Business Credit

[fkrasovitzky]

Hi everyone. My wife was recently diagnosed with cancer and my life has been a little crazy lately with treatments, doctor visits, taking care of the kids, etc, etc. As a result, I haven´t been able to catch up with all pending emails, payment alerts, etc. Anyway, I just realized that I´m 3 days late on my Business Amex Card payment (it´s under my name and my company´s name) which was due on May 29. I´ve just paid it (June 1st) and called Amex to explain the situation (I haven´t missed one single payment on my personal or business amex card ever). To my surprise, the amex representative told me that she had excellent news for me : I wasn´t late !!! She explained that even when my due date was May 29, there is a grace period until my next statement is generated (June 12th) so as long as I pay before this date they will not consider it as a late payment. Is this true? Is this late payment not a late payment? Will it affect my company or my personal credit history? Thanks a lot for your help !

[injustifiiable]

It really depends.

Is it a charge card or a revolver?

[fkrasovitzky]

It´s a Platinum Business Card (charge)

[OhioCPA]

It wouldn't affect your credit history until it was 30 days late. Amex charge products have a "please pay by date". This date is a suggestion in order to make sure your payment arrives in time for the statement date. As I recall, Amex doesn't even charge a late fee if you were to miss the first payment, which from the sounds of it you haven't.

[injustifiiable]

Yep. You're in good shape.

On the statement, it should say "Please Pay By" instead of "Payment Due Date" as it does on the revolvers. The "Please Pay By" is a guideline but you do have until next statement to take care of it.

[fkrasovitzky]

Thanks ! I hadn´t noticed that. I just checked it and indeed my Amex Platinum Business Card says "Please Pay By..." but my Amex Personal Platinum Card says "Payment Due Date...". Does this mean that if I´m one day late with my personal card it will be considered as a late payment? 

[fkrasovitzky]

I forgot to mention that my personal Amex card is also a charge card

[injustifiiable]

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fkrasovitzky wrote:

I forgot to mention that my personal Amex card is also a charge card

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The same should apply to your Personal card as well.

As one of the other posters said, you wouldn't get hit with a ding unless it was late 30 days or more. A late fee will be a different story, though.

[fkrasovitzky]

Thank you very much for your prompt reply ! 

[OhioCPA]

It sounds like your personal card has extended payment terms, thus the "due date" as opposed to "please pay by date". To stay on Amex's good side I wouldn't make it a habit of paying after the "due date" but once in awhile you are fine.