Missouri consumer writes:

I had a credit card charge me a late fee on an account the same day it was due. I paid extra to have the payment made on the due date. When I called about this, the customer service agent stated late fees are assessed on 11:59:59 on the due date. Is this legal to assess late fees on the due date?

Your credit cardholder agreement probably outlines this. (Good luck reading it - a Harvard law professor claims that almost none of her students can understand the typical cardholder agreement.) It sounds as if they are posting the late fee at the last second of the due date, which seems logical, since there's no way for you to pay on time by that point.

Still, if you think you've been treated unfairly, you can always file a consumer complaint with our office.