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Excessive credit card fee's

Posted: Jan 23, 2015

I am going to be calling my credit card (used to be Care Credit, now is Synchrony bank). I am just wondering what y'all think.

Excessive credit card interest charges. I get my statements, pay my bills, a couple times late if I don't get paid on time. No where in the statement did I see anything that would lead me to realize they were going to charge me this, and I didn't realize they did it for 2 months (my fault for not reading the statement closer)

My payments are due on the 12th of each month.

One month I paid on the 17th. The next statment showed they charged me $852.59 interest charge. The following month I was a couple weeks late (no funds to pay) and they charged me $621.40. That is more than what I make in a month at my job and I'm sinking fast.

My statements say if I'm late I will have to pay a $35 fee. No where do I see that if I'm late they are going to charge me the fee plus that much. My interest charges are usually anywhere from $7 to $9.

Just wondering what you think before I call. Do you have any suggestions on what I can say or do (besides crying on the phone cos I feel that's what I'm going to do). I found a website that shows there are companies charging outrageous fees, but they have no suggestions on what to do.

I need all your advice (except to pay my bill on time from now on, which of course I will be doing, plus will be looking at the statements closer). I just don't know if there is anything that can be done about those two finance charges. Really need some help and guidance on what to do.

;

Not Sure - But...

[ In Reply To ..]
Sorry this happened to you. I'm glad you want to pay your bills---a lot of people don't, and the interest rates just go up and up on those of us who do.

I'm guessing there is small print somewhere in the original agreement. For now, I guess you can try to play dumb and cry that you didn't understanding those charges would incure, then promise not to do it again. And then don't.

You are correct that there are companies that charge you to "help." Not sure if we're talking the same thing, but my sister went to one of those and it worked out okay, but the deal was, if you default once, you're done. It was basically a place that loaned her money to pay off the bills. She never defaulted, and she is above water now.

Meanwhile, since we all know MT is no way to make money anymore, try to get out of MT. That's the only advice I can give people who are living on the edge because their once good career went south.

Good luck, and again, thanks for doing your level best to pay your credit card bill. A lot of people claim bankruptcy, or lie and tell the credit card company the charges are a mistake---but that just makes rates go higher and higher.

Thanks for the advice - Any thoughts

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm going to call and beg them to reverse the charges. We had no idea they would be charging us 26% on recent purchases. It was a promotion for something (forget now). We read the whole thing but no where did we see they were going to be charging us 26% on our purchase until paid off. I needed glasses. I can't afford for them to charge me that much money in interest charges on the purchase every month til it's paid off and I have no money in the bank to pay it off. Now because of their charges the card is over the credit limit. What a mess.

I know I'm going to start crying on the phone cos I was last night when I saw it.

I take full responsibility for my debt and willing to pay it off, but we need some breathing room. Feel like i'm on a ship sinking fast and don't know what to do (besides calling and crying and hoping they understand I don't even make that much). Will be going to another institution to try and get the money switched over at a better rate.

As for MT, yeah, another morning with no jobs. Trying everything I can to get out. After 30 applications and 12 interviews and still nothing it's very frustrating. I feel like I'm living in the pit of hell. I am determined to make my life better, now I just need a chance somewhere. I am willing to clean toilets and houses if I need to. I never consider anything below me. In fact I was looking up house cleaning jobs I can do on the weekends. Just is very tough right now.

Thanks again for your advice. Going to call them later.

Fees - BTDT

[ In Reply To ..]
I'm not too familiar with Synchrony but there is no grace period on credit card payments. I have had payments be submitted even one day late and get hit with a fee' hopefully you can get that reversed. Another thing that happens is that if you are late too many times you will fall into "penalty rate" interest so you may be charged a higher rate now. This kind of thing is generally in the contract and if they change the terms they have to inform you in writing. Good luck, I finally got out of credit card hell and hope I never have to go back

I have CareCredit and it's always been a blessing - for me and my cats. Otherwise, -sm

[ In Reply To ..]
I would have no dental care and they would have no vet care, since I'm unemployed and on Medicaid.

According to the rules I've read on my statements, as long as the balance is paid off in 6 months, there is NO interest charged. For me, that's a HUGE help. Usually I pay the bills off in time.

I recently had $3600 worth of dental work done, and had to put it on CareCredit, even though I still owe about $400 for my cat's dental last summer. Soooo, this time I will have to bite the bullet and pay the 26+% monthly interest on the loan. That will suck, but not nearly so much as losing my teeth might have sucked.

I plan to start taking Social Security by the end of the year, so then I'll be able to afford to pay off that loan. In the meantime, I'll just have to live with the interest, since my teeth are a first priority for me. It should be doable as long as I don't have any more work done the rest of the year. If, however, a surprise comes up and I have to put more money on the card, then the answer may be to take out a loan (at lower interest) thru my credit union in order to pay off the card.

I can't tap into my IRA until I'm 70, but when I do, then if I still have lots of credit card debt, I hope to be able to start paying some of it down with that.

we have care credit and - nana7

[ In Reply To ..]
the only thing I can think of is if you were offered 0% interest for a certain amount of time and did not pay it in full by the end of the promotion or if a payment is late they can charge then they charge you all the interest from day one. But does not make sense to charge you two months in a row.

To charge you over 1,400 makes no sense. I would definitely call them. Hopefully its a mistake on their part.

We have had our Care Credit for years so this is not making any sense to me. Please let us know what they say. Cause if this is something new we will definitely get rid of that card.

I will definitely let you know what they say. I won't be calling til a little later - Any thoughts

[ In Reply To ..]
I will post later to let everyone know what is going on with them.

same experience with them... - JOttS

[ In Reply To ..]
I, too, have Synchrony. The thing is, you can have several different charges, each with their own ID# (or whatever they call it) with the 0%; but you have to keep track of what's getting paid when you make a payment. Otherwise they split the payment up amongst all the charges. But say you want to pay off one of the charges sooner so a not to get dinged the entire interest, then you literally have to call them and tell them how much you want to pay on each charge, because each charge would have a different date. I now have a huge sum that needs to be paid in a couple of weeks because I neglected to call them each time I made a payment... So now the balances for three separate charges are not in sync with where I would have wanted them to be with my payments. That's how they get you, if you don't stay on top of it; and this is how I found out. JOS

Check your agreement-I will bet that even the first time sm - IMO

[ In Reply To ..]
you're late it states your interest rate will go sky-high.

Followup on how my call went - Any thoughts

[ In Reply To ..]
Sorry it took me so long to write the outcome - pretty depressed.

Here's how my call went (someone with a very very heavy accent).

Me: I'd like to talk with someone about my account. There are two months in row with a very high interest charge.

Them: Yes maam you made purchase, didn't pay off before special ended.

Me: Yes, I know I made a purchase, but why is the interest so high.

Them: You make purchase, you sign agreement.

Me: What agreement.

Them: Agreement when you purchase. You made agreement, you sign, you pay.

Me: I don't remember signing any agreement that I was going to be paying over 800 and 600 every month.

Them: No, that agreement over.

Me: What agreement, I didn't see anywhere that you were going to be charging me that much money in fees.

Them: You sign, you pay. Do you want an increase in your credit?

Me: No. Hung up phone.

So I'm pretty much screwed! I really don't remember seeing that (I would not have used the card), but evidently it must be there so I take full responsibility. This just sucks and now I'm pretty depressed about it. That's more money than I make in a month.

I'm going to see if I can get a consolidation, pay this off and not use them again.

Just wanted to update you all on how it went.

Oh, Sorry - But...

[ In Reply To ..]
I think you were patched into India or some other country. I would try to get a real someone who doesn't just give robot answers.

I agree. I have had advice from a friend who works at AT&T... - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
She is an operator. Her job is in jeopardy. She says we can ALWAYS ask to speak with someone in the United States no matter the company we're calling.

And if that does not work, ask to speak to their supervisor. - Just read about this. sm

[ In Reply To ..]
According to the article, it is frowned upon if an agent has to pass a call onto their supervisor, so they *may* try to work with you first on a compromise. Worth a try anyway. Also, try to be calm and cooperative--keep the stress ball handy. :) Good luck.

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