The concept of a payment due date is straightforward—you make a payment before the end of the day it’s due. Back in the days of mailing checks, you had to account for postal delays to ensure your payment arrived on time. However, banks were generally more forgiving, knowing the mail could take days to deliver.
Fast forward to today: electronic payments happen instantly, but banks have become far less lenient. Miss your deadline by even a minute, and you’ll likely face a late fee. Among the banks I’ve dealt with, Chase stands out as one of the most aggressive in charging late fees.
Chase’s Late Fee Frustration
Here’s the kicker: if you pay your Chase bill between 8:00 PM and 11:59 PM ET on the due date, your payment might not show up immediately—it could take one to two days.
If you pay your Chase bill between 8 PM and 11:59 PM ET, the payment might not show up for 1 to 2 days.
Despite paying on time, you’ll likely see:
- A message claiming you missed the payment.
- A late fee (and potentially interest charges) added to your account.
While Chase may eventually reverse the late fee, the experience is frustrating. They’re in such a rush to charge penalties that they send late notices before the day is even over. For customers who follow the rules and pay on time, this is a maddening process.
Capital One’s Approach: More Strict, But Also More Fair
By contrast, Capital One enforces a clear-cut rule: payments are due by 8:00 PM ET. If you miss the deadline, you’ll face a late fee, but at least they’re upfront about it. Here’s how it works:
You may be charged a late fee if you haven’t made your minimum payment by 8 p.m. ET on the due date. Your payment will post the same day if you make it online or by text, except:
▪ After 8 p.m. ET, Monday-Friday, it’ll post the next day
▪ After 8 p.m. ET Saturday and all day Sunday, it’ll post the following Monday
▪ On Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Day, it’ll post the next business day
It’s not perfect, but it’s fair. If I miss a Capital One payment, I can accept a late fee without feeling blindsided. But with Chase, it’s infuriating to face penalties when I’ve paid on time according to their own guidelines.
Chase, It’s Time to Do Better
Chase, take note. Your current policy is unnecessarily stressful for your customers. You’ve got the tools to make this process more transparent and customer-friendly—so why not use them?
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8 comments
Sounds like a lot of people paying on time so just another way for them to get additional cash.
Interesting…I always pay my Chase credit cards “exactly on time” by auto-paying on the statement due date and half the time I don’t see the payment post until the following business day but have never had a late fee charged…
In what world is the Capital One process preferable? With Chase if you pay after 8p ET it is not a late payment, they have an entirely automated system that reverses the late fee, you don’t even have to call in. With Capital One if you pay after 8p (only 5pm on the west coast) or any time on Sunday, you are liable for a late fee. How is Capitol One MORE fair? With Capitol One, you can pay on the due date and be subject to a fee, while Chase, by policy spelled out on the payment page, will not penalize you if you pay at any time before midnight.
Even when you take it to the bank the day of it takes 24 hours to go thru! Nuts if you can charge something and get it done in 5 minutes on your bill. They should be able to process it in 5 minutes
I pay mine at least 5 days before due.
Just pay it a week or so before it is due. No big deal. If you have to float money until the last minute you frankly shouldn’t be using credit cards.
One of the best ways to avoid this scenario is to set up automatic payment of the minimum amount due. You’ll still need to pay off the balance manually, but you’ll avoid late fees, penalty APRs and negative marks on your credit report.
We pay by check. On 11/15 we mailed the check to pay our cc balance. Presumably it gets there within a week or so. If they credited our account for the amount tendered at the time they get clearance on the check, it may take another week to clear. So it would still be cleared by the due date, which was 12//1. They said it was late and charged a late fee, and they do that time after time. Is this just a way to screw their customers who pay by check? Delay the deposit of the check until after the due date? If that”s the case I’m cancelling my card and wil do no more business with Chase or any of it’s other businesses.