Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Another reason why I hate credit cards

They are almost impossible to pay off!

I don't mean as in making payments and slowly decreasing balances over time. Yes, the willpower involved with that is hard. Yes, for many people it's almost impossible. But that's not what I refer to.

The payoff amount at anyone time changes because of how the interest compounds. And then, at the end of the billing cycle, you get even more interest based on your balance over the course of the month. My husband and I both got statements from cards that we "paid" off. One was for less than five dollars, the other less than ten.

It's so frustrating!

I even payed more than I knew was due for one of the cards. They had to send me a check for the difference. And yet, somehow, I owe them $4.50. And of course since the payment won't go through until tomorrow, what about the interest that's going to be added.

I want to call and really bitch someone in the CSR field out. Right now I just don't have the energy or the time. Maybe next week.

1 comment:

Lise F said...

Ugh. I've had that happen before. I think it's a result of double-cycle billing--where interest is compounded twice per billing period instead of once. Thus you're paying interest on a balance which existed before your payment reached them but after the first compounding period of the month.

It's ridiculous, and this is why I prefer cars without double-cycle billing. You really have to read the fine print carefully to figure out which yours is, though.