topic Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It) in Credit Cards

Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

wasCB14 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 03:21:41 GMT

In a particularly busy two-week period, I failed to log into my bill pay site and was two days late to make a Plan It installment payment on my little-used Amex Delta Platinum.

$29 late fee.

I know I could have done automatic payments but I wanted to enjoy the no-fee Plan it promo (and, for what's it's worth, $29 is pretty small in the context of stretching a few thousand dollars out over a year or so).

How do late fees and interest work for purchases in Plans? The purchases I have in Plans on that card will be completed in like 1 or 2 more months. A timely payment would have been for about $150. I paid $200 today. I'm not entirely sure how the extra amount gets applied...to future period installments or to the late fee and interest? Should I just pay off the remaining few hundred dollars, or is all the damage done at this point? The $29 fee has posted but not any interest yet.

I have no upcoming spend on the card.

I don't think I'll call and complain about this. I do owe it, however high it may seem relative to the remaining balance, and I'm not sure I want to be labeled a difficult customer or anything. $29 is pretty small relative to the SUBs I've been getting, and I did just find a +8x MR Amazon offer on my BBP that is worth more than the fee.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

FinStar — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 03:43:39 GMT

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm fairly certain there might be someone who would benefit on how this panned out with the Plan It method.

Sometimes these things happen especially when life gets busy. At least you're a good sport about the situation and life goes on 👍

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

TheFIGuy — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 04:01:10 GMT

WOW, a human being that's not entitled and feels the bank owes them for their mistake. @wasCB14, you're a good person in a sea of ..... lol.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 04:26:07 GMT

I'd call them, tell them you screwed up, ask if they would waive the fee, and thank them whether they waive it or not. It is your fault but that doesn't mean they won't waive it since its your first.

If there is penalty interest or even enough estimated interest for the remaining term that would exceed the amount of interest you can earn in your savings account, I would definitely pay it off.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

NRB525 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 04:49:44 GMT

Definitely breaking new ground here. I'm not sure how the late fee would affect the Plan It sequence. Looking forward to any clarification.

Regarding the payments, AMEX lets you set up autopay so that Plan It works seamlessly with continued spend on the card. When setting up autopay, select Adjusted Balance, and on the designated date AMEX will pay your Plan It payment amount, plus all new charges you did not add to a Plan. The other options are Total Balance ( which, yeah kinda makes Plan It pointless ) and Minimum Payment Due, which starts adding interest on non-Plan It balances.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

wasCB14 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 05:00:03 GMT

I'll call or chat with Amex tomorrow and ask about the payment allocation.

And I may (very briefly, very politely) ask about getting the fee waived.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

wasCB14 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 07:11:29 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
Definitely breaking new ground here. I'm not sure how the late fee would affect the Plan It sequence. Looking forward to any clarification.

Regarding the payments, AMEX lets you set up autopay so that Plan It works seamlessly with continued spend on the card. When setting up autopay, select Adjusted Balance, and on the designated date AMEX will pay your Plan It payment amount, plus all new charges you did not add to a Plan. The other options are Total Balance ( which, yeah kinda makes Plan It pointless ) and Minimum Payment Due, which starts adding interest on non-Plan It balances.

I got in the habit of pushing everything that offered ebills, but in the case of Amex cards that's probably the way to go.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 08:20:15 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
I'll call or chat with Amex tomorrow and ask about the payment allocation.

And I may (very briefly, very politely) ask about getting the fee waived.

Come on, don't be meek! This is the time for "DYKWIA, I will tell all my friends and everyone on MyFICO, they will cancel all their Amex cards and tell THEIR friends to do the same. Are you sure you want the $29?????"

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

K-in-Boston — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 16:41:23 GMT

Your payment will be allocated to any interest and fees first, which would include the late fee and the monthly Plan fee. If you weren't mixing and matching new purchases which may have lost their grace period, there should be no interest as the Plan fee is in lieu of interest. Additional allocation would then go to the minimum payment which includes the agreed-upon monthly payment for the Plan. Then to any balances accruing interest, in descending order of highest interest, then to any new charges remaining from the most recent statement closing, then any overpayment will be applied to any remaining Plan balances, and finally to any new charges made during the open statement period. (A mistake several have mentioned was paying down their current charges during an open statement period, and Amex applies those overpayments to Plan balances before new charges.)

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

wasCB14 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 17:22:28 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Your payment will be allocated to any interest and fees first, which would include the late fee and the monthly Plan fee. If you weren't mixing and matching new purchases which may have lost their grace period, there should be no interest as the Plan fee is in lieu of interest. Additional allocation would then go to the minimum payment which includes the agreed-upon monthly payment for the Plan. Then to any balances accruing interest, in descending order of highest interest, then to any new charges remaining from the most recent statement closing, then any overpayment will be applied to any remaining Plan balances, and finally to any new charges made during the open statement period. (A mistake several have mentioned was paying down their current charges during an open statement period, and Amex applies those overpayments to Plan balances before new charges.)

That's what a specialist in the Plan It department just told me.

1. Any purchases I make between now and the time the statement closes in a few days will incur interest.

2. Any purchases I make after the statement closes will not incur interest so long as regular payments for the adjusted balance continue.

3. I can only pay what is in the adjusted balance without reducing the balance owed on remaining Plans. So there's no incentive to make a big overpayment because it won't immediately extinguish all interest. It is necessary to wait for the next statement to close.

And I was able to get the late fee waived.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

NRB525 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 21:38:48 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Your payment will be allocated to any interest and fees first, which would include the late fee and the monthly Plan fee. If you weren't mixing and matching new purchases which may have lost their grace period, there should be no interest as the Plan fee is in lieu of interest. Additional allocation would then go to the minimum payment which includes the agreed-upon monthly payment for the Plan. Then to any balances accruing interest, in descending order of highest interest, then to any new charges remaining from the most recent statement closing, then any overpayment will be applied to any remaining Plan balances, and finally to any new charges made during the open statement period. (A mistake several have mentioned was paying down their current charges during an open statement period, and Amex applies those overpayments to Plan balances before new charges.)
That's what a specialist in the Plan It department just told me.

1. Any purchases I make between now and the time the statement closes in a few days will incur interest.
2. Any purchases I make after the statement closes will not incur interest so long as regular payments for the adjusted balance continue.
3. I can only pay what is in the adjusted balance without reducing the balance owed on remaining Plans. So there's no incentive to make a big overpayment because it won't immediately extinguish all interest. It is necessary to wait for the next statement to close.

And I was able to get the late fee waived.

Paying more than the Adjusted Balance payment amount covers all non-Plan items, and will help with catching that triggered interest amount sooner rather than later. Yes, any extra payment over the Adjusted Balance can pay down some of the Plan It balances faster, but that does not end the Plan It balance altogether. It just reduces the Plan It balance, taking some of the principal off the last months payments that would have happened at the end of your Plan It schedule. Your same Plan It fees will still be charged each month, regardless if you pay some of the Plan It balance earlier, as long as there is some Plan It payment to make. If you pay off the Plan It early, say a month early, then the last Plan It fee is not charged.

That is one of the cool things about Plan It: you can sign up with a large amount, get a low per-month Fee amount, carry it for a couple of months, pay it off, and the Plan It fees stop from then forward.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

wasCB14 — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 22:19:59 GMT

@NRB525 wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Your payment will be allocated to any interest and fees first, which would include the late fee and the monthly Plan fee. If you weren't mixing and matching new purchases which may have lost their grace period, there should be no interest as the Plan fee is in lieu of interest. Additional allocation would then go to the minimum payment which includes the agreed-upon monthly payment for the Plan. Then to any balances accruing interest, in descending order of highest interest, then to any new charges remaining from the most recent statement closing, then any overpayment will be applied to any remaining Plan balances, and finally to any new charges made during the open statement period. (A mistake several have mentioned was paying down their current charges during an open statement period, and Amex applies those overpayments to Plan balances before new charges.)
That's what a specialist in the Plan It department just told me.

1. Any purchases I make between now and the time the statement closes in a few days will incur interest.
2. Any purchases I make after the statement closes will not incur interest so long as regular payments for the adjusted balance continue.
3. I can only pay what is in the adjusted balance without reducing the balance owed on remaining Plans. So there's no incentive to make a big overpayment because it won't immediately extinguish all interest. It is necessary to wait for the next statement to close.

And I was able to get the late fee waived.
Paying more than the Adjusted Balance payment amount covers all non-Plan items, and will help with catching that triggered interest amount sooner rather than later. Yes, any extra payment over the Adjusted Balance can pay down some of the Plan It balances faster, but that does not end the Plan It balance altogether. It just reduces the Plan It balance, taking some of the principal off the last months payments that would have happened at the end of your Plan It schedule. Your same Plan It fees will still be charged each month, regardless if you pay some of the Plan It balance earlier, as long as there is some Plan It payment to make. If you pay off the Plan It early, say a month early, then the last Plan It fee is not charged.

That is one of the cool things about Plan It: you can sign up with a large amount, get a low per-month Fee amount, carry it for a couple of months, pay it off, and the Plan It fees stop from then forward.

In this case, I hadn't made any purchases with the card in several months. I was just slowly paying off the remaining balance on two old Plans while collecting my companion certificate.

As I only use Plan It during no-fee promotions, there's no monthly Plan It fee to extinguish.

Re: Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 23:12:39 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Your payment will be allocated to any interest and fees first, which would include the late fee and the monthly Plan fee. If you weren't mixing and matching new purchases which may have lost their grace period, there should be no interest as the Plan fee is in lieu of interest. Additional allocation would then go to the minimum payment which includes the agreed-upon monthly payment for the Plan. Then to any balances accruing interest, in descending order of highest interest, then to any new charges remaining from the most recent statement closing, then any overpayment will be applied to any remaining Plan balances, and finally to any new charges made during the open statement period. (A mistake several have mentioned was paying down their current charges during an open statement period, and Amex applies those overpayments to Plan balances before new charges.)
That's what a specialist in the Plan It department just told me.

1. Any purchases I make between now and the time the statement closes in a few days will incur interest.
2. Any purchases I make after the statement closes will not incur interest so long as regular payments for the adjusted balance continue.
3. I can only pay what is in the adjusted balance without reducing the balance owed on remaining Plans. So there's no incentive to make a big overpayment because it won't immediately extinguish all interest. It is necessary to wait for the next statement to close.

And I was able to get the late fee waived.

Congrats on getting the fee waived.