Last months payment due on a balence of aprox $700 on our Visa card was $1.00! This month it was $00.00, in other words NOTHING! This is very strange for us and we have never had just $1.00 due, let alone nothing. We paid the dollar due last month but decided to call this time to see what was up, in case we would get stuck with this problem. Get this- The person on the phone told us that: "it was we had such a good payment history with them that we get a "freebie" month to not pay anything". Again, we had not asked for this. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. We asked directly if this was a Y2K problem and of course she said no.

I am wondering if there system is so fouled up that they are letting people slide rather than risk inaccurate payment amounts and a thousands of angry callers. This does sound like accounting errors within their computer system. Anyone else have the same problems? Jerry T.

-- Jerry T. (tbrd@Hotmail.com), January 30, 2000

Answers

The credit card company wants your balance owed to increase, thus you will owe them more intersest in the long run. This is an old "legal" scam the credit card companies run all of the time. Forget it, pay off the balance. You will be richer in the long run

-- They always make (YouPay@BigBank.com), January 30, 2000.

Over the years, I also have received notices from our credit card companies (usually in Jan. and Feb. after the usual Christmas shopping season) stating that due to our good credit rating we can skip payment this month. The fine print then adds that "usual interest charges will apply" or something to that affect. I agree, the probably just want to get you to pay them more interest on an increased balance.

-- slza (slzattas@erols.com), January 30, 2000.

The lady on the phone is probably right -- it's not "Y2k", it's to let them collect another month's interest on what you normally would've paid this month. It's to show how much they LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUV you. If you can manage it, pay the complete balance due to show how much you LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUV them!

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), January 30, 2000.

I signed up with MCI a few months ago. They said their bill would be lower but it wasn't. I cancelled their service after one month. The bill came for $57.00 . I didn't pay it last month. They sent a new bill this month. It was for $10.00 . They gave me a credit of $47.00 for long distance. I'll send it to them and FAST. Why fast you ask? Because I DON'T USE THEM FOR LONG DISTANCE SERVICE. Y2K ? I don't know. Any thoughts?

-- Shoo (flyonthewalls@yahoo.com), January 30, 2000.

Jerry

You're right on with this one! I posted about my $0.20 bill from Visa last week...for a change, I don't think these strange bills have anything to do with card company greed. Usually their bills are 3% of amount owing (plus any amount over-limit in full). No, these strange tiny bills are something else, IMO. The person I spoke with at Visa was most surprised to see the tiny amount due appear on her monitor. Wonder what else has been surprising her there?

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), January 30, 2000.

I've said this all along, watch the banks. So far, nothing catastrophic. However, errors sloshing around the system will beget further and compound the origial errors. This is basic common sense. The banks are frantically working on these glitches behind the scenes. Check back in a few months and we'll see how they have coped.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 30, 2000.

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-- Richard Markland (newsman@bright.net), January 30, 2000.

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-- Eleanore Mameli (eleanore@mail.island.net), January 30, 2000.