Quote Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
Yes sorry that was a typo. I meant calls.
But why on earth would you do that?
I understand if you don't pick up AFTER the first time, but how on earth can people contact you for pressing problems if you don't pick up the phone?
This is standard procedure for EVERYONE I know. Due to the high volume of random sales calls etc, I don't know anyone who picks up the phone for an unknown number. Usually if it's a "pressing problem" the caller is smart enough to leave a voice mail.


payments for utilities like water, electricity, etc all expect to be paid exactly on time, for the exact amount. Otherwise the automated systems will require human intervention.
This is an entirely different situation. You are paying a specific amount, as a cost for service. Not a balance on a loan.

Quote Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
Banks can only accept money if they know it is coming and what they have to do with it. They are not old western style Scrooge McDuck vaults where the director takes a swim in the cash.

Banks accept millions of transfers every month via automated systems. Those automated systems can only handle money if they know what to do with it. They only know what to do with it if they expect it. They can only expect it if they know in advance when it will come, how much it will be and where it has to go.

Let's make the analogy with a Bakery. The baker needs x amount flour to make bread for a week. He gets weekly deliveries in order to have enough to support his business. The flour supplier can't just say 'hey, I know I am way too early, but here is your flour for the next 2 months'. The baker won't know what to do with that flour either. He can't accept it because he simply doesn't have the space to store it.

With bank payments, the problem is space as well. if money comes in way too early, the automated systems have no idea where the money should go. So they forward the transaction to a human being. This costs money. If thousands of people start doing this, the bank needs to hire extra people, just to process payments from people who fail to live up to the terms of the contract. If those people then also refuse to answer letters and phone calls, the whole thing get more time consuming and costly.
I have 3 credit cards and a home loan, and for a short time had a car loan... I've never had a problem with any of them taking my money.
By your theory it would clearly be impossible to pay off a credit card every month, pay off your home loan before the term is up, or to pay off a mattress in 6 months, because all would require more than the "minimum" payment that the banks expect. I'm really confused at how you think paying early is such a problem.

Incidentally the one experience I had where I definitely screwed up regarding an early payment. When I got my first credit card I was trying to set up the online pay feature, but for whatever reason (I don't remember anymore) I sent a payment from my bank to the CC company rather than authorizing the CC company to debit my account. Somehow (again I don't remember why I did this, but it made sense at the time) I sent them a payment greater than my balance, and well before it was due. The payment posted to my account, and it showed a negative balance. I was a bit confused, so I called the CC company and got things straightened out for the future, but the early payment gave me a negative balance until I charged enough to that card to offset it. When I called the CC company rep said that since I sent it as a check (online bill pay from my bank sends a physical check), they just posted it to my account like they always would and since it was more than the balance it just posted a credit. Didn't make any comments that it was a problem, and they didn't charge some "early payment" fee.

Quote Originally Posted by gugi View Post
It doesn't seem so complicated to me. $500 interest free for 6 months is about $2.50 in your pocket, if instead of paying immediately you put the money somewhere at 1% annual interest.
Whether it's worth going through a loan application, and then servicing that loan isn't for me to decide, as there are probably more important intangibles beyond the direct financial gain.

Since you're 24 hopefully you've learned a lesson - you have to understand the contract you're signing on and stick to the terms no matter whether they make sense to you or not. That's something to think about before, not after you sign on. The contract says they will send you a bill every month and you have to pay the minimum payment within a set period after that. You clearly failed to do it, hence the penalty.
I can invest my money at about 10% not 1%, although there is obviously a bit of risk involved.
Regardless of that, yes I agree that I made a mistake, as I was unaware the payment had to be made AFTER a certain date. Anything I'd done before only had a "due date" not a "pay after" date. Obviously this was only relevant because it was the first statement period.
I work in a large (70,000+ employees) corporation and I'm aware how many policies and such make it impossible to apply logic and reason to a situation so I understand the caller was just doing his job. I'd just never encountered a situation before where paying early didn't count towards the minimum payment (though it did post against the outstanding balance).

In any event, I learned something, it didn't cost me anything other than a bit of frustration