12-05-2009, 09:49 AM
That's true; you cannot and should not pay over the existing balance. The only time you should have a credit balance is when something refunded that created it. You can always pay for the charge before you get your statement, just not before the charge occurs. You never have the right to make a charge that's in of itself higher than your whole credit limit. That seems like standard banking practice to me.
Rereading Hope's original post, she paid after the charge, just prior to the statement, which should have been fine as long as she didn't pay more than she owed.
I read somewhere, possibly here, that the credit business has a derogatory name for people who pay off their balance every month and avoid paying interest. They are not considered good customers. Yes, even though the bank gets all those transaction charges, the real money is in interest. Of course they will call you a good customer when they communicate, but internally you are flagged as a deadbeat.
The good customers for them are people who run a balance and faithfully allow themselves to be gouged for the interest every month, while never making much progress on paying the principal down. Predatory system.
Rereading Hope's original post, she paid after the charge, just prior to the statement, which should have been fine as long as she didn't pay more than she owed.
I read somewhere, possibly here, that the credit business has a derogatory name for people who pay off their balance every month and avoid paying interest. They are not considered good customers. Yes, even though the bank gets all those transaction charges, the real money is in interest. Of course they will call you a good customer when they communicate, but internally you are flagged as a deadbeat.
The good customers for them are people who run a balance and faithfully allow themselves to be gouged for the interest every month, while never making much progress on paying the principal down. Predatory system.
