Merchant bankers

I had cause to ring a certain banking establishment today to query a charge they had imposed upon my credit card account. Despite having paid around three times the minimum monthly repayment within the last calendar month, I was somehow lumbered with a 'Late Payment fee' to the tune of $35. It seemed rather incongruous that I could have paid a fairly substantial payment on the 13th of last month and still be charged on the 2nd of this month. It turns out that I had paid too early. Had I waited another two days to make the payment, it would have been included in the next billing period and no charge would have been imposed. See, they send out my statements on the 15th, then I have two weeks to make the minimum payment, otherwise I'm charged for late payment. I explained that I had paid more than three times the minimum repayment within the last 30 days, so after checking with someone who doesn't have to answer calls for a living, she said she'd remove the fee. But while I was on hold, the insidiousness of it struck me and I questioned her thus:

You send me a statement on the 15th, then I have two weeks to make a payment, right? Right. So if I make any kind of payment in the first half of the month, it won't stop me being charged for not making a payment. Right. So I could pay off all but $10 of my outstanding balance, and if I did it in the first half of the month, I'd still be charged a late payment fee for not making the payment in your two-week period. Er... right.

I asked if there was someone I could complain to about this. She said 'sure', put me on hold and I waited for five minutes before realising that obviously, they're going to take their fucking time to answer that call. Ah banks, eh? Cunts.