Complaint Review: Barclays Bank Delaware -Juniper - Wilmington Delaware

The following is a situation that recently happened to me and I'm pretty upset. Wondering if this is standard practice and legal.

First, I schedule all my payments online each month. For my Barclay (Juniper Rewards Card) I went in and scheduled my January payment for payment on January 21, 2008, it was due January 23rd. I then made my February payment (early) on February 1st . On March 10, I went online to schedule my March payment noticed that a late fee was imposed on my account. I called Juniper/Barclay and inquired as to why. I was told that my account was past due. Dumbfounded, I said how can that be, I made payments on January 21st and February 1st. The February 1st payment while early, was my February payment and it was due on (i believe) February 23. While I normally schedule future payments to coincide with the due dates, in this instance I didn't. It was explained to me that my Billing/Statement Cycle closed on the same day as my payment posted (which is odd because my January payment was due on January 23). I was not aware of this when I made my February payment. Regardless, I told the representative that the February 1st payment was my February payment. After explaining to her yet again, she agreed to do a one-time (grace) credit for the late payment charged to my account. I thought that was the end of it, until my card was declined for 2 small purchases. I phoned Juniper/Barclay on March 14th, and the representative told me again, my account was past due (for the February payment). I explained to her that I spoke to a rep on March 10, and explained that the Feb 1st payment was my February payment. The late fee was reversed, and so my account is not past due. She verified that the late fee was reversed, but told informed me that my account was technically still past due and that there there was nothing she could do, my credit limit was suspended. I was not told this by the first representative on March 1st.

At that point, I demanded that my account be closed, and she cheefully obliged. I have never been late on this account. Also, uncessarily, suspending my account use (when the account was technically, by Barclay's opinion, overdue, by less than two weeks. In addition, putting my credit in jeopardy. I did contact their corporate offices, and received a "form email apology for receiving less than stellar service from them.

How bizarre and how uncomfortable because I feel this policy is predatorial to trap people with fees, but also, they received 2 payments, both way more than the minimum due. I was penalized basically for paying early. I've never come accross this situation before with other credit card companies. I probably should have read the fine print which I assume came with the card.

Anonymous

Brighton, Massachusetts

U.S.A.