Watch Your Bank

You’ve got to watch your bank closely to make sure they don’t pull a fast one on you.  I have a Pier 1 credit card (which was taken over by Chase Bank) and on which I owed $317.00.  For one reason or another, I didn’t realize I owed them money and went on a several month trip overseas.  When I got home, I realized that I owed Pier 1 the money (now Chase, since they had taken over the credit card) so I called up Chase to find out the exact amount I needed to pay.

The Chase customer service rep told me I owed $317 (including late fees), so I paid it while we were on the phone.  When I hung up, I had this nice, warm fuzzy feeling that all my bills were paid and I didn’t need to worry about a bill coming from Chase next month. 

Well, guess what.  Early the following month, I went to the mailbox and there was a bill from Chase.  Before I even opened it, I began to get angry.  “Why the heck do I have a letter from Chase?” I asked.  I got inside the house, opened the bill and lo, and behold, a bill from Chase.  It was a bill for $3.11

Now, why did they send me a bill?  Good question.  I called them up right away and got a customer service rep who promptly said it was the amount I owed for November 07.  I said “Why do I owe anything for Nov?”

“Well” said the customer service rep, ” When you paid off the bill, it wasn’t the pay-off balance.  It was the balance as of the end of the prior month.”

I could have spit nails.

“Do you mean to tell me that when I called up and paid off what I thought was the balance, it wasn’t the balance?” I asked.

“Yes” said the customer service rep.

I practically flipped out.  I told him there was no way I was going to pay it, the moon would turn to green cheese before they saw that $3.11, etc…

To make a long story short, they took off the $3.11 from my account and now I genuinely have a ZERO DOLLAR balance.

But I had to find out the hard way.

Here is the bottom line.  If you pay off your credit card on time every month, as I ususally do, you won’t know.  You have to ask for the PAY OFF BALANCE and not just the BALANCE.  I don’t know whether this is a new tactic for bank credit cards now or not, but ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS keep track of what you paid and when you paid it, so when you have to fight with the bank, you will be prepared.