BoA ... A hundred point credit score drop for unpaid $79 annual fee.
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Boxter, MD
Posts: 247
BoA ... A hundred point credit score drop for unpaid $79 annual fee.
I'm 45 years old and have never had a late payment for anything ever in my life. In fact my credit score at one point last year was 850 (it fell to the 820s after I opened another CC). But thanks to my Amtrak visa card, my run is over. I don't use the card often and so don't check the balance often, unless I use it. But my annual fee came due in January and I must have agreed at some point to only electronic statements as I never got anything in the mail and I didn't see anything in my email that made me think that I had a balance due. Finally in March I signed in and saw that I was 32 days late for the January due date. I immediately paid it in full figuring it was no big deal, but then last week I get an alert from my credit monitoring service saying that my score had dropped 100 points!! A hundred point drop for a month late on a $79 bill... how ridiculous.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
#3
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 66
I'm paperless for all of my BoA credit cards, and when the statement closes, I always get an email notifying me that there's a new statement, and the email even contains the balance and minimum due, so I'm not sure why you don't get those. I do agree that they should send another email as the due date approaches like some banks do.
Even without due date notifications, BoA's statement notification emails are so much better than Chase's. Chase emails don't give you the balance, and Chase cards don't support ebills either, so it's so annoying to have to log into their website every month to find out how much I owe. This caused me to miss a payment once, but Chase was able to give me a one-time forgiveness.
Even without due date notifications, BoA's statement notification emails are so much better than Chase's. Chase emails don't give you the balance, and Chase cards don't support ebills either, so it's so annoying to have to log into their website every month to find out how much I owe. This caused me to miss a payment once, but Chase was able to give me a one-time forgiveness.
#4
Moderator: Budget Travel forum & Credit Card Programs, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: YYJ/YVR and back on Van Isle ....... for now
Programs: UA lifetime MM / *A Gold
Posts: 14,413
#5
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 205
I'm 45 years old and have never had a late payment for anything ever in my life. In fact my credit score at one point last year was 850 (it fell to the 820s after I opened another CC). But thanks to my Amtrak visa card, my run is over. I don't use the card often and so don't check the balance often, unless I use it. But my annual fee came due in January and I must have agreed at some point to only electronic statements as I never got anything in the mail and I didn't see anything in my email that made me think that I had a balance due. Finally in March I signed in and saw that I was 32 days late for the January due date. I immediately paid it in full figuring it was no big deal, but then last week I get an alert from my credit monitoring service saying that my score had dropped 100 points!! A hundred point drop for a month late on a $79 bill... how ridiculous.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
#6
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Intermountain West
Programs: Too many to list
Posts: 12,039
I'm 45 years old and have never had a late payment for anything ever in my life. In fact my credit score at one point last year was 850 (it fell to the 820s after I opened another CC). But thanks to my Amtrak visa card, my run is over. I don't use the card often and so don't check the balance often, unless I use it. But my annual fee came due in January and I must have agreed at some point to only electronic statements as I never got anything in the mail and I didn't see anything in my email that made me think that I had a balance due. Finally in March I signed in and saw that I was 32 days late for the January due date. I immediately paid it in full figuring it was no big deal, but then last week I get an alert from my credit monitoring service saying that my score had dropped 100 points!! A hundred point drop for a month late on a $79 bill... how ridiculous.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
Also, your credit is not "ruined". It's just temporarily impaired. Call/write them and hopefully they'll reverse it. If not, your score will slowly increase.
#7
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 108
I had the same problem with a BOA card. Called, explained it was a new account and the autopayment wasn't set correctly (hinted that I got confused by their bizarre process for signing up) and was credited a refund on the late fees. No ding on credit report either. CALL THEM.
BTW- Only difference for me is I called in a few days after the fee posted so my credit score wasn't impacted.
BTW- Only difference for me is I called in a few days after the fee posted so my credit score wasn't impacted.
#8
I'm 45 years old and have never had a late payment for anything ever in my life. In fact my credit score at one point last year was 850 (it fell to the 820s after I opened another CC). But thanks to my Amtrak visa card, my run is over. I don't use the card often and so don't check the balance often, unless I use it. But my annual fee came due in January and I must have agreed at some point to only electronic statements as I never got anything in the mail and I didn't see anything in my email that made me think that I had a balance due. Finally in March I signed in and saw that I was 32 days late for the January due date. I immediately paid it in full figuring it was no big deal, but then last week I get an alert from my credit monitoring service saying that my score had dropped 100 points!! A hundred point drop for a month late on a $79 bill... how ridiculous.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
Yes, I clearly am mostly to blame since I didn't check my balance for 2 months, but I certainly would expect to hear something from BoA before they report a minuscule balance being a month late to the credit agencies, particularly since the balance was only due to their annual fee. How about a phone call, or an email stating in the subject 'Late Payment', or even a letter in the mail? Anything that would have made me notice would have resulted in an immediate payment.
There are several tools folks can manage something like this.
1. Use finance software like Quicken
2. Use autopay at credit card sites
3. Use e-bill and autopay at your bank.
BA is one of the best banks with the bill management.
Last edited by RedSun; Apr 21, 2018 at 8:26 am
#9
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 44
Why you blaming BA for ruining your credit?? It is all your own fault for not paying attention.
There are several tools folks can manage something like this.
1. Use finance software like Quicken
2. Use autopay at credit card sites
3. Use e-bill and autopay at your bank.
BA is one of the best banks with the bill management.
There are several tools folks can manage something like this.
1. Use finance software like Quicken
2. Use autopay at credit card sites
3. Use e-bill and autopay at your bank.
BA is one of the best banks with the bill management.
My conclusion is that there isn't a robust way to prevent missed payments completely. The best option is to use each individual credit card company's autopay. This unfortunately requires you to give your checking account number to all of your credit card companies and is quite tedious to setup. But in the case of BoA, their autopay is on the card number only, not on the actual credit card account! You must monitor all of your BoA credit card bills diligently or not use them at all.
#10
I would not use BofA to auto pay other bank's credit cards. This has caused me the exact 100 credit score loss a couple of years ago. It was my Macy's/Amx card. I had BoA bill pay to ebill / autopay this card. But their ebill is tied to the card number, not the actual account. Once Macy's/Amx renumbered my card and I signed up for paperless statements, auto pay stopped. By the time I noticed the late payment, it was all too late. AMX would not remove the spot on my credit report when I disputed it with all credit report agencies. They said I did miss the payment thanks to BoA ebills/autopay.
My conclusion is that there isn't a robust way to prevent missed payments completely. The best option is to use each individual credit card company's autopay. This unfortunately requires you to give your checking account number to all of your credit card companies and is quite tedious to setup. But in the case of BoA, their autopay is on the card number only, not on the actual credit card account! You must monitor all of your BoA credit card bills diligently or not use them at all.
My conclusion is that there isn't a robust way to prevent missed payments completely. The best option is to use each individual credit card company's autopay. This unfortunately requires you to give your checking account number to all of your credit card companies and is quite tedious to setup. But in the case of BoA, their autopay is on the card number only, not on the actual credit card account! You must monitor all of your BoA credit card bills diligently or not use them at all.
One instance (your Macy's) does not mean the method failed. The bank says very clearly that the very first one or two payments won't be auto-paid. So pay attention to what service you get.
#11
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NY State
Posts: 212
I do not use my Southwest often, and they also have an annual fee that I was afraid it would miss.
I have that account set up to notify me if any balance is due.
Hopefully, they will work with you to get this off your credit report.
I have that account set up to notify me if any balance is due.
Hopefully, they will work with you to get this off your credit report.
#12
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: NY State
Posts: 212
Since I hardly ever use that card, I didn't check it. I had paid immediately in full, so had it as no payment due on my spreadsheet. Then I received a letter in the mail telling me $32.09 was overdue and had been sent to collection!
Apparently, when I made the payment, no amount was shown due, so they reversed it and put it back in my account rather than leaving the payment on the card, even though it showed the amount as a purchase when I paid the card. Not sure if that is normal, but it peed me right off because my credit had been good for many years with no late payment!
Last edited by EmailKid; Apr 21, 2018 at 1:46 pm Reason: Using symbols to hide profanity is not allowed on FlyerTalk
#13
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
Macy's has not issued credit cards for 25+ years. It's likely an Amex card co-branded with Macy's. But, if you look at the contract you signed, your agreement is with Amex.
But, you can't even be upset with Amex. Your agreement with Amex specifically prohibits maintaining a credit balance and you agreed to have the payment debited to Amex and returned to the payment account. It should have been visible in that account.
As with all the other experiences in this and other threads, you really do need to check your online statements on a regular basis. There are any number of things which can go wrong and which are easily fixed. If you can't remember, don't accept e-statements and at least you will have a mailed statement every month with a due date you can't miss.
But, you can't even be upset with Amex. Your agreement with Amex specifically prohibits maintaining a credit balance and you agreed to have the payment debited to Amex and returned to the payment account. It should have been visible in that account.
As with all the other experiences in this and other threads, you really do need to check your online statements on a regular basis. There are any number of things which can go wrong and which are easily fixed. If you can't remember, don't accept e-statements and at least you will have a mailed statement every month with a due date you can't miss.
#14
Join Date: Mar 2018
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 14
Macy's has not issued credit cards for 25+ years. It's likely an Amex card co-branded with Macy's. But, if you look at the contract you signed, your agreement is with Amex.
But, you can't even be upset with Amex. Your agreement with Amex specifically prohibits maintaining a credit balance and you agreed to have the payment debited to Amex and returned to the payment account. It should have been visible in that account.
As with all the other experiences in this and other threads, you really do need to check your online statements on a regular basis. There are any number of things which can go wrong and which are easily fixed. If you can't remember, don't accept e-statements and at least you will have a mailed statement every month with a due date you can't miss.
But, you can't even be upset with Amex. Your agreement with Amex specifically prohibits maintaining a credit balance and you agreed to have the payment debited to Amex and returned to the payment account. It should have been visible in that account.
As with all the other experiences in this and other threads, you really do need to check your online statements on a regular basis. There are any number of things which can go wrong and which are easily fixed. If you can't remember, don't accept e-statements and at least you will have a mailed statement every month with a due date you can't miss.
#15
This is not correct. The current Macy's credit is from AMEXDSNB. The bank is Department Store National Bank. It is similar to the Wells Fargo Propel AmEx card. Blame DSNB on it, not AmEx.