I received my paperless (e-mail) bill this week. And discovered I had forgotten about this account, and had not received ANY bill last month (neither paper nor e-mail). As a result there was a late fee and the balance transfer offer was revoked, my new rate will be over 19%.

I called and asked, almost in a surprised way, when did I change to paperless billing? “It was in July.” I don’t understand why I wouldn’t have received an e-mail in August for my bill. “Maybe you have the spam filter.” I don’t understand why I have received so many OTHER e-mail from you without problem.

I admit this was my mistake forgetting when payment is due, but I saved your company 42 cents and it cost me $70, that was the big mistake on my part. Put me onto paper billing right away. And I’ll find a way to pay this balance or take it to another bank that will do better at keeping my account. (Said in a frustrated way, not a threatening one.)

I was put on hold at this point, while the paper billing was being enabled. After awhile I was told the paper billing will resume next month, and “is there anything that could be done that would encourage me to keep my account active. What if the transfer offer were restored, would that help me? I can certainly remove that late fee, and let me see if I can restore the 0% interest.”

Allegedly I’ve been restored and forgiven completely. I would have paid the fee since it was my mistake, it was the 0% I wanted. Again it helps a lot that I had a good record with this account.