If you have a mortgage, pay close attention to the bills

[aion]

My grandmother always has me check her receipts. I noticed on a recent mortgage payment that the company applied her payment 2 weeks beyond the day she sent in the check.

I asked her to call her bank to discover the actual day that the check cleared her bank. Low and behold, they applied it about 10 days late.

Armed with this information, I had her call her mortgage company and asked to speak with the representative. When I told him what I had discovered, he said it "was not that way in the computer". I told him that I had his receipt/bill, and it shows exactly when the payments were applied -- regardless of what his screen said. I even went so far as to suggest that perhaps he had made the change as we were speaking.

My grandmother is 82 years old and deserves better than this. I would encourage everyone to help family members determine whether this sort of chicanery is being used on them.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Good for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They do it in all sorts of businesses - make sure you pay your credit card bill AS SOON AS it arrives in the mail. It's not worth what those heartless bastards can - and will - try to pull.

Just like aion's Grandmother.

And, a bit late, welcome to DU, aion.

[aion]

2. Our disciplines are close-cousins

Philosophy @ IU Bloomington -- many enough moons ago.

While they may do it in all sorts of businesses, mortgages seem to be in the most lucrative category. With a mortgage, cheating someone out of $1 today will mean far more than $1 when you start looking at the interest.

Thank you for your hospitality.

[sam sarrha]

3. i always pay electronically from a bank account..2 receipts

[CountAllVotes]

5. or so you think

That is what I did too - they held the payment date off 2 weeks!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :argh: !!!!!!

[sam sarrha]

7. they said i didnt pay one month when i did and didnt credit it.. i am goin

federal on this one

[leesa]

16. They did that to me a few times when I paid electronically...I went back

to mailing it. I think they hook a lot of late fees that way..."Oh it didn't post properly"

[sam sarrha]

8. so what federal and state regulatory agencys to we go to over this

[aion]

9. I don't know, but think of your case

In my grandmother's case, she has a paper printout showing the discrepancy. If they were to magically locate a bug in their software, they're probably magically off the hook. And who is to say that the printout accurately reflects what was in the computer? Some glitch may have happened in the print layout. Etc. Etc. Ad nauseum.

The guy wouldn't acknowledge the discrepancy on the phone. Make of that what you will.

[CountAllVotes]

10. my case was black & white

I made the payment, recorded the payment in my checkbook. The payment was never taken out. I checked online and it had not come out. They held the payment until the last day of the billing cycle. I confronted them about this and they said it was "standard procedure". Bullshit.

I called back the next day and they had a whole different story. They claimed I set it to be paid the last day of the cycle - something I NEVER do!

So, I told them that I believed my account had been hacked into and the payment date changed.

I MADE THEM issue new cards and they mailed them to me. I have not however, bothered to call the # on them to validate them I am so fuckin' pissed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:argh:

[sam sarrha]

11. I have the Banks Print out

[CountAllVotes]

4. this is going on with CCs too

I caught it. I called them up and made their lives a holy hell and I'm not done with 'em yet btw. Same story ... payment made - not posted until the day the billing cycle closed. I could have been stuck paying a bunch of extra interest had I had a balance.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

Keep a close eye on all of these greedy rip-off m'f's!

:kick:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

6. I call the 800 number

and check on the credit card - I only use one - a week after I mail the check. (There's something that creeps me out about registering at their website - no, I can't explain it.) That way, if there's something off, I can talk to someone right away and get about fixing it before the time runs out.

Interesting what responsible adults these bastards have made of us. Pretty soon, we lawyers won't have ANY client left, thanks to them.

<joke>

[thebaghwan]

12. B of A is notorious for this. They do not do due diligence in postng your

mortgage payments. I used to send my payment overnight with a return receipt requested and it would get there before the due date and it would be up to 8 days before it posted. This was when I was with Nations bank which was bought by Bank of America. It hasn't gotten all that much better. Since it is now B of A I go into the bank on or a few days before the due date and make my payment but I have noticed that it still takes about three (3) days to post and I oftten incurr a late charge. My mortgage says the payment is made the day it is received not when they get around to posting it. This is a massive ripoff in the mortgage industry. I wouldn't doubt that B of A makes millions of dollars every month charging inappropriate late charges and if I had enough documented proof I would file a class acyion suit against them.

[CountAllVotes]

13. my auto insurance just tried that one on me

I went in to pay the bill online as they requested me to do. Somehow, one of the #'s was missing from the acct. So, I get word of this several days later!

So, I rush to mail them a check before the policy expired. They said they never got the check and they sent me a cancellation notice!

I had taken the letter to the post office and watched them hand cancel the letter.

Alas, they said they got it a week or so later. It was close, VERY close! These people are out for no good IMO. I would have had a cancelled auto insurance policy on my hands and no insurance. Nice huh? :argh:

:kick:

[Lori Price CLG]

14. Kick. n/t

[radfringe]

15. ran into similar problem a number of years ago

the house insurance bill was due - dropped it off at the insurance agents office on a Thursday afternoon, payment was due the following Monday - so I was 3-4 days early with the payment

payment wasn't applied until TUESDAY - and my insurance was canceled because it was "late". It was considered late because the main insurance office (in another state) had a state holiday on that Monday and was closed.

This happened to many people in my area. After a couple of months of going around in circles with this the insurance company offered to reinstate those of us that they canceled. I told them too late - I found another insurance company and at a cheaper price