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Credit Card Penalties
By: Peter Kenny
What’s the thing that seems to always happen every time you are finding it
difficult to meet your credit card payments? You get slapped with a penalty fee.
These fees or penalties seem to always happen just at the very moment you need
them least. Someone once described a banker as a man who will lend you his
umbrella, and then ask for it back as soon as it starts raining. This seems
typical of many people’s dealing with the financial services industries.
What are the reasons that you can be hit with a penalty from your credit card
provider? Well the most common is that you fail to make your minimum payment on
time. This is by far the penalty that most people hate the most and the one that
seems to hit customers at the least convenient times. There are other credit
card penalties that can occur for various administrative breaches you commit
such as writing a credit card check that bounces, or going over your credit card
limit.
There are a number of reasons why you may commit one of the acts that cause
credit card penalties to be applied to your account. If it is a first time
occurrence or a once off, you may be able to call your credit card provider and
request them to waive the fee in this instance. They are only likely to do this
if you have been a customer of theirs for some time and have been good at
keeping your payments up to date. However, it is always worth asking as many
credit providers do allow their employees to give once off good will gestures to
customers.
It is generally good practice to take the maximum of care to avoid costly credit
card penalties. One of the best and most effective ways of doing this is to
arrange to have your credit card paid by standing order or direct debit.
Obviously this is only a real option if you are certain to have enough money in
your bank account, as if you do not, you will not only receive a penalty from
your credit card provider, but will probably face another one from your bank!
However, if you can afford at least your minimum payment each month, and most
customers can afford at least this much, then you should consider this option as
it means your bill will be paid on time every month and you will not have to
worry about incurring a late payment credit card penalty ever again.
About the Author:
Peter Kenny is a writer for creditcards-gb For additional articles and an
extensive resource for everything about credit cards, please visit us at
http://www.creditcards-gb.co.ukcom and http://www.creditcards2go4.com |
