Unfair Credit Cards Penalties and How to Avoid Them
Almost every person who takes up a credit card does so knowing that they will have to make payments on the credit card balances on a regular basis. Furthermore, the person taking up a credit card does so knowing that late repayment of the credit card balances is bound to attract some penalties. In spite of being made clear about these things right from the time people are taking up credit cards though, many still find themselves defaulting or falling very late on their credit card balance repayment, leading to a situation where they have to suffer the penalties. Indeed, the number of people who find themselves suffering late credit card balance repayment penalties is so great that most credit card companies look upon the late credit card balance repayment penalties as one of their leading sources of revenue!
Late credit card balance repayment penalties may be a good source of revenue to the credit card companies, but to the person who suffers such credit card penalties, of course, the money that goes into paying them is as good as money that is thrown to the wind – because they get absolutely nothing out of it.
Now the basic concept of charging late credit card balance repayment penalties is understandable; because – to be fair to them – if the credit card companies didn’t charge such penalties, nobody would ever pay their credit card balance obligations on time. What is harder to sympathize with, though, is the situation where one is charged a late credit card balance repayment penalty, in spite of their having paid their credit card balance on time, a situation in which many credit card users actually find themselves in from time to time.
One way to avoid such unfair credit card balance repayment penalties is by giving a standing order to your bank; to be paying the credit card company the minimum amount required to prevent the late credit card balance repayment penalty – right on the day the repayment falls due, leaving you to pay the rest of the amount above the balance later upon your scrutinizing your credit card statement. Having instructed your bank to do this, it is under legal obligation to effect the standing order on time (provided you maintain sufficient funds in your account, of course), and there is absolutely no reason for your credit card provider to ever charge you a late balance repayment penalty.
Reading the credit card provider’s payment guidelines – and observing them to the letter when making your payments – is another measure you can take toward preventing unfair credit card penalties. Many people who complain that they have been unfairly penalized often turn out to be people who made simple errors (like mailing the repayment check to the wrong address), naturally leading to delays in processing the payment and incurring the penalty. In a situation like that, one really has no reason to claim that they are being unfairly penalized.
Making credit card balance payments over the phone, too, is another good step one can take towards protecting themselves from unfair credit card penalties, because of the ‘real-time’ nature of such over-the-phone transactions. For this to happen, though, making such over the phone payments has to be something you are comfortable with, and something that your credit card provider accepts too.