American Express Understanding with late payment?

[Ortz33__]

I agree it's better than telling them my financial challenges however won't they begin calling me one day past my statement when the oayment goes late? After that I can't use the excuse I forgot.

[peaceonearth]

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@enharu wrote:
If you are going to be less than 30 days late, my advice is to not call.

Just leave it as is until you are ready to make the payment. When you are ready, call in and do it over the phone. Just explain you forgot and just realized. There's no need to furnish them with any other information such as you being tight on finances due to medical expenses. The less you tell them, the better it is going to be for you.

If you have had the account or have been an Amex customer for a lengthy period of time, chances are you will be fine. They may even waive any late fees, if this is your first late within the past 12-24 months (not too sure on their "forgiveness" timer). Most lenders are usually willing to waive fees once every 12 months, but it's going to be a YMMV situation depending on your internal score.

If your account is very very new, then you might run into more issues. Since you already been FR before, they probably won't FR you again. But depending on the nature of the previous FR and your current internal risk score with them, they may close the account if you are deemed to be risky. Don't worry about this until it happens anyways. Odds are pretty low.

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@enharu wrote:
If you are going to be less than 30 days late, my advice is to not call.

Just leave it as is until you are ready to make the payment. When you are ready, call in and do it over the phone. Just explain you forgot and just realized. There's no need to furnish them with any other information such as you being tight on finances due to medical expenses. The less you tell them, the better it is going to be for you.

If you have had the account or have been an Amex customer for a lengthy period of time, chances are you will be fine. They may even waive any late fees, if this is your first late within the past 12-24 months (not too sure on their "forgiveness" timer). Most lenders are usually willing to waive fees once every 12 months, but it's going to be a YMMV situation depending on your internal score.

If your account is very very new, then you might run into more issues. Since you already been FR before, they probably won't FR you again. But depending on the nature of the previous FR and your current internal risk score with them, they may close the account if you are deemed to be risky. Don't worry about this until it happens anyways. Odds are pretty low.

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Best Advice.

[enharu]

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@Ortz33__ wrote:
I agree it's better than telling them my financial challenges however won't they begin calling me one day past my statement when the oayment goes late? After that I can't use the excuse I forgot.

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well it depends.

some banks will call you. some banks won't. When I forgot to make my payment on my Bloomingdales card a few years ago, Bloomingdales would literally call twice in the same day (2-3 days after due date) just to remind me payment was due and its unpaid. In a way it's a nice reminder to have, since I ended up paying right away and even asked them to waive the late fee for me, which they did. 

When I missed my payment by 1 day for my Chase card, they didn't even seem to care. Maybe it was too soon. I ended up calling instead and had them waive the fee for me. After that, I signed up for automatic payments on all my cards so scenarios such as these will never happen again.

If they call you and you are not ready to make the payment, then don't pick up the call. Or if you are able to pay say in a day or two, just cook up some excuse such as you forgot and you're out of town right now, but you will make the payment right away once you're back. This excuse will not work if they have your bank accounts on file to withdraw the payment from. So best way is to not pick up any phone call from any number that's not saved in your phone book.

[Revelate]

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@Ortz33__ wrote:

Thanks but I will be paying the balance in full after the statement cuts as I mentioned.  this is also after the please pay by date.  i will definitely officially be late

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I'm confused which admittedly isn't hard these days; however, the please pay by date is not the cutoff as far as Amex goes.  

E.g. your statement cuts today, I think you still have the full 30 days till next statement effectively.  The please pay date is simply Amex's way of trying to make fractional interest.  Are you talking statement cuts, you pay 25 days later or whatever (after please pay by date) or statement cuts, you can't pay, next statement cuts?

As an aside, I'd agree with enharu; banks are not our friends, even when they are nice to us (like Amex is to me): limit your communication with them unless your back is against the wall and from your description you may not be.

ETA: look in your T&C for late payment fee even if you really are going to miss the payment cutoff date.  We're talking millions of consumers, all lenders have had late payments before and typically they're not going to have a cow over that other than view it as additional profit assuming we're not talking extended periods of non-payment and you're not.

[Open123]

With AmEx Charge cards, the "please pay by" isn't the due date.  It's the recommended last day to place your payment in the post to ensure it arrives before your next statement cuts, which is your true "due" date.  AmEx Charge cards are net 30 accounts, and you're not late until the day your next statement cuts, which is always going to be around 28 - 30 days.

[rlx01]

Calling them to give them a heads up that you're going to pay a little after the "please pay by" date is a terrible idea. They don't need to know.

You're not officially late until the next closing date.

Why don't you just BT the bit you know you can't afford to pay to some other card now, and then pay off the balance. That way you're not taking any risks.

[Open123]

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@rlx01 wrote:

Calling them to give them a heads up that you're going to pay a little after the "please pay by" date is a terrible idea. They don't need to know.

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Right, you don't need to tell them you're having issues. It isn't anyone's business, but your own.  Since AmEx made the decision to offer you uncollateralized credit, don't worry about explaining anything to them.  If you do, it'll only make things worse for you.

[Ortz33__]

I appreciate everyones input and advice. I do understand the amex payment cycle. My statement closes the 21 and thats when my payment is due. 

[Johnnyblaze1986]

Balance transfer, balance transfer. Get a balance transfer check, deposit the amount into your checking account, and balance transfer.

[enharu]

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@Johnnyblaze1986 wrote:
Balance transfer, balance transfer. Get a balance transfer check, deposit the amount into your checking account, and balance transfer.

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balance transfer may not post in time.