BM>> Certified Mail, return reciept requested showing date and
 BM>> time of delivery.
 KA> Hi, Bill,
 KA> Fancy seeing you here. You could do worse. You could have
:)
 KA> opted for the GM Card (Master Card.) I had one, and every
 KA> month, I paid several times their required minimum payment
 KA> thinking that I was making advance payments. Then I went out
 KA> of state to visit my daughter, and a payment got to them a
 KA> day late. $20.00 late charge. I called, and was told, "We
I guess I've been around long enough to have seen all the tricks, I was just 
wondering if Associates had a history of shoddy practices.
KA> don't consider those payments as advance payments. Whatever
 KA> payment is due is due on the due date." Needless to say, they
I understand what you did, and I also know that your experience is typical, 
they don't consider prepayments as early payment on your next payment. I have 
since cut the Associates card in half and returned it to Amoco's corporate 
headquarters, certified mail, with a note telling them where to shove it.
I do know, though, that if you make a payment and then send in a separate 
payment a few days later in an amount that would exceed your next minimum 
payment you'd be within terms and not late. I always pay my cards in full, 
and I mail the payments the day I receive the bill. Associates seems to have 
a habit, about twice a year, of getting a payment late, or so they claim. The 
dates on the cancelled checks agree with the dates they claim, but it's just 
too convient how often this happens. I've even had their bill arrive late, 
their post mark on the bill sent to me was 2 days before my due date. They 
blamed some error and credited my account that time, but that seems to have 
been the start of my woes with them, not the end.
 KA> are now minus one customer. On several other cards, if I
 KA> follow this procedure, I get a bill showing "Minimum payment
 KA> due=0." Those, I'll keep.
Yes, some cards compute their minimum payment due to reflect prior ahead of 
terms payments.
Have a happy!
---
---------------