Post Office Cuts Could Affect Your Debt Payments

The USPS has been experiencing financial challenges for years now. The advancement of technology has reduced the need for paper and pen mail, and the USPS has had to increase consumer costs in efforts to stay profitable. With so many people depending on postal services to transport mail each day, the threat of bankruptcy puts an ominous outlook on the future of how we will handle personal and business communications. As more service locations close and postal services are reduced across remaining facilities, it is the consumer that stands to suffer the effects of budget cutbacks.

Cutting Costs, Cutting Service Quality

Although many people do pay the majority of their bills online, there are still a fair number of people who rely on the postal service to deliver their bill payments to service providers.  The rural population is expected to be among the hardest hit from postal cutbacks as many don’t have access to the internet to pay their bills online and may already have to drive several miles to mail bills through the USPS system.

We all know that creditors and service providers do not take lightly to late or missed payments. As per The Credit CARD Act of 2009, creditors must provide at least 21 days from the date the statement is issued to receive the payment before it can be considered late. This means that consumers won’t have as much time to pay the bill and get it back in the mail to the creditor. As the USPS adjusts to the lower service standard, they are warning customers to give at least 10 days for mail to reach its destination. Anyone that suspects a payment may be delayed is advised to (a) pay by phone or (b) contact the creditor to inform them about the situation.