A Winner's Guide to Fighting Overdraft and Late Payment Fees

It doesn’t matter how careful you are managing your spending and bill payments, unexpected fees are par for the course. A simple and completely accidental mistake can lead to outrageous charges that only make it harder to keep up with your finances.

The good news is, you don’t have to accept these unfair fees.

If you’re a long-time customer of a bank or credit card company and your credit is in good standing, there’s a good chance you can get the fees waived. You just need to go into the conversation prepared to get the outcome that you want, which is why we created this guide.

Here are the tried-and-true strategies to successfully waive overdraft and late fees.

Tips For Dealing With a Customer Service Representative

Your Tone

Being hit with an unexpected charge is frustrating, but an aggressive approach will not make it disappear.

Customer service representatives get flooded with angry calls all day so being polite and calm will go a long way.

Make Your Request an Open-Ended Question

If you ask the customer service representative a yes or no question, you’re much more likely to hear a no. Instead, making your question open-ended.

Don’t ask if they can do something for you – ask what they can do for you.

Let Them Do The Talking

In situations like this, it’s easy to want to explain every last argument for why the charge is unfair and they should waive it. Banks and credit card companies want to keep you as a customer, so it’s their job to keep you on the phone.

Instead of your life story, just briefly state your request at the beginning of the call, and see what they have to say before trying further tactics.

What To Do If They Do Say No

Don’t give up! Remind them how long you’ve been a customer. Remind them how you’ve always paid your bills on time. Remind them how many other services of theirs you use.

If all that fails, make sure to ask to speak with a supervisor. They often have more power to overturn a charge than the other representatives.

Asking To Waive a Late Payment Fee

Even the best of us miss a bill payment from time to time, whether it’s with your bank or a service provider. These organizations can be forgiving given the right circumstances.

If this is your first offense missing a payment, you’re much more likely to have any late fees waived than if you are a repeat offender.

A fee can also be waived if you can prove with documentation that an unexpected life circumstance caused you to miss your payment. Examples include a medical bill or emergency expense.

Asking To Waive An NSF Charge

NSF Charges occur when the balance in your checking account is too low to pay an automatic withdrawal or honor a check you wrote, and you don’t have any overdraft protection. NSF charges can also hit you if you purchase something online on debit when you have insufficient funds.

For minor debit charges, the bank will be much more likely to waive the charge if you don’t normally overdraw.

A bounced check or automatic withdrawal such as a rent payment is harder to deal with. In this instance, you will need to deal with the bank for the NSF fee, and discuss any late payment terms with whoever tried to withdraw the funds.

You would need to prove with documentation a good reason why you couldn’t make the payment, and also have an otherwise positive payment history.

Asking To Waive An Overdraft Charge

If your bank account has overdraft protection, charges up to a certain limit on your checking account that put your balance below zero will be covered by the bank. That balance covered by the bank is then treated as a loan with interest, and you also pay a fee each time the bank covers a transaction.

Overdraft protection can be useful for emergency situations, but overuse will end up costing you plenty in fees, interest, and poor credit. If you’re spending with your debit card, you may also accidentally make multiple purchases on overdraft before realizing.

If you do unintentionally use your overdraft, call the bank as soon as you realize to discuss the charges. If you’ve been a long-time customer with a good record of paying your bills on time and not overdrawing, there’s a good chance the bank will waive the fee for you.

What If I’ve Had Multiple Late Payments or Overdraft Charges?

If you find that despite your best efforts its difficult to keep enough money in your checking account and pay your bills on time, there is help available.

RepairCreditQuick has partnered with the top credit and financial management companies in America to help our clients come up with a personalized financial plan to help them out of debt. For a free consultation with one of our credit consultants, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today!

A Winner’s Guide to Fighting Overdraft and Late Payment Fees