January 23,2009
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What to Believe About Credit Scores, Pt.1
– 'Accelerated Due Dates'.MarketWatch.com was gracious enough to host a write-in forum for all of us to share our frustrations with deceptive credit card abuses by the lenders. What a great idea. Didn't take long at all to rack up a trip-digit number of credit card woe write-ins and some (if not most) were very good. These are not just a bunch of ‘whiners' and there is wisdom to be gained from each story. A modicum of credit card savvy can go a long way and, if sharing these events can save the next person from the same fate, then it is good to share the wisdom.
Since ‘accelerated payment due dates' (often referred to as ‘floating due dates') on credit cards are, by far, the biggest complaint, we'll start with this topic. We'll start with the least serious cases such as ‘near-misses' caused by 'Insufficient Notice', and work down toward the more serious in terms of severity, ending with prospective remedies. To begin with, we hear from respondent ‘Dodge' and this person's experiences. It all started when Discover reduced the grace period from 25 days to 20 days. (This is the time between the credit card statement date and due date.) Since Discover also chose to post the statement on-line a day later also, the effective shortening was actually 6 days. So, when ‘Dodge' called the lender and explained the dis-pleasure, the offer was to shift the due date back a week, ‘Dodge' expressed that the measure would only buy a on-time fix and would not be of any help after that point. After scrimping, ‘Dodge' managed to cover that month and is now living with the damage. He will never be content with it but, will have to live with it. This may change in the coming months as new government regulations go into effect but, only time will tell.