Wifey 1. Bank 0.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Well, I should give the bank a point as well. Let me explain.
I've been with the Commonwealth bank since I was 6 years old, when my parents opened a Dollarmite Account for me, and, in fact, I still have that account (without all the fun colouring-in stuff I used to get!) I used to take $2 in to school every Thursday in my deposit book, and watched my total slowly creep. (The I blew it all on kit-kats and Ekka show bags when I got my key card! Ha!)
Anyway, I also have a Credit Card with them that I've had since I was 22 and have NEVER missed a payment and NEVER EVER had to pay interest. So when I looked at my statement today to see a $25 late fee, I was gob-smacked. Then I had a look and realised we had been overseas at the time and I had gone over my interest-free period. I wasn't really annoyed at the bank, per se, but I thought banks should work like car insurance - if you don't claim in a year, you get rewarded. So having ALWAYS paid on time, I thought I should be rewarded.
So I called them.
Although I had to wait on hold (twice) and was on the phone for 15 minutes (not too bad, really), I presented my case to the customer care representative and she took a minute to look over my history and told me the following:
"I've just looked over your history and see that you are an exemplary customer, paying your credit card off and never missing a payment. I've refunded that $25 to your account now, and you'll see it in the next couple of days."
HOORAY!! As my mama always says "It never hurts to ask." It wasn't really about the money, more the principle, and it was a victory for me.
that's awesome :)
Wow that was nice of commonwealth bank. I had a similar problem with them but a not so happy answer.
I use my credit card for pretty much every purchase, since unlike eftpos i can make as many purchases a month without fees (get like 4 a month with eftpos, boo).
Anyway, I get a monthly statement that says what I owe etc... but since I use internet banking never really pay attention to statements. When pay day arrives, look at amount due on credit card, pay it off in full. Since I get paid once a month that all works out pretty well.
However once I got distracted, and had used card for some big purchases, so guessed the amount that it had been overdue on payday and paid that, figuring close enough was good enough.
Turns out, if you get a statement that says you owe $X, and you pay all but $1 of that, after 55 days they will charge you interest on the full $X until that last $1 is paid.
Of course I didn't realise this until i got the statement the next month, and found that I had been charged $60. Was not happy and rang up to find out why, and they just said something along the lines of so sad, but its in the terms and conditions so suck it.
Boo to you commonwealth. Boo!
Glad it worked out in your favour! You know, I actually like my bank. We've never had a fight.