WARNING to all current BofA credit card holders: They've come up with a 'new' payment screen popup that shows all your CCs with them (they've bought the companies that had 2 of mine, plus my 2 AGR cards). When making an online payment, if you're not careful, it will default the payment date to 'payment due date' rather than 'today'. I didn't realize it until I looked at my checking account balance the next day and found the payments hadn't cleared. Payments on my Chase and Citibank cards cleared as normal.
So, I called the number on the back of the card (reaching an agent was the most difficult I've ever encountered) and had a long discussion with a totally confused agent on the other end of the phone about "Where'd my payment go? Here's the confirmation numbers!" She not only had no clue, but also indicated that she has no screen in which to enter a confirmation number and see where it is!
I then tried to describe 'present value'/'future value' of money with her and she was completely clueless. 35 years ago, I was half of a team for a major programming project at a regional bank that would automatically advise our largest customers the total amount, to the penny, of checks that were going to 'clear' that day by 8AM! That way, they could call us or other friendly banks and get a one-day certificate of deposit for 10s of millions of dollars they had 'left over'. The amount of interest they'd earn, even calculated on a daily rate to 5 decimal places, was still sizable. Obviously, the wiz kids at BofA have little to no interest in getting my money in their bank TODAY and making money on it.
It took a call the next day when the agent I talked with told me how to view 'pending' payments (what a convoluted mess to get there!) There were my 2 payments. One would be paid on the 7th and the other on the 10th. So, on the 8th, I checked my bank account and the first one got paid already, but for $350 LESS than I had entered!! So I quickly made an extra payment to clear the balance for the missing amount before the billing cycle on the 9th.
Then, to add insult to injury, I got a snail-mail letter from them on Saturday indicating: "We were unable to find a record of receiving payments for $nnnn.nn (my 'lost' payment amount) dated April 28, 2021. If you haven't already done so, please submit a replacement payment to avoid any fees or interest charges." AND THIS IS A BANK I SHOULD DO BUSINESS WITH?????
It's a good thing I checked yesterday, the 10th, to ensure my extra payment was processed. But...to my horror, the payment for the second credit card HAD BEEN CANCELLED on the 7th!!! I quickly put THAT back in and hopefully, they won't ding my credit rating for being 'late'! That now shows on my bank account.
Perhaps they are thinking they are being 'nice' to the customer to let them keep the money until the due date. Back when everyone wrote checks to make payments, I never wrote a check until I knew the money was in the bank to cover it. I never 'kite'd checks like my first wife did (that's one of the reasons we divorced after only 9 months!) When I pay a bill online, I know the money is in my account when I pay it.
I'll take a wild guess that leaving the money in the payors' checking account until due date will, in the end, cause countless NSF (insufficient funds) for the unwary. While in the ATM line, I've often seen people get their balance, then make a withdrawl. If they see the not-yet-taken-CC-payment money, they'll think they can take some of it out as cash today. So, I guess, BofA is smarter than I thought, if the foolish, unwary CC customers also have their checking/savings accounts at BofA...think of all that overdraft fee money they'll be making!!
So, beware all you BofA AGR credit card holders. Their screwed up computer systems may screw up YOUR payments, too!!!
