Your bank knows when you actually paid because the money didn't really go anywhere as far as the bank is concerned

@oceanstate: normally i would agree with you however I think it's wrong to charge a fee when i'm trying to give you money. I know this is for the day it's due but what's the point of the due date then? i also tried paying my old navy bill over the phone one time, even a couple days before it was due, and was told they will charge a $10 fee for phone processing. seriously...being charged...to give them money. in what way does that ever make sense? i'm going to open a store and when someone tries to buy something, i'll tack on another $5 for the priveledge of paying me. that would never work for a store so why does it work for credit cards.

On the flip side, I have an REI VISA, managed by US Bank, and any payments made before 7pm ET post the same evening. If you make the payment on a weekend on the due date, you don't get charged a late fee, but the payment won't post until the following business day. This is how business should be done.

2. they have a chart that is very clear and easy to understand on their bill pay website that tells you when your payment will clear based on what day you make it.

@David Schwartz: You don't have to pay it before then to avoid the fee, you simply have to schedule it before the due date.

If you both schedule and pay it on the due date you are charged the fee.

Apparently to some people five minutes in front of the computer is worth fifteen bucks.

@oceanstate: I have to agree. If you can't remember when the bill arrives in the mail, go home after you buy something and schedule a payment for a month from that day. You should be covered.

I don't think it is too much to ask for people to pay their bills on time or pay a small charge for their lack of planning.

Agreed. People are too fracking impatient nowadays.

Makes me want to get in line and write...a...check...as...slowww.w......ly as....I...can....

Now get off my lawn.

I'm only mentioning this because I find it interesting that I've run into this with a few other companies (notably, Toyota)...and they've all since changed their systems to avoid this "fee for paying on time" thing. Probably because a LOT of people were complaining and taking their business elsewhere. Best Buy's service has long been terrible and this is yet another example of it.

Also, this is old news, I've told people when they have signed up to make sure they pay on time or there is a 15 dollar fee to pay over the phone or if they pay right at their date online.

To emulate another users post, this basically just sounds like Consumerist is having a slow day and just needed something to post.

I'll definitely make a point of sticking with my bank's website instead of doing the payment through my credit card's / loan owner's sites!

But I usually schedule the payment for the due date on the statement date (i.e. the statement is issued on the 15th with a due date of the 29th, then on the 15th I schedule a payment to be made on the 29th)

Is it just because it's all through the same bank?

I am a Best Buy employee.

@oceanstate:

This is very true.

I happen to have one of these cards and have never paid a $15 fee because I've never had to place a rush on my payment, as A.) I pay attention to my limit and B.) I schedule my payments for free, weeks before their due date.

For some reason The Consumerist wants to pull their Chicken Little shit again where they whine about some perceived evil being committed because they don't like Best Buy. This isn't particularly different than any other payment for rush processing, be it in banking or to get your order expidited from an online store.

@econobiker: Then I don't see what the deal is with Consumerist misrepresenting the fees. HSBC charges them. Not Best Buy. The terms are pretty clear when you sign up. the card is otherwise actually pretty great, just schedule to pay early.

Similarly, Countrywide charges a separate fee if you attempt to pay within x-days of due-date. Not sure when the fee kicks in, but IIRC, it's in the last 2-3 days before it goes past-due.

I don't think it's right, but I think the idea of avoiding the 15 bucks is a pretty good incentive to get the payments in on time.

@Ratty: HSBC charges $15 for a fast pay automated phone call payment.

@Allison Granados:
"In the computer age there is no reason for a payment to be in limbo for 2 days."

Except to make extra profits for the credit card company...

CARD Act will cover you if you're due date falls on a weekend or whenever the issuer is closed. But most bill pays clearly state a 1-2 business day processing time. So if its Monday, and you're due on Wednesday, you're out of luck.

Actually, that's not true. I have more than one card that doesn't do this.

The $15 "rush payment" fee is likely to be an advance fee where they don't actually rush the payment processing but just credit your account prior to receiving the regular payment.

Had this happen to me once for a bill that got mixed in the wrong stack. Spotted the missing payment on the due date and had to pay $15 for rush payment. Yeah, the bank is taking a profit on the fee, but not as heavy as for late payment or overlimit.

I called and was told I missed a payment in April, but paid extra the month before. Strange I thought, I KNOW I paid that. It seems my April payment was too early, they simply added it to my previous payment, instead of understanding that I was paying my next (soon to come) bill.

So, becuase I paid EARLY, I was assessed $148 in late fees and my interest rate increased to 26%. I understand confusion happens, but its not the best way to handle a consumer who is merely acting prudent and with due diligence.

After a phone call and a few transfers the fees were refunded to me and they said as a "courtesy" they would wave the $15 if I wanted to pay my bill now (in other words, they still felt I was late). My interest rate stayed higher, but the balance is nearly paid off and I no longer see myself using that card after this experience so its not a battle I will likely bother with.

There's always circumstances in which you can't schedule early, but for 99% of everyone else out there, there's really no reason to schedule an online payment last minute. There's also personally responsibility in this.

BofA actually has a "secret" website which will let you pay your bill and have it post same day , as long as payment is made by 12:00am - pacific time. I called customer service because my power was out and couldn't post the payment by 2pm that day and the customer service rep gave me the websites address. It works for any BofA account, I sent the tip to the consumerist like 2 years ago, and no I dont have the site bookmarked on my laptop at the moment.

I pay mine ASAP so I dont even have to worry about the bill being paid on the day of, and so I dont have to worry about it for the rest of the month.

They can take as long as they want to process the payment. But if they had the money before or on the due date (or only didn't because they hadn't processed it), and it's clear in this case that they did, then the payment is not late.

Our last Worst Buy statement arrived in the mail on June 4th. Guess when the bill was due. If you guessed June 4th, give yourself a cookie.

I smell a class action coming.

@torgonius:
Agree. The BestBuy credit card has always worked this way (I started paying on-line maybe 3 years ago or more). It sucks, but I just make sure I schedule the payment in advance.

Worse are the sites where you can't schedule a payment, just make one on the day. If you like to schedule or make a payment on the last possible day, you have to be much more careful not to forget. (Sprint, my credit union and my local electric company work this way.)

I mean the bank is lying to you - I'm not calling you a liar. :-)

That's a lie. My credit union never charges me if I forget to move enough money to checking from savings to cover a charge. They just do it automatically and seamlessly, the same way they've been doing for free for years.

I agree it's a total scam. You are paying for NOTHING. Literally, nothing. Now, if it actually REVERSED a late fee, like if you paid a couple days late. Then it would be worth something.

Anyway, we went to our corporate contacts at Best Buy for Business and told them that we would not do business with them as long as HSBC is handling their corporate billing. That was over a year ago. They may have since dropped HSBC for corporate accounts because the Best Buy for Business sales people have been calling me to get our business back with some sort of new account.

I just got a letter from Citizens Banks (Royal Bank of Scotland) stating that starting August 3, they will start charging me $30/year for overdraft "service" + a $5 fee every time I use the service + interest on the loan. I was really upset and told them I was going to close all my accounts until I discovered that all the other banks are doing the same thing: even credit unions! That still doesn't make the fees right, but now I'm not going to close my account. I'm simply turning off the over draft feature. I will make darn sure I don't over draw my account again. The problem is that now I have to spend more of my time ensuring that I don't accidentally overdraw my account and move money around to avoid this fee.

I never had any issues with the HSBC card. 0% interest and the online bill pay was fine. There may have been a nominal fee for online pay, i forget, but it wasn't $15 since I paid early.

GE Money Bank's PayPal Buyer Credit requires 2 days prior to due date for online payment to be scheduled as on time, and no option to pay a fee to pay "late" on the due date (or the day before for that matter). Funny, their (GE Money Bank) Ford Dealer Credit does not have the same requirement to schedule an "on-time" payment 2 days early, the same day is on-time with that one. Go figure. They are all just god damned thieves.

@Shadowfire: BofA works the same way-free to pay online, but a $12.00 fee to make an 'express payment' credited same day. Seems fair to me. It's not like they're saying 'payments after noon don't count'.

Funny part was, I was within 2-3 days of due date and was going to pay via their website and noticed the fee, so I bailed and waited until the day it was actually due and walked over to the branch to pay in person.

@socalrob:
I also have this card, and have never had to pay the rush payment $15. The due date is always the same, schedule the payment more than 2 days in advance.

I set the payment right when I get the email about my statement. It's a nice, built-in reminder.

I make all my payments online but I always do it using the online bill pay feature from my bank's website. Do vendors and merchants really charge you lots of money if you're paying them on their own website?

If you mailed the payment in on the due date rather than had it to them by the due date, you'd expect problems, right? Same idea here. Paying on the due date only works if you can guarantee the payment will be in their hands, not electronically clearing or in the postal system

Who doesn't charge this fee? I see this on all my online payments as I schedule my payment a week in advance instead of 5 minutes before it's due.

Srsly, EVERYONE does this and it's usually more!

Incidentally, nowhere in the bill did it say that there was a two-day buffer required.

Other than the Best Buy branding on the card, I'm not sure how much Best Buy has to do with HSBC policies.

It's a rush payment fee. I have this card, just payed off the balance. I was dinged with a late payment fee of $30 bucks because I missed the payment date by 1 day.

So $15 fee to get it processed immediately or $30 fee because of a late payment. Yeah both suck but we signed contracts agreeing to their terms before we got these cards.

Don't get me wrong, I don't support this, but other places do this as well. You do have a choice though. 1) pay your bill at least 7 days early through the mail. 2) pay your bill at least 2 BUSINESS days early online (weekends dont count). 3) Don't use this card.

The fee is if you want the payment to post today -- i.e., an expedited payment. If you pay your bills with any sort of plan, you can easily avoid the fee by simply scheduling the payment a couple of days earlier. It's really not that hard.

@Shadowfire:

I don't pay a fee to pay my hsbc visa online.

Most companies will have to start taking checks again as more people keep getting rid of their credit cards.. Thankfully Best Buy and other crap companies will fuel the termination of the cards faster then normal..

I have been credit card free for two years now and love it..

Don't get me wrong, HSBC charging this fee is outrageous. however, other banks are far worse, and I question what proof you have that Best Buy made the decision on this policy.