Comenity Captial Bank

[Medic981]

In August when I was impulsively applying for credit, I applied for credit with Comenity Capital Bank through Adorama Camera. There has been some DSLR equipment that I have been looking at for a while and I decided that I can use the 0% financing that came with the card.

I waited a few months after getting the account to make my first purchase and my first payment was due November 1st. I set up billpay through NFCU to make my payment on Nov. 1 and as NFCU stated that the delivery date was estimated for Nov. 1 I expected that they would cut a check and mail it so it would arrive on or around Nov. 1. I have never had an issue with paper checks not getting where they are supposed to on time with billpay. 

Nov. 1 I see an ACH payment to Comenity and thought good it was electronic, no worries. Nov 9, I see a late fee and interest charge on my Comenity account as I run through my weekly account checks and think **bleep**! So I call Comenity and ask, why did you charge me a late fee when NFCU ACH'ed you the payment Nov. 1. The CRS' response was that the bank may have delayed the payment and I would need to inquire with them. I asked why does it take Comenity eight days to process an ACH as you posted my payment on Nov 8. Again the CRS' response was the same.

I then instructed the CRS to close my account. After a pregnant pause, the CRS ask why I want to close my account. I informed her that in 2018 there is no excuse for an ACH payment to take eight days to post and it would Comenity's fault for delaying the posting of the payment. I told her I live by, "wrong me once shame on you, wrong me twice shame on me," and so to keep from having to pay late fees and interest in the future to close the account.

I am sure I have some culpability in the payment being late as I always billpay on the due date as my checking account is interest bearing and I am trying to maximize my earnings. I probably would not have reacted so and closed the account if the payment had posted Nov 2 and lesson learned. But if I have to send payment a week in advance in 2018 to ensure that I don't incur a late fee using billpay then I would rather not have an account with that company. 

I was so ticked that I didn't think about asking about a refund of the late payment or late fees. I am sure Comenity could care less as I am a little fish in a big ocean. Is this a common issue with Comenity? My landlord has told me she gets my rent check on the first of every month in the mail, unless it is a holiday or a Sunday, as I have it sent with billpay. This payment wasn't sent by paper check it was by ACH. I would appreciate the benefit of the forums experience in using billpay and ACH vs pay by check.

My rant is concluded. You may return to your regularly scheduled programming.

[FinStar]

Alternatively, which is widely offered by all Comenity/CCB accounts, a payment could've been made through their online interface. It updates the balance right away, payment is deducted from your financial institution in 2-3 business days.

[Medic981]

I have always preferred pushing my payments to creditors and not allowing them to pull from my account. I see that was an error on my part.

[CreditInspired]

OP

To bad you closed the account. You were speaking to a front line CR and you could have easily asked to speak to a supervisor w/o the “shame on me” dot, dot, dot. I can actually see her/him shaking his head.

Second, why in this day and time are you using billpay to send a check. Just a question. The only time I do this is if I’m sending a check to a friend—not to a creditor. And if the bill was due on Nov 1, no way I’d say make sure it gets there on the 1st. You know the post office (snail mail) and all. At a minimum, I would have given it a few days, like October 28 or 29. NFCU nor anyone else can guarantee when a piece of snail mail will arrive at its destination unless it’s guaranteed next day delivery.

And how much interest could your interest bearing acct lose between Oct 28 and Nov 1. Just saying.

[Medic981]

Never had a problem before with billpay. As I stated it was paid by ACH and took eight days, from Nov 1 to Nov 8 to be processed, so a check never entered the equation. 

I really didn't need the account, should probably never opened the account, and if Comenity feels it needs to make money by delaying processing to charge late fees, then I am glad I closed the account. 

[CreditCuriosity]

My personal thoughts only is comenity wasn't waiting to hit you with a late fee.  As echoed you could of used their system to pull if you wanted to wait until the last minute to make a payment or at least for your first payment you pushed to them you certainly could of given them a few extra days vs due date scheduled delivery to make sure everything went well. That interest bearing account didnt work so well for you in this case as pretty certain that late payment is bigger than what interest you would have earned earned in said account.  Did you even ask for the late payment to be waived vs. cancelling first?  Not trying to sound harsh but you worked hard to build your credit or rebuild your credit don't cut it so close as you are playing with fire.

[kdm31091]

While I understand being frustrated, I would just pay directly through the card's website vs pushing the payment. Maybe I am missing something, but I don't really understand the advantage of "pushing" the payment. IMO it is just going to take longer and you run into issues like this, it not being delivered/processed correctly, etc. Also by doing it directly with the issuer, there are no issues with mail getting lost, or just taking a long time due to Sundays, various holidays, and just slowness of our mail system.

So in the future I would just make payments directly with the creditor, be it Comenity or whoever. I just don't see much of a difference and you will have lower risk of this occuring again.

Also - closing cards out of frustration is never good. This could have happened with any bank because (not to be harsh) you are relying on a slower method of payment processing.

[Anonymous]

Setup your autopay and put the onus on the lender to execute the payment timely and correctly, perfect with an interest bearing payment account as it will always have enough funds. On the other hand you're responsible for manual push payments, with so many CCs and your desire to cut it as close as you can, something is bound to go wrong sooner or later.

[UncleB]

Without getting into the tired 'push vs pull' debate, if Comenity says the payment didn't arrive on time and NFCU said it did, I would lean on NFCU for assistance. 

In the past other banks I've dealt with always advertised that if something were to go wrong with a payment they would help get it sorted, and if they were at fault for a late payment they would even cover the late fee. 

I have to say that in 20+ years of using bill pay I've never had a problem.  Occasionally there will be a creditor that only takes paper checks (I'm looking at you, BBVA Compass...) but even then other than taking a few days longer - which they tell you up front - there's not an issue.

[pizza1]

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@UncleB wrote:

Without getting into the tired 'push vs pull' debate, if Comenity says the payment didn't arrive on time and NFCU said it did, I would lean on NFCU for assistance. 

In the past other banks I've dealt with always advertised that if something were to go wrong with a payment they would help get it sorted, and if they were at fault for a late payment they would even cover the late fee. 

I have to say that in 20+ years of using bill pay I've never had a problem.  Occasionally there will be a creditor that only takes paper checks (I'm looking at you, BBVA Compass...) but even then other than taking a few days longer - which they tell you up front - there's not an issue.

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Thats exactly what I did recently with my local Bank and Amazon Corporate credit Supervisor. Check was mailed from my bank on October 31, with confirmation arrival on November 2nd. Amazon Corporate said "we dont have it", and of course it was back and forth with the Supervisor, and then she suggesting we get on 3 way call with my bank, to figure out who is at fault (Amazon thinks I didnt send a check).  She thinking that I wouldnt do it, I said, "Sure! Lets do it! Heres the number, dial it now!" So, we did! Confirmation with my bank was that Amazon was at fault, and so I stopped payment on the check that Amazon was holding onto and not cashing right there on the phone, and said Id do pay over phone, then I was closing my Amazon  acct.

My Bank laughed because they know how I am, and said, ok, well we'll hang up now, and you can take care of that with them, LOL. The lady Im sure thought I was bluffing from the beginning, and she was like, you dont have to close your acct, as a matter of fact, Im going to just credit your acct the payment, and you'll have a credit to use. I opted to close it anyways. I also keep my word, and if you tick me off enough to that point, I always do what I say, LOL. 

Not worth the hassel to me...