Don’t Miss That Payment
What do you do when you realize you’re about to miss a scheduled payment? Make no mistake about it; lenders make a great deal of money from the hefty fees they charge to borrowers who need to make a same-day payment online or over the phone, so while you can technically get your payment to the lender in time before the payment is late you may think twice because you can’t stomach the thought of paying $10 or $20 in addition to your payment. It’s a lot of money to pay for forgetting to send the payment in earlier, but the cost of sending the payment in late can cost a lot more.
Before spending money to make an instant payment, check to see if your lender has a grace period. If so, then it may be that while your payment is indeed late, you won’t be assessed any additional fees for a few days so you still have time to get the payment in using a method that does not cost you extra money.
If, on the other hand, there is no grace period - or the grace period is about the expire - then you should use whatever means necessary to get the payment into the lender before things get ugly.
How ugly? Although the repercussions for a late payment vary from lender to lender, there are some things that are quite common:
Late fees: These fees often exceed the amount of money that you would have paid to make the payment on the same day.
Interest rate hike: If you’re delinquent with your payment even once, your lender may be legally entitled to raise your interest rate to a much higher rate.
Decreased credit limit: Some lenders get nervous when borrowers miss a payment because they think it may be the start of a trend. Decreasing your credit limit decreases the amount of money they will lose if you default.
Closed account: Although most lenders won’t close an account based on one missed payment, it isn’t impossible.
Don’t miss your payment. Even though you might cringe at paying an extra fee to get the payment in on time, it’s certainly worth it to avoid all the hassle.
