Credit card companies should abide by rules about grace periods

Q. My husband and I have an American Express Clear credit card account. We do not incur late fees or finance charges and I pay the balance in full each month. Our AMEX "Clear" account billing cycle consistently ends the eighth or ninth of the month, which AMEX customer service states is the day it is mailed. Usually, the bill is not received in hand until the 17th of the month. The payment is due the 28th of the month. I question whether, as consumers, we should be afforded 14 or even 21 days to pay this bill.

ANONYMOUS

A. Your concern is quite valid. You ought to have more time to pay your bill than that.

Credit card issuers have specific rules they have to play by. American Express is no different.

The time you have from when your bill is issued and when you will be assessed interest charges is known as the grace period. A grace period typically is 20 to 30 days. For the "Clear" card, American Express says it has a grace period of 28 to 31 days.

Therefore, you ought to be getting more time than you have been. "I'm not sure why this card member would be experiencing a shorter repayment time," an American Express spokeswoman said. She noted some other American Express cards, which also have see-through cards like the "Clear" ones, have shorter grace periods.

Also, credit card companies can, with little notice, reduce the grace period and some have done that to the 20 days that you appear to have in your grace period. In addition, bills supposed to be mailed on a certain day aren't always sent on that day.

Federal regulators have considered requiring a minimum of 21 days between when a credit card bill is mailed and when it would be due.

While you choose to not make payments online, doing so would eliminate the problem because the billing date and the grace period would be a fixed number of days, because the time the bill and the check would travel by mail would be eliminated.

If you still want to lodge a complaint, turn to the Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov. The agency doesn't respond to individual complaints but does collect information about such practices.

Still, a consumer's strongest voice is to ask for what you think is right, and if you don't get it, take your business elsewhere.

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