I use credit from time to time, either as a convenience or to get things that are needed right away, and pay over time. I also don’t begrudge a company for making money, since that is what they are in business for, after all.
What I don’t like is a company using predatory practices to line their pockets.
What am I talking about? Well, I just got a bill from Home Depot, whose credit card is run by Citibank.. I paid the bill in full last month, and this month they want interest on the amount I had on that previous bill, which is accrued daily. So for the amount of time my payment took to get to them, and get posted as a payment, my previous balance was still growing, and they want that money also! What happened to “if you pay off the whole amount, you don’t get charged interest”? NOT ANYMORE, at least at Citibank.
So, if I pay this bill, how much will my interest be on the interest I accrued daily from the bill I already paid? Sound ridiculous? I think so.
I called, kept hitting 0000000 until I finally got to a human, and I told them they had a choice – get paid the $8.15 they were charging me and never get a dime from me ever again, or correct the issue. I was told they would be able to credit me, because they didn’t want to lose a good customer. I thanked them after I was credited, and when the nice lady asked if there was anything else she could do for me today, I told her, “yes, cancel my account.” She replied, “but we credited your account!”. I then explained to her that I shouldn’t have had to ask for a credit, the charges should never have occurred, and if that was the way Citibank did business, I didn’t want anything to do with the Citibank or with a Home Depot credit card.
So a word of caution: Check your credit card statements, and see if you are getting charged DAILY interest. Not all credit cards are done charging you if you pay it all off at the end of the month!
