How bad is this for dh? Regarding MY mistake with Amex

[butterflywings]

Before I tell you what happened, let me be the first to say I know I screwed up. I feel like a total loser right now. No one can say anything to me right now that I haven't said to myself at least a 100 x's.

 

Here's what happened.

 

Dh has had Amex's forever. He has a perfect credit score of around 750. He has two Amex's. One was due August 7th, and like I always do, I paid it early on July 27th. I never thought another thing about it. 

 

I always check the next day or 2 days later to make sure the payment hits, and I also look for the "payment received" email. I never noticed that I didn't get one from Amex.  I wrote the payment down in our payment journal when I made it.  Somehow there was a glitch and the payment didn't go through. I honestly don't know.

 

I found out when I went online today to make another payment, thinking I was making an extra payment, and it said that the due date was August 7th and it had the amount still due!

 

I immediately made the payment. There was no late fee or anything. I then went on the Amex chat and the Amex rep (thinking he was talking to dh) said it shows my dh's account is still current. I said the payment was due 3 days ago. The person said well, for whatever reason his account shows current and there has been no trigger for a late fee. I said will this late payment go to the credit reporting agencies, and he said call the 800# and ask, but you have a decent chance it won't.

 

I was not going to call dh at work about this. He has an executive position, a very demanding job with a contractor of one of the departments of the government, and the last thing he needs thrown at him was this Amex situation. Yes, I know my rationale is totally self serving. The truth is I was also too embarrassed and ashamed to tell him. So, me with my very feminine voice, called up Amex and tried to sound like as masculine as I could, and told the Amex rep that I (dh) had a bad cold. She believed me.

 

Anyway, she said that since dh has been with Amex for such a long time, that the late fee was not triggered, and that Amex doesn't report lates until they're 60 days late. She said to take off the table the fear that it would show up on the credit reports. She also said this one time thing won't have them close his account or anything, I had asked her if they would. She actually acted like it was not a big deal and said to relax, it was one time after almost 15 years of on time payments.

 

Do you think there is still cause for concern?

[centex]

For reporting purposes, an account is not late until you have blown 30 days from the due date.  This is an INTERNAL late, but not a reportable late. 

 

Without knowing for sure which of the AXP offerings it is, there is also still somewhat of a suggested due date on some of the cards.  They tried to make the charge offerings more firm, but evidence tends to suggest it is still a suggested date and not a drop dead date so long as balance in full was received by the closing date. 

 

You are making a bigger deal out of this than ANY issuer would, even the crappy ones.  Don't raise any more red flags.  By continuing to push the matter, you are inviting the prospect of a financial review.

[butterflywings]

1 hour ago, centex said:

For reporting purposes, an account is not late until you have blown 30 days from the due date.  This is an INTERNAL late, but not a reportable late. 

 

Without knowing for sure which of the AXP offerings it is, there is also still somewhat of a suggested due date on some of the cards.  They tried to make the charge offerings more firm, but evidence tends to suggest it is still a suggested date and not a drop dead date so long as balance in full was received by the closing date. 

 

You are making a bigger deal out of this than ANY issuer would, even the crappy ones.  Don't raise any more red flags.  By continuing to push the matter, you are inviting the prospect of a financial review.

I resemble that remark.

 

Okay. I won't bring it up to Amex any further.  I loathed calling them! I knew the stakes were high: call them and they will for sure notice the late; not call them  to explain the situation and risk a late on his report that would last 7 years.

 

Now, all I can do is hope no negative account action is taken. Fwiw, he would survive a financial review. He was honest with his income all along, and he currently makes about $6k more than what is stated on his account with Amex.

 

Thank you for responding, Centex. I appreciate it.

[cashnocredit]

3 hours ago, butterflywings said:

I resemble that remark.

 

Okay. I won't bring it up to Amex any further.  I loathed calling them! I knew the stakes were high: call them and they will for sure notice the late; not call them  to explain the situation and risk a late on his report that would last 7 years.

 

Now, all I can do is hope no negative account action is taken. Fwiw, he would survive a financial review. He was honest with his income all along, and he currently makes about $6k more than what is stated on his account with Amex.

 

Thank you for responding, Centex. I appreciate it.

Once upon a time Amex charge cards were due the date the statement cut, but they didn't treat it as late for 30 days and even then they didn't charge a penalty until you were repeatedly late. While the due date occurred several days before you got the statement in the mail, it also had a "suggested pay by date."  Yes, literally it said "suggested." Likely this came from the large number of business clients that regularly paid after 30 days, or even 45 days. As they have gradually shifted to real credit cards and even provided pay over time options on their charge cards they have changed their terms and they now comply with standard CARD act requirements for credit cards.

 

On my Plat this wording change occurred at the end of 2016.

 

They are quite tolerant of the occasional payment lapse and butterflywing's DH is miniscule.

 

It is good to keep in mind that while Amex particularly values people that PIF, a long record of on time payments makes a slight late a non-issue. Even if a 30 day late got reported, which it won't, on an otherwise solid report it would not be a problem in govt. jobs or clearances.

[Konrad2012]

Starting printing either hard copies or pdf's of the payment confirmation that is given the second you submit the payment order. 

[butterflywings]

Thank you so much, for your responses and advice. I appreciate all of it.

 

I'm now keeping a much closer look at all of our bills and due dates. I've had a lot going on in my life lately, and I've been busier than I've ever been before, so I guess I wasn't at the top of my game when it came to paying attention to payment confirmations.

 

I will never let a payment go late ever again.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, butterflywings said:

Thank you so much, for your responses and advice. I appreciate all of it.

 

I'm now keeping a much closer look at all of our bills and due dates. I've had a lot going on in my life lately, and I've been busier than I've ever been before, so I guess I wasn't at the top of my game when it came to paying attention to payment confirmations.

 

I will never let a payment go late ever again.

Don't beat yourself up too much. It happens to all of us.