Complaint Review: Target Corporation - MInneapolis Minnesota

Interesting Admission...

Your comments were quite interesting and illuminating.

First we see that by your description of what other companies do, you are no stranger to late payments.

Perhaps you should keep this in mind for the future.

A major "theme" in your report is how if they say something they should stick to what they agreed to. So how do you justify your initial failure that started all of this? After all when you made the purchase you agreed that you would abide by the terms of the card INCLUDING making at least the minimum regularly scheduled payment On-Time. Not...On-Time...well unless you forgot about it.

By Federal Law they must make a statement available to you every month, this can be in either Paper(Mail) or in Electronic Format. If you opt for Electronic Statements you log into their site and view your statements.   They will send out email notifications of when your statement is ready, but even by your own words you may have deleted it. But even if you don't see it that does NOT take away YOUR responsibility to pay and be subject to the terms of the card...INCLUDING the fees.

Had you logged in any month you would have seen the initial bill as well as the subsequent bills with the increasing fees being added. By the way with you in Europe what proof do you have that they didn't send you a letter that when you got back and went through all of your mail just skipped thinking it was junk mail?

You say that they should have honored their word in the April Letter by reducing the amount owed. Well again based on the MATH they DID.

Then just a comment on your "Attorney". While they may be very competent in some areas. Let's just see how many things they missed in all of this. So far they got the dates of the CARD act wrong(there were no "updates" we we know them in 13 or 16), failed to tell you that the Late Fees can be adjusted for Inflation, failed to realize that the amount in the letter was a reduced amount. They did send a letter stating your dissatisfaction with how "unfair" it is to pay that amount, too bad he didn't find any thing that said it was illegal. So far it seems that everything you are really "learning" came from anonymous people on a free Internet site and something you could have done yourself in writing a letter. So exactly what did you pay him for? Seems like it would have been cheaper and better to just admit your mistake in the beginning, pay the $95 and move on.

One final thing on your long time loyalty. According to you, you didn't use the card in 6 months, and have not used it since then in the following 7 months. If you had it would have been declined due to the balance and you would have found out why. So in about 1 year you have made exactly 1 purchase for about $27.

Robert, I appreciate your feedback.  What you say makes a lot of sense and is a somewhat fair rebuttal.  However, Target is a large corporation and should have safeguards in place in case, a person doing business online misses a payment alert by email, in case someone changes email services etc. or regardless.  For instance, their ability to call people per their credit card terms and conditions in item 12 on page 9 of their brochure.  Or a mailed U.S. letter in three months, not five.  Duke Energy for my electircity service not only responds to me online, but by U.S. Mail and by a phone message if I have ever forgotten to pay my monthly bill. I  have done that once or twice in my past five years and I appreciated their phone call message.  I then immediately paid the bill.  In real life people do make mistakes and at times of stress, like my father's two brain surgeries, and ohter factors, do not focus on a monthly bill paying schedule but we should.  I too had a problem with the total late fees amount of $95.35 in their letter dated April 24, 2017, and their statement to  me that they charged $27.00 the first month and then $38.00 eacn month thereafter.  Now let's say if they waited until January to charge me $27.00, then three times $38.00 for February, March and April, after that would total $141.00.  So I truly do not understand how they came up with $95.35.  The largest point I was making is that they waited for too long for a person who has paid all of my bills using this card in the past on time and regardless of that, I had only not used it for six months when they sent me a letter telling me to use it or they would close it out.  Who does that ?  And they waited too long to alert me by another method and charged me these late fees the whole time.  I do see that since 2009, with the 2013 and 2016 changes the Credit Card Act allowed such increases with the cost of living increase but I do believe their focus and consideration in one element was that the company contact the consumer to "make them aware" by any method.  Given that online is sometimes a precarious way to go.  Lesson to the wise for me and perhaps others.  Do business by the United States mail for any and all alerts as most people do read their mail.   Thank you for your statements and this is something for us all to consider.  My attorney did send them a letter which I agree with, saying that for anyone to pay $147.50 in late fees, for such a small charge of $27.13 is truly too much when they could have honored their word in the April 24, 2017 letter saying they would reduce late fees or the total settlement amount, is just not kosher.  The letter did not explain how they came up with the $95.35 or that they could not use "forgiveness" for one time or explain that they were incapable of reducing late fees.  It just said we could 1) reduce late fees and another option was for them to 4) settle for a lesser amount.  They $60.00 I paid then was a lesser amount.  In other words, If you are going to "say something" you ought to stick by it.  

The CARD act you are trying to refer to was from 2009. The Late Fee you are so sure they are cheating you per the CARD act is allowed to be adjusted for inflation. The current maximum late fees is $27 for the first one and $38 for every other one after that. I am surprised your attorney failed to mention that little part.

The letter you claim said you owed $95.35. So let's add them up. Your original Purchase $27.13, first late fee $27, January-March Late fee $38 each month(notice I left off April). Total $168.13. Now, unless you have some "new" math the $95.35 seems significantly less than the $168.13, and I did not even include any Interest charges.

But after your classic "Well I think paying them 1 late fee is fair and they have to accept it". You amazingly get another bill with more late fees because even the $60 you graced them with didn't pay off the balance. Again, math time. $27 for the first fee, and $38 for the next 6 months comes to $255 in just fees. Yet you paid $147.50 total in fees. Don't you see a bit of an issue with your claims?

I do like your final resolution. You had your attorney send them a letter stating your dissatisfaction about how this was "unfair". And they are losing a longtime "faithful" customer. Even though they had to send you a letter to remind you to use your card or they will close it, which they only do after several months or years of inactivity.

Your dissatisfaction with the interest rate is a case of buyer’s remorse. American Express’ interest rates are not relevant.

The limits set under the Credit Card Act are adjusted annually for inflation. Late-fee caps are currently $27 for the first late payment and $38 for subsequent late payments.

You were negligent in monitoring your credit card use and failed to honor the terms of the agreement, yet you considered suing them. That is very amusing.

You were not ripped off.