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Debt Management

Credit Counseling

Budget Basics

How to Lick Those Charges

 

By Dina ElBoghdady
Sunday November 11, 2001

There are many simple ways consumers can dodge late fees, credit counseling experts say. They can start by keeping a stamp handy.

"All it costs is that one little stamp, and it costs the same whenever you mail it," said Heather Greenwood, a Fauquier County extension agent who counsels residents on household finance.

To maintain some control over his own payments, Howard Dvorkin, president of Consolidated Credit Counseling Services in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pays his bills at the end of each month, puts them in their return envelopes and sticks stamps on them. Then he jots what he deems the appropriate mailing date in the corner of each envelop as a reminder and sets them aside. It beats paying them piecemeal, he thinks. "If you juggle too much, you're going to drop the ball somewhere," Dvorkin said.

Robert McKinley, chief executive of Frederick, Md.-based CardWeb.com Inc., a research firm for the credit card industry and consumers, recommends mailing the minimum payment as soon as a credit card bill arrives - and sending a second payment later. With credit cards from major bank card issuers - which control 75 percent of the market - consumers should check out the cards' web sites, McKinley said. Many of them allow customers to monitor their account and pay their bill online.

So these days you don't even need that one little stamp.