The more I deal with banks, the more I wonder if it is a requirement for them to be STUPID when technology is involved.
A few months back I switched banks to another bank, the new bank has handeled our mortgage , etc for years with out any problems, and other peopel I know have had no problems with them. Great!
Yesterday I was informed that they were considering putting a bad mark on my credit report because the loan payment has been late for the past three months. Huh? Late? What? The payment is due on the 15th, I have the payment setup using their banking sstem to automatically pay on the 1st of every month. How could it possibly be late… In a panic I double checked all of my e-payment options, and re-downloaded all my statements and checked and every one of them was correct as far as I could tell. Today after speaking with the bank I find myself questioning the sanity of programmers in financial institutions.
It turns out that when a payment is due the 15th of the month, I can not pay it electronicaly until after the 5th of the month. If you pay your payment to early, the system will automatically assume (key word there) that your payment is not really the normal payment, and in their reality it is actually an additional payment. So, It seems that I have been paying extra on the principal of the loan only to turn around and not make the monthly payment. So I am making an additional payment on a non existant primary payment only to have the additional payment end up taking the place of the unpaid primary payment. Confused yet? I know I am…
So, the simple solution is.. that on the 7th of this month, I need to change the automatic bill payment fromthe 1st of the month to the 6th of the month so that on July 6th the payment will be made and counted as a payment NOt as an additional payment to a non existant payment… If I change the payment date now… then June 6th, I will truely make an additional payment for the month and well thats not really in my plans…
Now supposedly the bank has gone and corrected the records and removed any fines or black marks from their system, they also supposedly have not sent anything on the credit report agency yet. I don’t beleive that and will have to request a copy to be sure…
The moral of the story I guess is don’t trust computers, banks, and electronic payments…
John's Musings 