Personal Finance | Can’t Pay On Time? Change Your Due Date!

Way back in the dark days when my credit card debt felt like a ball and chain around my neck I would have problems paying my credit card bills on time. And man, was I so close a lot of those times! I’d miss the due date by a day here, three days there. See, my budget was timed badly such that my paycheck and my credit card due date were within days of each other. By the time I could get my bills out they would already be late. You can always ask the CC company to waive a late fee but I had too many to ask anymore.

One day I found out I could ask the CC company to move my due date. “They would do that,” I thought? I mean, why would they work with me since I owe them money?

Well, they would. I called one company up and asked to move the date by about five days. This gave me enough time to make sure I had money in my account and get the bill sent out in time. They agreed. They saw that I was just missing the payment dates. After that I checked all of my remaining bills and figured out a timing schedule to make sure my bills would all be paid in time and called the remaining companies to work out new due dates.

This saved me so much in late fees! This was also a huge step in getting a good hold of my debt. It was so dis-heartening to get charged a late fee when I was so close to paying on time. I finally found some power over my debt.

It seems like such an easy thing to do but back then I really didn’t have the head about me to think of asking for a new due date. Nowadays, with online paying, it’s much easier to get payments in on time but it’s still tough when you’re living paycheck to paycheck.

So there you go! If your budget is real tight and you’re just missing due dates call up your lender (or service provider) and ask to move the due date a few days.

Related Article: Sometimes You Have To Ask

5 Responses to “Can’t Pay On Time? Change Your Due Date!”

1. The Chef (1 comments) on November 20th, 2007 4:03 pm

   Congrats to you for getting out of credit card debt at least. I am still struggling with debt, hope to get out of it soon

2. Free From Broke (113 comments) on November 20th, 2007 4:53 pm

   Thanks Chef. Just remember, you can get out of it! Make a plan and stick to it!

3. Anonymous (7 comments) on February 14th, 2008 9:30 pm

   Capital One won’t let me change my date even though I have had the same issue as you, and I usually make the late payment on the day it’s due, missing the deadline by a few hours.

4. Free From Broke (113 comments) on February 14th, 2008 9:41 pm

   What you might have to do is make a strong effort to follow their schedule for a few months then ask again. I know how it feels to just miss the deadline. Maybe you could try using something like Google Calendar to schedule the due date to remind you to pay before the date is up?

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