Wait, I thought companies always had to honor the postmark instead of the actual day they process things?

@howie_in_az: I'm with you. I can recall many times reading "Payment/entry/rebate must be postmarked no later than (date)."

I suppose it's a good thing that this legislation is being written for anybody in business with companies who act contrarily.

I hope it goes through too. It's about time somebody put their foot down on scumbag banks who screw you on fees and interest at every opportunity.

I've often wondered how many payments actually arrived on-time but get held-up "accidentally" in the basement of the processing center until they are late.

Of course, you can't pay electronically if you're late because credit-card companies somehow need 3-days to "process" a transaction that you could do in 30 seconds with an ATM machine. Don't tell me that's an accident.

Bruce Williams was pushing this 20 years ago or better. He opined if a postmark was good enough for the IRS, it should be good enough for creditors. It never went anyplace though.

This is why I pay online. That and also to save money on stamps and paper waste.

Legally speaking, there's always been this thing in common law of contracts called "the mailbox rule."

[en.wikipedia.org]

But credit card companies have gotten away from that a long time ago. I think federal legislation like TN's is long overdue.

Ohmygosh, the lobbyists are going to get rich on this one. I mean richer.

BofA (MBNA) screwed us over on this and wouldn't do more than refund half the late payment even though it was mailed 6 days before the due date.

So we canceled the card.

The rep tried to get us to keep their card but we decided they didn't deserve our business. Our credit ratings are almost 800 so canceling the one card isn't a big deal.

@howie_in_az: That was true in the good old days (and I remember them), but nowadays the credit card companies usually have a phrase that reads something like "must be in our greedy little hands by 12:30 pm of the due date or you're paying a huge late fee, regardless of when you mailed it."

This legislation sounds a good start, but if we can't trust the credit card companies to begin with why should we expect them to honor a postmark date? Unless the payment is mailed certified, proving it was mailed on time, what's to stop the credit card company from claiming it wasn't? I can't imagine they'd hold onto the envelope to prove they're liars and lose money.

@Shoelace: There will be a new Federal Department of Postmark Verification. It was a $900,000,000 earmark in the spending bill. Page 15,662 - I'm surprised you missed it.

@legwork:

Whaaaa??

@boyonabike: And also, I worry that my check might get lost in the mail.

Hmmm, I would prefer a fixed billing date, that way you always know when to pay the bill.

For example 10 of each month, no catch.
I'd love that, it would be so much easier to budget...

@boyonabike: I wish everyone was that computer savvy. This legislation will help elders and illiterates.

Sadly not everyone can read. And most retirees are scared of technology.

What do you think the credit card companies' reaction to this will be? Claim they never received the payment. If it wasn't sent certified they can go and claim that they never got the payment and put the burden on you for proving it otherwise. Meanwhile charge you a fee.

@Web Reacher: Concur, but that would make it too hard to hit you with late fees.

@Jessica Schwartz: As in, how much (of our money) do you think the banks will be willing to spend to keep this from passing?

@Starfury:

Major props to you man. That's how you stick it to them!

they sure are. almost all i know pay check...im like wow..you'd really rather send it through the mail. @webreacher:

@Shoelace: They would get caught, fast, if they tried that trick. Enough consumers would be able to send pieces with verified postmarks that this tactic would be noticed.

You can obtain something called a "Certificate of Mailing" for a $1.10, and it doesn't even involve a mark on the original envelope, so if you wanted to do a sting on the bank, it would be trivial.

I wonder if I could adjust the date on our postal machine at work just to mess with them. I could see it now. MR so and so your payment was 2 months late. What sorry dude here is the picture from my cell phone showing the post marked payment 1 week before the due date. I guess your recieving dept must have screwed up. LoL
Not really. I make a phone call to my lacal bank where I know everyone, as my wife worked there for years and 2 minutes later xfer from checking. It feels good to just know I could get away with it if that law passes here in TN. I guess that I would never do that and I pay all my bills early is why I have an 812 credit score.

@boyonabike: This is great except those times when you forget to pay your bill till, say, 4pm, and it was due by some nonsense time like 3pm.

I love how no matter when I BUY something, it posts to my account right away, no matter what time, no matter what day. But God forbid I try to PAY them on a Sunday or a Thursday at 5pm, it's obviously impossible for them to TAKE my money at those ridiculous times of day, right?

@webreacher: Also one of my credit cards repeatedly boots me off the online system and deauthorizes me from accessing my account online. I got tired of giving up an hour of my life every couple months to reactivate it and started paying by mail.

This needs to be a federal law. Now. Banking operations may be based in faraway states (like South Dakota) ,but their business crosses state lines. Reason enough to use this kind of law as a template for federal action. You would think that any politician that can count to ten would realize that there is real political hay to be made by taking up this fight at the national level.
I live next door to the state where this is being proposed. It is telling that it has any chance at all of enactment (Tennessee legislators are notoriously pro-business).If this goes through, it may reveal a wave of discontent with the high handed practices of the credit card industry that will finally penetrate the bought- and -paid -for boffins in the halls of congress.

@legwork: Yes, the lobbyists will be run to the federal government to get a law passed overriding state laws. Just like how all the credit card companies have their HQs in Delaware so they can charge mondo interest rates.

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): They have a million ways of making paying online just as, if not more, inconvenient.

The first time I had to rush a large CC payment online, I found that I could only pay up to $1000 per payment, and I could only make a payment every 3-4 days. Meaning I couldn't pay the full balance.

Read your credit card agreement that you got WITH your card in the mail. IF YOU DIDN'T AGREE TO THOSE TERMS YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE SIGNED THE BACK OF THE CARD OR USED IT THE FIRST TIME. That is a contract you sign when you sign the back of your card. Also, somewhere on your monthly statement you will probably find a disclosure to allow 7-10 days for your payment to be posted. No, it is not going to be posted the instant it arrives in the door. YOU must account for normal processing time. YOU are responsible for getting your payment made on time. Do your really think we are sifting through all those THOUSANDS of payments to find the ones that are about to be late and holding them up??? How ridiculous!! And now, most companies take debit payments over the phone which are transacted the same day. So, if you have difficulties making payments, there are options........you can walk a payment into your bank if it is a bank card. BofA does it all the time. That payment is posted as of the day the payment is made. AND most credit card statements give you almost a full month to make payment - from cycle drop date to due date. AND if you have any questions or problems, you can always call them and ask. And to be perfectly honest, I have no sympathy for ignorance. I work in the industry, and I am absolutley appalled at the stupidity of some people who have credit cards. Seems nobody ever wants to take responsibility for their own actions anymore.....it's always the other guy's fault. Shame on them.

Will this apply to rebates, too?

@ivanthemute:

Not that I use CCs, but I'm with you on this one. Why do some bills like a mortgage payment, utility payment, etc. have a fixed due date and some float around. It drives me bonkers as I pay our bills twice a month and that is it.

Hopefully this would stop the Credit Card Late Fee BS. I always pay mine at least a week early. BUT I seem to often see that my payment misses the due date by 1 day.

Like Due Feb 3, Payment received Feb 4, Total BS.

I live in PA, the payment is going to Delaware. 1 Week is plenty of time for the check to go 60 miles. Its just sitting on someones desk waiting for the due date to pass.

@boyonabike: Of course, banks screw you through online payments, too, by mysteriously being unable to process your online payment except 9-5 on business days. Never mind that they DEBIT your credit card 24/7.

@ShadowFalls: Which means they would have to throw out your check instead of accepting the payment. No, they want your payment, they just ALSO want to charge you late fees.

@howie_in_az: Not anymore, howie. I got zapped with a late fee a few years ago, even though I sent the payment before the due date. Their answer: They need to receive the payment a whopping 10 days before the due date. I told them if they need it 10 days earlier then they should make that the due date.

@webreacher: I pay all my bills on the same day of the month regardless of their actual due date. As a result, I never miss payments or make them late.

Pay online...this doesn't help folks living in Appalachia without Internet access, but if you are reading Consumerist, you obviously have Internet access :-)

Pick a "bill day" that fits with all your accounts' due dates. If you get paid weekly you may need to have 2 or more "bill days" in a month.

Set a recurring reminder for yourself in Outlook/GCal/RTM or whatever you use to give yourself reminders with which bills to pay on that day.

Whether you have a paper bill from them or not, when bill day comes, look up the balance, pay the bill, record the date and confirmation codes wherever you like to store that kind of info.

If you have to use a bank's check-issuing system where they still mail a check, make sure you factor that in, but if it's anything like the one I use at least it gives you a log of when they dropped it in the mail that you can potentially use to fight with them if they try to charge you a late fee anyway.

@nybiker: That's a load of crap IMHO.

That means that the company can receive your check and lose it, willingly or not, and you get the blame for it.

The only way around that is certifying all your mail or getting return receipt which is just a pain.

I usually only use the mail for "official business" so I always certify it. I rarely have offical business.

@morganlh85: For what it's worth, Most of the time when I go shopping though, it does wait until Monday to officially post.

@sirwired: $1.10 on each bill each month isn't what I consider "trivial".

@Tank: The reason that it's good for the IRS (as well as the US Patent and Trademark Office, which I learned working for a patent agent) is that USPS is an agency of the Federal Government. Once the USPS has it, it is within the possession of the government and they can't call you late.

Creditors are not the feds though, so that particular line of reasoning doesn't apply.

@hedonia: It was for a proposed "sting" not a regular happening.

@frodolives35: You could. But it's a federal crime.

Great idea. This law should be nation-wide and apply to all bills, not just credit cards.

@boyonabike: I still like having a copy of the canceled check. It is indisputable proof.

@snowburnt: Online banking. I've been able to get out of many a late fee by simply being able to tell them exactly when my payment was sent and how it's their fault if it wasn't processed in time.

@Starfury: The real fun is playing with the retention rep until you get bored with them, then escalating to the Supervisor so you can say "no" before hanging up.

I don't think these banks have quite figured out that credit card customers are quite as soft as they had been (i.e., willing to put up with abuse so they don't have to pay off their card). CC purchases are already down, what... 7% in the last two months? I suggest Mr. and Mrs. BofA stockholder get ready for some earnings pain in the next couple years...

@Troy F.: That doesn't actually work. Let's say that today, April 9, you set up a fixed monthly payment for a bill that is due on 4/19. If you have a cc with a wandering due date, there is a good chance you'll be smacked with a late fee (and a new punitive interest rate, yey!1!) within about 18 months.

At least that's my experience. I've been using online billpay -- and, by extension, monthly payments -- for years, yet I still get late charges if I don't keep an eye on my accounts. Some billers will stop playing silly buggers with your due date if you ask, but others won't. ("The system doesn't allow it." No, the jerk who *designed* the system didn't allow it.)

I especially like it when the due date is on a weekend. If your mail is just a little slow, they open it monday and charge you a late fee. This despite that it's been waiting for them for a couple days to open their doors.

@ShadowFalls: Hopefully not. First, I'm not sure, but that kind of activity may well cross the line into mail fraud. Don't mess with the USPS. Second, old folks know about return receipts, and I'm sure the card companies don't want to go to the effort and expense of creating Mail Receipt Acknowledgement Departments.

I can't even tell if I'm joking anymore.