Tran Harry – The Economy Needs A Fix

Once I had a Citi Card bill claim I made a late payment. The only part that was late was their processing, but they charged me $35 anyway.

The only reason I noticed this little abnormality in my bill is because I read my bill before making the payment. I keep track of my spending with a spreadsheet that is updated weekly with my receipts and run those numbers against the company’s bill. During this month that I had the late charge I noticed the outstanding balance was off by $35. It only took me a second to see why.

Well when I saw the late penalty I went ahead and checked my check book to see if I had indeed made a late payout, and saw that I had wrote my check 10 days before the due date and I am very peculiar about mailing out the check the same day or if its already the evening I will drop my mail off the next day.

I gave Citi a call to contest this charge and told them that I had my check stub to show as proof. After about five minutes of explaining how the payment should not have been late unless it was either the postal service or their lock box center, they reversed my charge.

That is why I always check my billing statements before sending my money out to companies. After that day I learned that its best to make my payments electronically wherever available because it will automatically keep a record for me, if any questions ever arose I could always refer back to the reference number.