The Charles Schwab Visa – Second Complaint

You get the bad with the good.

So far my only complaint about the Charles Schwab Visa was that it is not compatible with MS Money. (They say they are, but they’re really not.) I still really like this card because they don't charge you that foreign currency transaction fee that almost all other banks do.

Now I have a second complaint. I looked ahead and it looks like my first statement will cycle on March 5th. That gives me a payment due-date of 30 March. Since I get paid on the 31st of the month, I called Charles Schwab to see if they could move back my payment due date by one day.
I’ve done something similar to this before with other banks (USAA moved the due date by 15 days once) so I know it’s possible.

Chuck Schwab said “Sure – but it will take 2-3 billing cycles to take effect”.

I asked: “So I have to pay this bill on the 30th of March and I can’t pay it on the 31st?”

“That’s Right” she said.

“But in two months I can pay it on the 31st? Just not this month?”

“That’s correct.”

It’s not a big deal, and truth-be-told it’s almost not worth mentioning – other than in my mind it knocks their previously impeccable customer service rating down a notch. How hard would it have been to add one day to this one cycle? Even two cycles - I don't see the big deal.

But they are still better than Capital One.

UPDATE - 18 March:

Two weeks after I first asked them to move the due date - they did it. My new statement date is two weeks later (I was really only looking for two days) and it was effective my very first statement.

Why the lady gave me a hard time on the phone I'm not sure... Maybe she was managing expectations.

Anyway - I can take this off the complaint list. So far - only real complaint is Charles Schwab is not really compatible with MS Money's software. Which is just killing me.