Got my first late (Amex Plan It)

[wasCB14]

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.

[FinStar]

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 👍

[TheFIGuy]

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. 

[Anonymous]

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.

[NRB525]

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. 

[wasCB14]

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.

[wasCB14]

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@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. 

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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.

[longtimelurker]

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@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.

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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?????"

[K-in-Boston]

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.)

[wasCB14]

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@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.)

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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.