Waive Late Credit Card Payment Fees and Charges

Do you aware that we can actually waive the credit card late payment charges? I wasn't aware of this until one day the bank officer called me to remind me that my credit card payment was due. So, I just simply tried my luck and asked him:

Me: I have no idea the payment was due because I have not received any credit card statement in my letter box. Is there a way I can waive my penalty fees?

Bank Officer: Yes, you can waive the credit card late payment fees. Once you receive the statement, you can just give us a call to waive it.

Wow! What a surprise? I think I have been all the while paying these fees due to the following careless reasons:

1. Forgot to make payment on time.
2. Never received the credit card statement.
3. Pay the wrong amount – less than the actual amount that I should pay.

Steps to Waive Your Credit Card Late Payment Charges

1. Once you receive the statement, give them a call. The phone number is usually at the back of your credit card if you're not aware of it.
2. Tell them that you want to waive your late payment charges. If they don't allow, tell them that you're going to use other credit cards and would like to cancel this credit card.

I think they will only do this only if you have good track record and I'm using the HSBC credit card. I believe other banks should the same as well or else you can just tell them you would like to cancel the card. Hope this helps. :)

Related Posts:

• Waive Credit Card Annual Fees
• Use Credit Cards Wisely

p/s: I wonder if I should call them to waive those charges and fees that I have paid in few months back. Maybe I should?

What Determines the Value of Money?

We invented the money as medium of exchange but how are we going to determine the value of money? What do we mean by $1? What do we mean by $100? Who is in charge of determines the value of money?

The value of money has really no meaning at all until we know what is the capability or we call it purchasing power. Technically speaking, only goods or services has value and whether how much the goods or services are worth to you are very subjective from one person to another. Eventually, it is still back to the basic fundamental of economy, supply & demand to determine the value of the goods or services. Let's look at some history how we determine the value of the money...


Very Brief History of Money

Before paper money was introduced, money used to have its value when gold was still used as money (e.g. coins that made by gold). Then later the paper money was introduced to represent the gold. Thus, the Gold Standard Act was introduced, let's say $100 represent 1 ounce of gold. Having $100 is equivalent having 1 ounce of gold. You can basically exchange your $100 with 1 ounce of gold anytime as you wish. This is what it means by “Money is Backed By Gold”. So at that point in time, the value of money is determined by how many the gold you have.

The gold standard was then lasted until 1971 when “Fiat Money” was introduced. The key concept of “Fiat Money” system is money is no longer backed by any commodity (i.e. gold). This is the system that we're still using until today and it is totally based on our confident on the money itself. In other words, the value of money is now determined by your perception, impression or confidence on it. As long as WE THINK, how much money is worth, the money will worth that much. Of course, the “WE” here is not you and me but “EVERYONE” in the globe.


Simple Version (I hope) of Money History

1. Everyone used gold as money (i.e. medium of exchange).
2. Bank came out a standard way to represent the gold (i.e. coins)
3. Coins too heavy to carry around, bank introduced paper money to represent gold (i.e gold standard).
4. Later on, we all confused with this piece of paper is valuable. We forgot that the paper money has value because it is backed by gold. We all started to love money...
5. Bank created more paper money to satisfy our needs even without the actual gold they have.
6. Sooner or later, money was no longer backed by the actual gold. “Fiat Monetary” is born.
7. “Fiat Monetary System” works until today which means the money now gains its value through our impression and perception.

Summary

Money in fact is a very complex topic and until today I'm still learning a very basic question of money: What is money? How money works? I try my best to make it as simple as possible.

To summarize this in few words, the value of money was used to determined by actual gold. However until now, the value of money is getting more complex in a sense that it no longer tights to gold but our impression or perception toward the money. That's why according to economist, only 8% of the world's currency exists as physical cash.

P/S: I talked about perceptive reality few years back and now this topic kind of links it back although my original intention has nothing to do with money. Think of it again, can I say the value of money is perceptive reality?