Credit Card Late Fee and Shoes, the Outcome

The late fees bothered me considerably because I've never had late fees. Today Bank of America gave me a $29 credit to cover the late fee with Chase. So now all the late fees have been reversed. However, I am still contemplating cancelling my Chase card. They tried to tell me the advantage of the card, no annual fee, low interest of 4%, and I said, "But you charged me a $29.00 late fee." She again said they couldn't do anything about the late fee, but they can set up automatic payment or other options to make sure the payment gets there on time. I responded that I was going to cancel both cards as for some reason I have two Chase cards. At some point the cards were different companies then taken over by Chase. She very politely said that was up to me but reminded me again of the benefits of a Chase card. I reminded her again that they charged me a late fee. Finally this merry-go-round ended when I told her I would let the final payment clear in the next day or two then I'll cancel both cards.

Something needs to be done about these ridiculous late fees banks charge. I can understand a $5.00 late fee, but $29.00 and then interest on the late fee if you don't pay off the bill. No wonder there are so many foreclosures. I think the credit cards are the only ones making money. I'm in the wrong business. I think I will start charging parents a late fee if their kids' homework is late. I'm going to bill the State of Georgia a $29.00 late fee plus interest for sending my Georgia income tax refund in July. Must we carry this late fee to the point of the absurd.

So much for the credit card late fee. Fortunately, that will soon be two less credit cards I have in my name. Now to the shoes that melted in the car. I had planned to go to the gym after camp so took my walking shoes with me. Unfortunately, the sole detached completely from the shoes. I have had a nice letter from New Balance, that the problem probably wasn't the heat but something they call dry rot.

"Typically with older styles they have been stored at a retailer or in your home for long periods of time. What may have happened to your shoes is something called dry rot. Dry rot is the oxidation of the rubber compounds in shoe outsoles. It happens over long periods of time if the shoe remains un-worn. The rubber begins to dry out and when the shoes are finally worn, the sole can crumble/separate away from the upper/or become sticky. In order to prevent dry-rot, we recommend rotating your shoes if you own multiple pairs of the same model, or wearing your shoes as often as you can."

I am at least glad to find out what the problem may have been and that it wasn't so much that they were left in the car. I was surprised though with their willingness to replace them. "If you are unable to repair the shoes locally, we would be happy to make a one time exception and issue you a return authorization so your shoes can be replaced."

One amazing thing I found out online when looking at new shoes prior to my response from New Balance is there is a walking shoe ww927 that Medicare will cover. It has a medicare code and is listed as a diabetic shoe. I wonder if people even know this is available. I doubt I would qualify for Medicare to cover the shoe since I don't have diabetes. However, my feet do overpronate and I have had care in the past from a podiatrist and orthopedic surgeon.

I guess all of this confusion the last week was a learning experience. First I won't leave my shoes in the car and I will definitely wear them more frequently so they don't get dry rot. Also I will make sure every bill I have is on my online banker; and regardless of how tired I may be that day, I will pay the bills as soon as they come in. The good news is I will have fewer credit cards in a few days. The other thing I have learned is this is not age related. Yes, I am older, but anyone, any age might have a late fee once in their life or leave their shoes in the car. So now it's time to move on and write about what I learned from camp this year.

In the mean time, maybe I should start an application on Facebook, "Speak to the Credit Cards about their obscene late fee charges." I bet I'd have a million followers in 24 hours.