Another situation to watch for is "Auto Payment". Any company you owe wants you to let them take 'their' money out of your accounts when the payment is due. I have never liked the thought of that, but I had one loan at my bank that I allowed the bank to do this with. And the story goes....
Recieved a call from my wife at work last month saying that they have come to try to repossess my boat. Well i didn't understand this because I payed for the boat with cash, but, I put it up as collateral on a bank loan just to have a lien on it. So once I hit the roof and then landed it was off to the bank.
We got all our bank statements together and it showed that the payments we made by check were accounted for, but the loan payment had not been taken out since November, which made us four months late on the payment. The company which the bank hired to automatically take the payment, took it upon themselves to not take it and allow it to go into default. They said that they sent us a letter stating they would no longer take the payment,( Of which we never recieved), and the bank entered a repo notice on the boat.
It cost me $1800 dollars to catch the payments up that day and get the repo notice revoked, were still fighting with the bank for them to show us where the four months of payments went that are not in the account, to get the $400 dollar program cancellation back, along with the late fees they charged for the late fees. And as soon as I can get this straightened out, I will be changing banks.
Oh yeah, and the Wife did not let them have the boat, and they never saw what she had in her hand behind the door facing!!! Gotta Love Her!!!