Amazon/MBNA/Bank Of America late payment charges for "non-working day" due dates

AJJ001

Watch out for MBNA/Bank of America "due dates" on your statements. Despite being members of the faster payments scheme between banks, they will not accept payments on non-working days, including weekends and bank-holidays.

Last month my "due date" was stated clearly as March 27th (Sunday). My payment was sent by my bank (First Direct) as instructed and they confirmed it arrived at 07:30 on the 27th, but I still got hit by MBNA/Bank Of America with a late payment charge.

Yes, a phone call and robust converstaion got the fee back but, after a bit of a trawl on the internet, I've seen this complaint cropping up for years.

Why do they continue to issue statements with dates when they will not accept? Is it a competence issue, or jst a ploy to get extra revenue?

chexum

I understand your point (and I would think it's very nice of MBNA to accept your complaint, however, I believe they usually do that once, even when it's not them in the wrong). Some other providers actually backdate the payment when it was received (I've even seen normal BACS payments to be "backdated" to the day after the payment was sent, where in fact it should only reach them two working days after), it looks like MBNA don't.

I'm just curious, if you think payment due on the 27th was ok to initiate that day, what difference would it make if you sent it at 07:30am or 11:55pm?

The technical explanation is that credit card companies are not "proper" banks, the account you pay into is a collecting account for all their payments, typically with another bank, so your payment only reached their account, not yours - it takes some time to reconcile initial payments to individual accounts. "Some time" not being counted in minutes/hours, but in banking days - they may need to depend on the other bank providing the payment details in batches.

This delay should be explained on all your statements - the due date is usually "payment to reach us by", and each payment method has its quirks. It may be intuitive to assume faster payments are immediately reaching your account, but unless they tell you, this is just an assumption.

Dabooka

You could just have a DD set up and be done with it. Then it's their problem to request the money in good time. Any reason that's not an option for you?

magpiecottage

It is probably a competence issue. It should be possible to programme in weekends and bank holidays (Royal Weddings excepted).

If you complain, it is very unlikely that they would not back down - particularly if you made it clear that you would take it to the Ombudsman.

nomoneytoday

The money wouldn't hit their bank account until a working day.
If you have faster payments, then the funds should be released on the working day preceding the due date IMHO

chattychappy

I'm with the OP.

If you can establish that your payment was received (for value) into the CC's bank account on the due date, then you've made it. It's reached them.

This is unless they say something (which could be unfair) to the effect that it won't be credited to your account until a later time.

Saying "allow X days for your payment to reach us" doesn't let them off the hook if you didn't allow that long, but nevertheless it did reach them.

I've found Barclaycard often backdates their received date to before I even sent the money if I send on a bank holiday.

YorkshireBoy

AJJ001 wrote: »

Watch out for MBNA/Bank of America "due dates" on your statements.

Why do they continue to issue statements with dates when they will not accept?

It's a payment due BY date...not a payment due ON date, ie it's not a target to achieve!

Direct debit is the way to go to maximise your interest free period...assuming that's what you were trying to do? In your case it would have been taken on the following Monday with absolutely no penalty.

Worst case scenario...for a payment due BY Saturday 25th December, a direct debit (with MBNA) would collect on the following Wednesday 29th December.

Chattychappy will be back shortly to disagree with me.

Biggles

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Direct debit is the way to go to maximise your interest free period...assuming that's what you were trying to do? In your case it would have been taken on the following Monday with absolutely no penalty.

Either that or pay on the CC's website by debit card on the Sunday, that wouldn't be taken till the Tuesday.

chattychappy

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

Chattychappy will be back shortly to disagree with me.

Nice to know the "should have signed a DD squad" is on patrol... didn't even hear the sirens this time!

Sure, just for the record.. no need to pay by DD... they are for sissies.. (...and often go wrong and/or confuse people anyway....) Just send the money on time...

YorkshireBoy

Biggles wrote: »

Either that or pay on the CC's website by debit card on the Sunday, that wouldn't be taken till the Tuesday.

But wouldn't that make it 'late'? The MBNA debit card timescales on their website payment screen state to allow 2-3 working days, depending on the day/time you initiate the payment.

YorkshireBoy

AJJ001 wrote: »

Last month my "due date" was stated clearly as March 27th (Sunday). My payment was sent by my bank (First Direct) as instructed and they confirmed it arrived at 07:30 on the 27th, but I still got hit by MBNA/Bank Of America with a late payment charge.

They were very quick off the mark there. I thought they'd maybe wait until the statement date?

Yes, a phone call and robust converstaion got the fee back...

And what about any late payment marker placed on your credit file?

And were you enjoying a 0%, or other, promotional rate? If so, that's probably been withdrawn too.