If I mail out a payment to a company from California and the post mark is on the due date, by law is it late?

Question

I live in California, the company is in Illinois. I sent them a payment on may 16th, the bill was due on may 17th, they credited my account on may 18th. I was given a late charge because they state that the payment arrived late. It is my belief that according to California law, if a payment is post marked on or before the date the item is due, the item is considered paid upon that date. And because the company does business in California, I also believe that they would be subject to this law. The company is a financial services institution but not a bank. The name of the company is Unicorn Financial who deal with the financing of Dental and Optical services and they solicit through the offices where these services are preformed. This was my final payment. Am I correct?

Answer 1

Yes, according to the Uniform Commercial Code, a payment postmarked on or before the date due is considered paid in time. This is not just in California. All states have adopted the Uniform Commercial Code. However, while this works in most commercial transactions, such as paying a mortgage, or an invoice, it is not applied by businesses such as credit card companies. Agreements with credit card companies say the payment must be received by the due date. The financial services company to whom you sent your payment receives thousands of checks every day, their mail may be opened by a machine, and they cannot take the time to look at the postmark on your envelope.

If you are paying a credit card bill, you probably have no recourse. If you paid an invoice for a product or service that stated the date due, you may be right but you may not have much luck convincing them. Evidently you did not pay to the service or product provider but to a collection service. If the payment was for a single invoice, you might try calling the company and explain that you paid it in time based on the postmark and ask them to remove the late fee. They may be willing to cooperate.

In today's world, it is best not to rely on the law but make the payment well in advance to avoid late fees.

Answer 2

First to let you know there is no succh law. If your payment is due on the 17th you should have paid on or before that date. Secondly if such a law did exist it would hurt honest consumers because companies would just push up the due date a few days earlier knowing that payments by law could be legally a few days late. Also there is a Federal law which would prohibit a company from being penalized for enforcing a reasonable due date. Federal law would take precedent over State law.
If I was you I would call the company and explain that you have always made your payment on time and that you thought you put the payment in the mail on time. They might throw out the late charge as a goodwill gesture.
You might also try bill pay. Most bill pay services are free and will tell you the exact date the payment will be received if scheduled on a certain date.

Answer 3

The date of the payment refers to the day it was received as per your credit aqgreement. I do not believe that the California
legislature has made laws relating to the date of payments. I make them via the web or telephone when I am running late.

Answer 4

what's on your driving historic previous? A bounced examine would not flow on your driving historic previous. The examine bounced for the identity card, no longer the license. they are actually not going to droop your license because of the fact your examine for an identity card bounced. i'm uncertain what you're speaking approximately right here. attempt rewriting the tale somewhat greater of course.

Answer 5

Except for the first answer, each response reads like it came from a credit agency; no consideration of the consumer's point of view. Each one has that "you're just another deadbeat..." tone.

Answer 6

Received on due date is just that, not Mailed date.
Check the statement, see what it says.
If it says "Must be received by-" then you're stuck.

Answer 7

Short answer: Yes...unfortunately.
Next time send a postdated check.