is a great way to avoid missing a payment because if
you forget to send extra money you can guarantee that you
won't be charged a late fee because the minimum due has
been already been paid.
You can move your due date. Are your credit card bills due
at a time of the month when you're running low on cash?
Many people have trouble saving money, so when it comes
time to paying their credit card bills, they don't have any
cash to do so. One particular solution is to move your due
date. Many credit card issuers will allow you to set your
own due date to meet your specific needs. If you have
trouble saving money, move your due date to a time when you
do have money, like as soon as you get your paycheck. If
you time your credit card bill to come the same day you get
paid, you will always have cash to pay the bill on-time.
How about paying by phone. If you are one of those people
that wait to the last minute to do everything or if you
just forgot to send in your credit card payment early
enough, you could always pay by phone. This guarantees that
your payment will be on time. Just supply the
representative on the other line with your checking account
number and your bank routing number, which is printed at
the bottom of each check. Usually the routing number is
first and the account number is second. A lot of issuers
allow you to pay by phone and some will charge you a pretty
penny for doing so. Fee's can range from $5 to $20 each.
Other express methods may include. If your bank does not
offer a "pay by phone" service and you need to get your
payment to your credit card issuer as soon as possible, I
recommend either sending your payment in by express mail or
by Western Union. Either one of these services can get your
payment to your credit card issuer immediately. These
express methods are costly, but it will always most likely
be cheaper than any fees associated with being late. Make
sure you send your express payment to the proper address.
Many issuers have separate payment addresses for express
payments. The last thing you want to do is slow the
processing of an express payment by sending it to the wrong
address in which can end up with more fees to pay.
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Keishon Martin who also writes for
http://www.Newmoneycredit.com which is where you can get
the best self credit repair program on the internet. also
check out http://www.getrichinmusic.com
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