I mailed my credit card payment four days before it was due, but the card issuer says it was late. What can I do?

You may wish to contact your card issuer and see if it is willing to waive the late fee. However, the card issuer is not required to. Card issuers consider the day the payment was received and not the date it was mailed in determining whether or not the payment was made on time.

A card issuer cannot treat a payment as late if it was received by the card issuer's cutoff time on the day that it was due at the location specified by the creditor for the receipt of such payments. If the due date was not a day on which the issuer receives mail (for example, a holiday), the creditor cannot treat the payment as late if it was received by the cut-off time on the next business day. For example, the creditor may specify that payment is due on a Sunday and the creditor does not receive mailed payments on Sundays. In that case, the creditor cannot treat the payment as late if it receives the mailed payment before the cut-off time on Monday.

However, if the bank accepts or receives payments on the due date by a method other than mail, such as electronic or telephone payments, and you make a payment using that other method, you would still need to make the payment by the cut-off time on the due date.

Last Reviewed: April 2021