I can't pay my credit card bill with a wire transfer. And I just found the hidden charges...
October 23, 2011 2:09 PM Subscribe
I may be a little naïve, but in my perspective, my credit union seem to have been hiding charges from me for MONTHS, all when trying to pay of a credit card, which also hasn't happened. I want to go to my bank and ask for the amount from these charges back. How to do that, successfully?
Long story short. I have a credit card that needs paying off. "No problem", I thought, I'll hook the credit card to my checking account.
I filled out all the information needed: routing number, account number - great. The Credit Card pulls in the name of my bank and knows it's a checking account. That TO ME says that everything is set up correctly.
I post a payment in the credit card's website to take a buncha money from my checking account. In the Credit card's site, it says the payment is, "posted". Days go by, no money has moved! Go back to the card's site: same thing - it's been posted - the bill has also been lowered the same amount as what I pay. OK.
I keep getting angry calls from the credit card company, asking me to pay their f'n bill. I say I have. They say, "no, you haven't", so I pay, instead with a debit card, using the came checking account. Payment is automatic. OK, lesson learned - use the debit card.
BUT, I've now found out that charges (Account Fee NSF FEE ) have been put in my Saving Account, every time the Credit Card can't pull funds from the Checking account. Hundreds of Dollars worth, just in the last 6 months! I check the checking account daily online, I never check the savings account (don't have any money in it!) So I never saw these charges, until they were brought to my attention, while starting to use Mint.com - which likes to alert you of such things.
Suddenly, it all makes sense why my credit card is angry with me not paying the bill: I've been doing my best... paying the bill, but the funds never transfer. I get a charge from my credit union for whatever that's about (there's enough funds in the checking account), PLUS late fees from the credit card PLUS interest. UGH! I have no other bills that have problems pulling from my checking account.
I'm ready to bicycle to the credit union and say: I don't know why the credit card company and you can't talk: not my problem. But these charges, every time you can't talk to each other are adding up to hundreds of dollars and that needs to be figured out. If they can't be figured out, I'm ready to close my accounts with them.
I'm hoping my credit union will be sympathetic to me - they reversed a whole bunch of charges of ATM overdrafting: my account is set up to pull from the credit union's Credit Card, when I overdraft from the checking account. that used to be free, but was changed to a 3 dollar charge sometime this year. Again, it was a, "Where's all my money going?" question. They reversed all those charges.
Anyways, is there any wisdom I can have, when I go to the bank, to tell them that: I had all intention to pay the Credit Card Bill - and was, and it wasn't working and I didn't know why, but in no way shape or form, did I know I was being charged each time it didn't work. And I don't know why it's not working, because, as far as I knew, I was plugging in all the numbers correctly. Lenders rights. Anything? Funds are getting a little critical for me. Those few hundred dollars could mean the difference between, well, it means a lot. Yes, I know it should be my responsibility to know the bank's policy's on charges, etc. But I shouldn't be an expert at the mechanics of wire transfers.
Long story short. I have a credit card that needs paying off. "No problem", I thought, I'll hook the credit card to my checking account.
I filled out all the information needed: routing number, account number - great. The Credit Card pulls in the name of my bank and knows it's a checking account. That TO ME says that everything is set up correctly.
I post a payment in the credit card's website to take a buncha money from my checking account. In the Credit card's site, it says the payment is, "posted". Days go by, no money has moved! Go back to the card's site: same thing - it's been posted - the bill has also been lowered the same amount as what I pay. OK.
I keep getting angry calls from the credit card company, asking me to pay their f'n bill. I say I have. They say, "no, you haven't", so I pay, instead with a debit card, using the came checking account. Payment is automatic. OK, lesson learned - use the debit card.
BUT, I've now found out that charges (Account Fee NSF FEE ) have been put in my Saving Account, every time the Credit Card can't pull funds from the Checking account. Hundreds of Dollars worth, just in the last 6 months! I check the checking account daily online, I never check the savings account (don't have any money in it!) So I never saw these charges, until they were brought to my attention, while starting to use Mint.com - which likes to alert you of such things.
Suddenly, it all makes sense why my credit card is angry with me not paying the bill: I've been doing my best... paying the bill, but the funds never transfer. I get a charge from my credit union for whatever that's about (there's enough funds in the checking account), PLUS late fees from the credit card PLUS interest. UGH! I have no other bills that have problems pulling from my checking account.
I'm ready to bicycle to the credit union and say: I don't know why the credit card company and you can't talk: not my problem. But these charges, every time you can't talk to each other are adding up to hundreds of dollars and that needs to be figured out. If they can't be figured out, I'm ready to close my accounts with them.
I'm hoping my credit union will be sympathetic to me - they reversed a whole bunch of charges of ATM overdrafting: my account is set up to pull from the credit union's Credit Card, when I overdraft from the checking account. that used to be free, but was changed to a 3 dollar charge sometime this year. Again, it was a, "Where's all my money going?" question. They reversed all those charges.
Anyways, is there any wisdom I can have, when I go to the bank, to tell them that: I had all intention to pay the Credit Card Bill - and was, and it wasn't working and I didn't know why, but in no way shape or form, did I know I was being charged each time it didn't work. And I don't know why it's not working, because, as far as I knew, I was plugging in all the numbers correctly. Lenders rights. Anything? Funds are getting a little critical for me. Those few hundred dollars could mean the difference between, well, it means a lot. Yes, I know it should be my responsibility to know the bank's policy's on charges, etc. But I shouldn't be an expert at the mechanics of wire transfers.
Response by poster: @megatherium - Checking account. Same way I've set it up for other CC's, and other wire transfers that *give* me money ala PayPal, Amazon, etc.
@bq - I was attempting to pay through the cc's website.
posted by alex_skazat at 2:39 PM on October 23, 2011
@bq - I was attempting to pay through the cc's website.
posted by alex_skazat at 2:39 PM on October 23, 2011
Best answer: Do you know that the Nsf fees on the savings account were from the attempted payments to the credit card, or could it have been something else?
posted by yarly at 2:49 PM on October 23, 2011
posted by yarly at 2:49 PM on October 23, 2011
Response by poster: Do you know that the Nsf fees on the savings account were from the attempted payments to the credit card, or could it have been something else?
Def. from the credit card payment attempt. The date of the Nsf fee is the same as the "posted" date on the credit card site. My thoughts when I see that a bill has been posted on one day, and the checking account doesn't reflect that is: it usually takes a few days for a wire to complete. For whatever reason that is.
posted by alex_skazat at 3:00 PM on October 23, 2011
Def. from the credit card payment attempt. The date of the Nsf fee is the same as the "posted" date on the credit card site. My thoughts when I see that a bill has been posted on one day, and the checking account doesn't reflect that is: it usually takes a few days for a wire to complete. For whatever reason that is.
posted by alex_skazat at 3:00 PM on October 23, 2011
Response by poster: Although yarly, I will double-check that with the credit union.
posted by alex_skazat at 3:00 PM on October 23, 2011
posted by alex_skazat at 3:00 PM on October 23, 2011
You really have two separate issues - the nsf fees on the savings account, and the online payments to the credit card. To figure out the nsf fees, contact your bank and ask them to explain each one. To figure out your online payments, call the credit card and get them to set up the payments again, but make sure they are using your checking account details. <
posted by yarly at 3:05 PM on October 23, 2011
posted by yarly at 3:05 PM on October 23, 2011
Response by poster:
You really have two separate issues - the nsf fees on the savings account, and the online payments to the credit card. To figure out the nsf fees, contact your bank and ask them to explain each one.posted by alex_skazat at 3:13 PM on October 23, 2011
Will do.call the credit card and get them to set up the payments again, but make sure they are using your checking account details.
I've read the routing number and checking account number to them, right off a physical check, over the phone and asked them straight up: is this the right information that you need? They say it is. Man, I don't know what else I can do! From this point on, I'm going to just pay via a debit card, since if the payment doesn't get posted, I at least don't get charged that fee. Why risk it, yet again? The debit card uses the same checking account. Seems to post without such a delay as well.
Best answer: Is it possible you were reading them the info from your savings account?
posted by yarly at 4:15 PM on October 23, 2011
posted by yarly at 4:15 PM on October 23, 2011
Response by poster: Is it possible you were reading them the info from your savings account?
Pretty darn sure that that's not the case.
posted by alex_skazat at 4:59 PM on October 23, 2011
Pretty darn sure that that's not the case.
posted by alex_skazat at 4:59 PM on October 23, 2011
It is not clear to me if there is any relationship between the credit card and the credit union. If there is not, the credit union does not care that you are late on your CC bill. Don't get into that with them. Even if there is, that is a separate issue from the NSF fees.
Sit down with someone at your credit union and ask them to explain to you what the NSF charges are in your savings account. Don't go in like they did something wrong, assume it was the credit card people. Ask them what the credit card company is requesting and why it is costing you money every time. Ask politely if they can fix those fees, since you did not authorize the CC company to use your savings account.
I would not trust your CC company to take the money correctly. Does your checking account come with bill pay? Use that, even if there is a small monthly cost. What that does is allow you to be in control of the transfer and it means the credit union sends the money to the credit card company instead of the credit card asking for money from the credit union and potentially charging you fees.
posted by soelo at 9:53 AM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sit down with someone at your credit union and ask them to explain to you what the NSF charges are in your savings account. Don't go in like they did something wrong, assume it was the credit card people. Ask them what the credit card company is requesting and why it is costing you money every time. Ask politely if they can fix those fees, since you did not authorize the CC company to use your savings account.
I would not trust your CC company to take the money correctly. Does your checking account come with bill pay? Use that, even if there is a small monthly cost. What that does is allow you to be in control of the transfer and it means the credit union sends the money to the credit card company instead of the credit card asking for money from the credit union and potentially charging you fees.
posted by soelo at 9:53 AM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, be sure to cancel any recurring transfers that your credit card company ha on your account. Ask your credit union to stop allowing them to request money and ask them to stop requesting it. That way, if one company messes up again, the other one might not.
posted by soelo at 9:56 AM on October 24, 2011
posted by soelo at 9:56 AM on October 24, 2011
Response by poster: So, baseline problem was: it was trying to pull from my savings account.
Thanks for everyone's responses, they really helped me feel a little more comfortable confronting my credit union about all this.
So, no weird credit union conspiracy - I *was* putting in the wrong number for the account number in the Credit Card's online site and the credit card company was giving me wrong feedback about what account it was pulling (savings, instead of checking).
My credit union suggested using their bill pay, instead of the Credit Card's and gave me the right information to use. They also took off a few of their fees (without having to ask them). They even offered to pay off my credit card by putting a loan on my car, but I don't own a car, so that went nowhere, but went into a funny conversation on what it is I like to do :)
All in all, a good credit union experience.
Thanks, hivemind.
posted by alex_skazat at 4:11 PM on October 24, 2011
Thanks for everyone's responses, they really helped me feel a little more comfortable confronting my credit union about all this.
So, no weird credit union conspiracy - I *was* putting in the wrong number for the account number in the Credit Card's online site and the credit card company was giving me wrong feedback about what account it was pulling (savings, instead of checking).
My credit union suggested using their bill pay, instead of the Credit Card's and gave me the right information to use. They also took off a few of their fees (without having to ask them). They even offered to pay off my credit card by putting a loan on my car, but I don't own a car, so that went nowhere, but went into a funny conversation on what it is I like to do :)
All in all, a good credit union experience.
Thanks, hivemind.
posted by alex_skazat at 4:11 PM on October 24, 2011
Mystery solved! It is easy to confuse a savings account deposit slip with a check deposit slip - they don't look that different, and I'm not actually sure the credit card company could tell the difference.
As for that loan on the car the credit union offered (called a "title loan")... for future reference, those are generally really bad deals! You pay a very high interest rate, and if you can't pay, they take your car ...
posted by yarly at 6:36 PM on October 24, 2011
As for that loan on the car the credit union offered (called a "title loan")... for future reference, those are generally really bad deals! You pay a very high interest rate, and if you can't pay, they take your car ...
posted by yarly at 6:36 PM on October 24, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
By all means, talk to both the credit union and the credit card company. You are more likely to have a chance to talk to a real live person at the credit union. But both have the authority to reverse these charges if they want to. Making them want to means being direct and forthcoming, but humble rather than accusatory.
posted by megatherium at 2:29 PM on October 23, 2011