Robert and his wife aren’t poor: they’re currently in the process of buying a vacation home. His wife opened up a Macy’s credit card in order to get an additional discount, because yay for discounts! Robert set up “green” or paperless billing after gaining online access to the account, but it turned out to be more like billess billing: they never saw any bills. Should they have noticed that no bills were coming and checked their spam folders? Maybe. But no bills came. [More]
late fees
Man Blames Library Book’s Tardy Return On World War II
By 3.12.13
We’re sure librarians have heard plenty of creative excuses for late library books over the years, but World War II provided quite a unique reason for an Estonian man who recently returned a book 69 years late. He says aerial bombing that damaged the library was part of the reason he wasn’t able to return it earlier. The library says it won’t charge him a late fee, even though he offered to do so. Whew. [Associated Press] [More]
Not Done With That ‘Oregon Trail’ CD-ROM? Phoenix Library Could Use The $4.3M In Late Fees
By 11.27.12
Are you really ever going to fire up your old VHS and watch those videos you borrowed from the Phoenix Library? No? Then would you possibly mind forking over the cash to cover the late fee? See, the library system has totted up the costs related to overdue materials like books, CDs, videos and yes, cassettes and says its borrowers owe it about $4.3 million in fees. Plenty of that stuff won’t be able to be replaced, that’s how long it’s been since they were originally checked out. [More]
You Have To Call Up Wells Fargo To Ask For Your Extra Payment To Be Applied To The Late Fee
By 10.21.11
Keith just found out the hard way that if you try to pay off your late fee with Wells Fargo, you can’t just add it on to the regular payment. You have to call them up and tell them where to apply it. [More]
Late Credit Card Payments At Lowest Rate Since Mid '90s
By 8.16.11
We mentioned a few weeks ago that more Americans have begun paying down their credit card debt during the last two years rather than maxing out their accounts with stuff they can’t afford. Now comes another sign of more responsible behavior… the rate of late credit card payments is the lowest it’s been in 17 years — .That’s an entire Bieber! [More]
Even Paying On Due Date Won't Save You From Late Fees
By 8.10.11
Even though he thought he paid on his credit card’s due date, Russel still got dinged with a late fee. Turns out that he needed to make his payment before 5pm Eastern, otherwise it would get counted as being the next day. Rarg! [More]
Citibank Transfers Student Loan To Another Company, But Sits On $1000 Payment For 30 More Days
By 9.29.10
The last time I uncovered an obvious error with my Citibank checking account, I realized it was time to move on. Our tipster Roarke may have just reached that same conclusion, only in his case Citibank has already passed along the account for him–just not the thousand dollar electronic payment he made on it a few days prior, which Citibank says it plans to hang on to for another 30 days. [More]
Bank Of America Threatens $75 Fee For 4-Day-Late Credit Card Payment
By 9.23.10
It’s one thing for a bank to nag customers who are late with credit card payments, but quite another to be rude about it and insist they’ll have to cough up $75 late fees in addition to interest. [More]
DMV Doesn't Tell Me I Owe Money, Charges $80 In Late Fees
By 9.10.10
Mark writes in with a nightmarish tale of government bureaucracy costing him ever-expanding late fees by failing to inform him he owed money, then making him wait several weeks to set up a meeting and apply to appeal. [More]
Blockbuster Charges Me For Membership I Didn't Want, Won't Refund My Money
By 8.24.10
Chris tried Blockbuster’s rent-by-mail trial period and says he was mistakenly charged for the final three DVDs, which he had returned. He didn’t notice the screw-up for months, then once he finally got Blockbuster to reverse the charges he was billed $43 for months of a membership he never used. [More]
Banana Republic Credit Card Comes With Free Account Errors, Late Fees, Disconnected Calls
By 8.3.10
Nick went shopping recently at Banana Republic and applied for a store credit card. Now he’s being called by a collections department and receiving contradictory stories about whether or not the retailer has his correct address on file. [More]
Late Payments Are Dropping Thanks In Part To The CARD Act
By 5.17.10
Banks and card issuers warned against the credit card reforms that went into effect a few months back, but so far it’s been a good thing for consumers, according to new delinquency numbers. [More]
Regions Bank Bans Customer For Life For Pestering Them About $29 Fee
By 4.7.10
A man in Tennessee has been banned from ever entering any Regions Bank branch again, because the bank says he was so disruptive and hostile to their employees that they were forced to seek a restraining order. The cause of the dispute was a $29 late fee on an account where the bank had moved up the due date but hadn’t noted it on the online version of the account. [More]
Blockbuster Goes Retro, Brings Back Late Fees
By 3.3.10
After nearly five years of offering “no late fees” to its ever-dwindling customer base, Blockbuster announced this week that it’s feeling a little nostalgic for the days it actually made money and is bringing back those good ol’ late fees. [More]
Blockbuster Doesn't Believe We've Returned Their Stupid Movie
By 11.27.09
Reader and admitted Geek Squad employee Mike says he and his girlfriend rented and returned The Ugly Truth at Blockbuster, but the floundering rental chain insists it can’t find the movie so his girlfriend is stuck with late fees that Blockbuster supposedly did away with years ago. [More]
Capital One Activates Payment Protection Plan Thanks To EECB
By 11.7.09
Earlier this week, I posted about a college student who couldn’t get Capital One’s Emergency Payment Protection Plan activated on his account because of missed deadlines. Andon wrote back today to say that after he sent an EECB to the credit card company’s executives, they apologized and activated the service.
Blockbuster Tells Gamer It's Reinstituting Late Fees For Game Rentals At 'Select Stores'
By 10.7.09
Blockbuster is apparently “celebrating the end of late fees” with… late fees!
Woman Arrested For Keeping Rented Movies 10 Years Past Due Date
By 10.5.09
A woman in Iowa was arrested last week for the theft of three video tapes from a local video store. She rented them in May of 1998, and a charge was filed against her in September of that same year after she repeatedly neglected to return them.
