[...] Get Rich Slowly talked about Citibank’s retroactive late fees with one example dating back two years. I thought credit card companies had shaped up their act by eliminating two-month finance charge cycles, but this is a new one: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/11/06/beware-of-citibanks-retroactive-late-fee/ [...]

[...] Beware of Citibank’s Retroactive Late Fee – How would you feel if your credit card company suddenly applied a late fee to your account to make up for something that happened in 2005? Yeah, I’d be pissed too. [...]

Star Money Articles for the Week of November 5…

Here are some recent interesting posts from the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond: Get Rich Slowly warns to beware Citibank’s retroactive late fee. Consumerism Commentary covers Britney’s finances. AllFinancialMatters tells how to turn desire into gold. Mi…

I’ve been a customer for the past 8 years and hope to be for another 50 more.

It seems to me that if they made an error two years ago, it’s their problem and they should not go after their customers 24 months later.

Just think of all the money they’ll make, then add on people who don’t have the money in their accounts to cover the extra fee who’ll then get smacked with a late/NSF fee!! Smart.

People, if this doesn’t make you cut up your credit cards, once and for all, what will??

Complain not just to the attorney general in your state but to the AG’s office in the state where this outfit is headquartered. Then remember that there is a federal banking commission. For those of us in the Southwest, it’s located in San Francisco. Find out where your regional office is, raise Hell, and put a block under it!

Send copies of your complaints to the Better Business Bureau, to Consumer’s Union, and to your state banking commission.

This whole thread is making me hyperventilate!!!!!

Here’s the form letter I got. If I was such a valued member, they would’ve been crying to keep me

Thank you for contacting Bank of America regarding your, Credit Card. We
are happy to assist you.

While we make every effort to assist our customers who contact us by
e-mail, there are certain situations which require a conversation with
an account specialist. Since your account requires special handling,
please contact our Customer Assistance Department at 1.800.732.9194.

Please be assured that we know your time is valuable to you and we would
not direct you to contact us by telephone unless it were absolutely
necessary.

We value you as a customer and appreciate your business. If we may be of
further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail. Thank you for
choosing Bank of America.

Thank you for being a valued member.

I never carry a balance and always pay off my card the same day I use it. I even signed up for email reminders and automatic pay as a backup in case I forget. Still, I’ve been caught with one or two late fees due to the inability to pay. When I call to tell them I couldn’t pay because the website didn’t work, they say “we’re terribly sorry and we will fix that for next month”

Twice there has been a mysterious $45 charge with no explanation that they apologized profusely about when I called, but only after I waited on hold for more than 15 minutes and asked to speak to a manager.

Credit cards aren’t worth the hassle.

I told them these offers and credit pulls were unsolicited and unauthorized. They credited the $40 back. I then went back through every bill for the last 3 years and found that we had been charged this $40 fee additional times. The $40 fees were taken from what would have been paid to our mortgage principle.

We were able to get all the $40 fees credited back but unable to get Countrywide to make up the difference in interest that was lost due to those $40 fees not being applied to our mortgages principle. It certainly pays to closely look over all statements.

Because we pay the same amount every month, I wasn’t as diligent as I should have been.

I can’t wait to see the class action lawsuit on this one.

How long ago? it took my loan company a good 6 months to get my note back to me. of course, I *think* it was a perkins loan, so YMMV with private loans. I would call them everyday until they agree to send it.

Funny though that when I paid off my car, I got the title from GMAC in a couple days.

At any rate, that’s good to know. I have a student loan with Wells that’s a couple months from being paid-in-full, and its good to know I might have to bug them about it when i do pay it off.

I’m only $1,500 in debt outside of my car payment. Now is the time for me to get these paid off and closed. Then work on paying off my car early.

“I have a Citibank Student Loan and noticed a another scam. All of the sudden I automatically stopped receiving a paper bill. At the time I relied on paper bills to keep track of what needs to be paid. It never got in my pipeline and never was paid. And a late fee occurred.”

I’ve noticed this type of scam as well. A lot of times if you access an account online you are agreeing to stop paper bills and switch to on-line bills. This happened to me with ADT. I didn’t receive a bill, was chaged a late fee, etc. ADT did waive the fee but I found the whole process sneaky.

“I don’t see how they can assess late fees for loans that were paid in full. When you pay a student loan off, you typically get your promissory note back stamped ‘paid in full’. That should be more than enough evidence to dispute any charges on a closed account. OF course, you would have to tell citibank to F– off, and have them report you to the agencies to dispute it like that, so maybe its better to just pay the $40.”

We’ve paid off one of my husband’s MBA student loans and we have received no paperwork indicating the loan has been paid in full. I’ve asked husband to call and request same. I was all over husband on this b/c of these types of stories, errors (on purpose or otherwise) can happen especially when the loan has been sold more than once.

99% of the time, there’s never any trouble. But that 1% can make your life a living hell. It’s very important that when something goes wrong — and it’s not your fault — that you raise a stink. You don’t have to be rude, but be certain to be assertive and to stick up for your rights. This can be difficult since large institutions seem strong, as if they have the weight of dollars and the law. But do it.

My brother has a story that boggles my mind. He and his wife had a credit card with Bank of America. They carried a balance for years, always sending payment just before the due date. Then they began to receive late fees. My brother called to find out why and was told that his payment was arriving the day after it was due. He thought this was a little odd since it had always arrived on time before, but he started mailing his payments a few days earlier. Still he got late fees. He paid even earlier. Eventually he was mailing payment on the day he received his bill. Still he was charged late fees. Naturally, he blew a gasket. “How in the hell can I possibly pay you any sooner?” he ranted. “I’m mailing the bill on the day I receive it and you guys still claim it’s arriving a day late.”

They didn’t have a good answer for that one.

That was a quick lesson with both loans and citibank for me

How can they get away with it? Simple. They have paperwork departments; you have you. The relative impact of you fighting a wrong charge — any kind of thing that requires administrative pursuit — is tiny for them and enormous for you.

I don’t see how they can assess late fees for loans that were paid in full. When you pay a student loan off, you typically get your promissory note back stamped ‘paid in full’. That should be more than enough evidence to dispute any charges on a closed account. OF course, you would have to tell citibank to F– off, and have them report you to the agencies to dispute it like that, so maybe its better to just pay the $40.

I really feel for you though. I usually check all of my financials at least once a week. I think after reading this i’m going to up that to 2x a week.

When I realized I hadn’t made a payment, I went online to check the total due and pay the bill. They required 5 security questions. I forgot one question and my online account was locked. I had to call to have my account reinstated. They purposefully made it very difficult to pay my bill on time.

And then they proceeded to ask me why I hadn’t paid on time. “Did you lose your job?” the rep asked. I said “No, you never sent me a Bill”. “OK”, he replied. “No it’s not OK”.

This is a scam.

It’s a win-win for the bank. If the customer does not act, they will be charged late fees and don’t have the cost of sending a paper bill.