Don’t Let the United States Postal Service Ruin Your Credit Score

I write this post from personal experience, and as a warning to others that the United States Postal Service is not operating at a level that can be trusted right now.

There are a variety of ways in which the USPS not providing service as it has in the past can negatively affect individuals and businesses.

The one I want to focus on, however, is the timely receipt of bills, credit card statements to be specific.

Over the past few months, service at many post offices has been less than optimal.

The reasons are many. I won’t get into those in this post.

The results include items processed via the United States Postal Service never making it to their intended recipient, or arriving much later than they should.

And it’s this incompetent service that can be extremely detrimental to an individual’s credit score.

Late Payments and Your Credit Score

One of the primary factors that plays into your credit score is on-time payments.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve received two credit card statements at dates that would make on-time payment difficult or impossible.

One arrived the day before the statement’s due date.

The other a few days after the statement’s due date.

Neither of which is acceptable.

Luckily, as someone who utilizes credit cards to my financial benefit, I pay very close attention to all of my credit card statements on a regular basis.

I was aware of the closing dates and due dates, and had already set up online payments…as is usual…to hit the day before they were due.

But, if I were someone who played by the old-school rules, waiting for my statement to arrive in the mail and then sending a check, or even paying via electronic methods, I very well could have been out of luck for getting my payment in on time.

Which could have resulted in a negative mark on my credit report, and a lowering of my score.

Have a few of those late payments within a few weeks or months and you could see a significant decline in your credit score.

All thanks to the United States Postal Service not doing its job.

Credit card statements aren’t the only mailed item about which to be concerned. Really, the status of any important bill or document should be monitored closely in the coming months…maybe longer.

At this point, unfortunately, do not count on the post office to deliver your important documents in a timely manner.

What to Do

It’s unfortunate that we can’t count on the USPS like we have in the past.

If you haven’t already, begin handling your financial matters online.

Utilize the various banks’ websites to follow your credit card activity, specifically due dates, and set up online payments via your financial institution to make paying your bills quicker and easier.

For other service providers, consider having your bills automatically paid via credit card or an automatic withdrawal from your bank account. I prefer the credit card route, personally, to earn points/cash back and utilize the protections credit cards provide.

Keep on top of other important documents you are expecting via the mail. If they haven’t arrived in a reasonable amount of time, contact the sender to alert them of the issue.

And if you insist on continuing to use the U.S. mail system to send payments and other important documents, be sure to add in extra time for delivery.

Considering my personal experiences, I wouldn’t say an extra two or three weeks for delivery is out of the question.

We can hope the worst of the timeliness issues is behind us considering the crush of holiday shipping is now complete.

But I wouldn’t count on it.

Especially when your credit score is at risk.

Have you experienced any significant financial issues related to your mail delivery?

USPS truck image courtesy of usps.com