Billing Late Fees

eXia7
reply to post by Maltese5Rhino

 

sounds like your ISP and telecoms are a little more forgiving and flexible than mine.


It's a good point you bring up about making a mistake and not reading a contract, or at least getting a general idea of what it is, and means.. I'm guilty of this myself. These companies pray on people via their ignorance of the law or contract agreement, and it all stems back to poor business ethics I believe.

I totally agree, I was with the ISP that charges every time I missed a bill and some times that would be out of my hands such as my work paid me late and there for couldnt pay on time. As you said about poor business ethics, I am no longer with this company that charges every time and I have been with the new ISP provider for a few years now because I know they don't hassle thier customers. Heck I even a while back now asked them if I can pay one months bill I owed (at the time I was 3 months outstanding) so I can get my Internet up again and they did it over the phone so I didnt even have to pay it all back that moment. Again each company to its own really and I think its all down to Management, and most big companies don't care one bit if someone misses a payment. They just know stats. IE The company expects 10% of its clients at any one time to miss payments - CEO thinks.... 'mmm what if we charged 10USD for every missed bill' = $$$$$$$ While other CEO's think along the lines 'a happy customer is a paying customer' =$$$$ But its a few $ short to convince a company to cut late payment fees. Even though they could be loosing more money because of people switching providers.

So pay your bills on time.

What a concept! You don't have it through "no fault of your own"? How do you figure it's "not your fault"? The excuses here are laughable: "I forgot." You FORGOT (?!?!?!?!) therefore the company should give you a break? (Snort!) So tie a string around your finger. If you REALLY don't have the money to pay your water bill, your priorities are screwed. Your spending money on something else that could perhaps be used to pay the water bill first, ya think? Grow a brain and create a budget for yourself. Your credit card bill is unpaid? Good Lord. No one should even have to address that issue! I have paid no fees, and no interest on credit cards for a couple of decades. You know why? Because I don't buy stuff I can't really afford. That means I have to wait a year to get some goody sometimes. Oh, well! You should try it sometime. The peace of mind it affords is incredible. You don't get torqued at banks any more because you screwed up.

The thing is, you signed some sort of agreement in advance that detailed those fees would be assessed if you missed payment. I know! It was in fine print, so you didn't actually take the trouble to READ what it said, but it was there, in print, before you threw it away as unimportant and beneath your attention. You were notified. And if the company changed its policy you were ALSO notified. It happens every time, guaranteed. It's just that you were "too busy" to notice or care. It wasn't important enough to you, but once you started getting fees attached you took notice, right? That's what the fee is for--to make you pay attention.

Your bank charges fees? Oh, noes! So get an account that doesn't charge fees. I went to the baddest of the bad, the Darth Vader of banks, Bank of America, and said, "I want the kind of account that doesn't charge fees." and they said, "OK, here." Boy, that sure was hard! They even changed the account type and terms in one of their "right-sizing" moves and still, guess what? No fees. And if you don't like the big banks, try a credit union.

This is not rocket science, but the number of people who don't know how to balance their checkbooks or don't bother is abysmal. But you can do stuff to get your act together and minimize those "fees" you don't like.

1. Go to a credit union. Their fees are often less and they're easier to do business with.
2. Pay utilities first. Water too high? Stop watering the damn lawn.
3. Cut cable. It's crap anyway.
4. Cut the cell phone. Get "burner" phones and pay as you go. You don't "gotta have!" an iPhone.
5. Establish a MINIMUM automatic payment on credit cards. $15.00/month is typical and will cover it, but
6. Pay the damn things off and don't use them is a better approach.
7. Save money for emergencies, even if it's $5.00 a month.
8. Ditch the penthouse. (OK I'm kidding, but do ditch extravagances.)

Now don't go telling me that's easy for ME to say because y'all work at minimum wage, blah, blah. Cry me a river! I worked for minimum wage for YEARS in retail and never went into debt. And I had student loans. My wretched 1972 Datsun kept breaking down and, oh yeah! Let's not forget I got appendicitis and had to go to surgery all of a sudden with NO health insurance and NO forgiveness of the debt. So I went to the credit collection guys and explained I couldn't pay the thousands they wanted, so we worked a deal and it took awhile, but I paid off every damn cent with no government help, no Medicaid, no nothing. So don't tell me you can't do it, especially nowadays when shedding a single tear will get them to write it off.

You just have to take responsibility and understand that YOU are the one who put yourself in that situation and YOU are responsible for your debt, not your Mommy, not Obama, and not me having to pay on your behalf because you are a deadbeat. So get off your high horse of blaming everyone else in sight for your own shortcomings, get your debt paid to zero, and relish in your good fortune.

Hint: Never borrow money from the Mob. You'll like their interest rates and "penalties" for late payment even less.

reply to post by schuyler


I can see you didn't read the OP where I said I run a business, whereas the money I make goes into my business and to cover my needs. Sometimes my business has an expense that exceeds my monthly income, then I'm forced to ration my bills out. For trying to run a business and keep myself alive, I'm penalized extra money because somebody feels it's ok to do it.


It's a shame you wrote out such a well thought out post, but it's also a shame it's attacking people on absolutely no basis, it seems you're hung up on "Oh you forgot, that's your fault" If you go back and read some of my replies, you'll see I take the blame for being late. The main rant is that late fees are unnecessary.

You seem a bit out of touch with the general point of this thread.

As an individual who works in the collections department of a major phone carrier, I can tell you that the main purpose behind late fees and disconnect fees is to make sure people pay their bills on time. It is better to pay now, than to pay 2 months later and also pay a penalty. If the company isn't getting money from customers, how do you expect a company to continue to provide services and pay its employees?

reply to post by BattleStarGal


What part of, unexpected occurrences don't people understand? Say perhaps your kid needed some emergency medical procedure and it set you back a few months, say your hot water heater dies and you had to let your bill run an extra month? You're penalized because you had to "get your priorities straight" as one poster mentioned.

Kicking a person when they're already down is not positive reinforcement.

Late fees are very annoying and I don't see how companies can charge for nothing, but it is what it is. I was late, so I paid the fee ... and complained about it.

What really burns me is Visa allowing me to go over my credit limit and then charging me $35 for it. What? If my limit is $1000 and I am over it, decline the transaction! It's the company's clever way of getting more money out of people. When I called Visa I was told they allow me to go over as a "courtesy."

And yes (to the 2 posters who play devil's advocate in every thread including this one), I SHOULD have been monitoring my credit card transactions, and then I would have known. Thanks for your input.

reply to post by schuyler


What about fees that aren't related to being late!!

When we got our first water bill and I saw all the fees I was rightfully pissed since the fees and other services cost more than my actual water consumption. Why should I be charged all these fees and a fee to PAY MY bill?? I never dealt with a company like this. I always had water through the city and you could go to the brick and mortar building and pay it yourself, NO fees! Plus it was hella cheaper.

I get late fees and yes they should be there but what some companies charge is insane! Why not $5 or $10? Why does it have to be $30 or $50? Sometimes that is more than your payment for the month and when you have to budget a payment around a paycheck you can get late fees. I'm not saying this is the case for me but in the past it has been and it is the case for many now.

Sure people should budget but when you live on a tight budget and you get one late fee that can really screw things up. There was a time when places would work with you but not anymore!

reply to post by eXia7




Surely you have totally separate accounts for your business and your personnel needs?

Direct debits take the onus off yourself forgetting to pay a bill and therefor incurring

charges?


If your business has unexpected bills etc. that should be your business expenses and

not your personnel debt etc.

You don't appear to have a contingency fund for either your business or your self,


I have an emergency 'pot' which is never raided for anything but an emergency

and if I have to use it for any type of unexpected reason, I look for where I can

cut corners till my 'pot' has been refilled, as quickly as possible.


I am amazed at how often people take out small sums out of "the hole in the wall''

ATM .... I have never used one!

I take out what I think I will need for the week/month and make it last ....

and the bank direct debits stop me from having late payment fees. I have an

agreed bank over draft facility which I have never used (because it would cost me)

but it acts as a safety net! .....

reply to post by eletheia


Sure, if I had a bigger business sure, but I've been running my business for a little under 2 years now, and I've been buying things I need and covering expenses.

It's hard to have 2 separate accounts when you're still funding the business out of your own pocket. I work solo, so everything I do, and all I spend comes from both of my accounts, it depends on the needs at the time.


What you say would make sense if i was actually making a surplus and not having down time in the winter. I'm not running my business off of loans, I'm running it out of my pocket. I'm amazed at the number of people who enjoy paying additional fees, be it late fees or just fees in general, send some of your hard earned money my way, I'll spend it for you.

reply to post by eXia7




When my 15 year old granddaughter had to raise a fair sum of money to fulfil a

'World Challenge" event she went on, one of the ways she did so was by making and

selling cup cakes.


She did so well .... that now at 17 years old she is running a small no (make that

miniscule and solvent) business while still in education, to keep her

in 'spending' money.


Initially she 'borrowed' the money for ingredients,, the first few transactions (profits)

went into paying back the loan and replenishing the used ingredients. So in

essence her first few orders yielded no profit for her personally.

Now when she fulfils an order the money from the sale (in order) goes

# Replenish ingredients

# Business contingency pot (any unexpected costs, speciality items, business

cards etc.)

# Anything left her own personal spending pot

She's only 17, but Hey she's solvent


Incidentally when she first started out, there were many who made excuses ie.

I haven't got my purse with me will pay you later etc. and of course ... it never

happened!!! At which my daughter drummed into her >>>> "Never a borrower

or a lender be" AND "NO CASH NO SALE" . . . .

reply to post by eletheia


Sounds like your granddaughter has a solid hold on what to get done in life, and I respect that. Each individual that decides to work for themselves each have a unique situation. I would assume making cupcakes is a pretty standard low risk investment with decent yields, I also assume the purchase of materials wouldn't exceed beyond 1000$ - 2000$, unless they are some really expensive cupcakes lol.

My situation is a little different, my costs exceed $15,000 or more for equipment by itself. I spent a good portion of my time, from 17 - 26 years old saving money working for a really crappy guy for about 8 years or so until I was able to strike out on my own. And fuel costs, lets not get into that debate, I spend roughly $400 a month on fuel alone. Just recently, I spent over $800 in repairs.. just THIS month. So, I feel I kind of have a right to complain about late fees and fees in general, because I invest pretty much every dime I make into keeping myself alive, and trying to shore up some semblance of a business. I appreciate your input here, but I still feel as if big corporations use fees as a way to just eek out more and more money from the hard working public.

reply to post by eXia7





It's not the size or out lay of a business that counts, it's the keeping solvent.

Big or small any business that doesn't stay solvent goes under. One needs to

plan for all eventualities ... Its not as if you don't know that excess charges

and late fees exist!? and WILL BE IMPLEMENTED!!


I don't know what business you are in, or even which country you are in but

petrol, utilities etc. have been going up steadily for some time so that should

be no surprise to you. As I have said not knowing, and it not being my problem

it would be presumptuous of me to say any more.


In a minor way running a home is in many ways the same as running a business

costs go up in one area you have to find it from another, or make cutbacks.

The washing machine breaks down unexpectedly, the repair costs have to be

found too? ... and so it goes on. Petrol goes up ... car share the school run?


When I worked we were always being quoted the 6 P's of success >>>>

Planning & Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance!!

a reply to: schuyler

That's...really hateful. Glad to know you're so much better than everyone else.


To the OP: cox is a nightmare. I was in this same situation for months clawing my way out of their fees which made it impossible to get ahead. Also making my electricity severely underpaid and I dealt with that nightmare which our power company was even more unforgiving. I paid every month yet they'd cut me off, issue the damn reconnect fee and I even had a reconnect fee when there was no reconnect one time. I went to the cox store nearby and they were limited in ability to help. The woman told me to go home and call billing and *maybe* they'd be nice and remove the bogus fee. I couldn't believe it. The woman was sympathetic, but she knew their practices were jacked up. (Got the run around and was transferred to 5 people before being hung up on btw)
I only have Internet and it's the cheapest they have. Internet is something that I need to have. Like you, I cannot make any extra money to pay these bills without it.

Thankfully everything is caught up finally but yeah...I'm petrified of that experience. It feels like a never ending nightmare.