<p>Is anyone else befuddled by the CARS bill? DD’s shows zero past due, yet a previous balance of $8K+. The R&B charges for Spring '09 are dated with '08 dates, yet due on '09 dates; are the '08 charge posting dates causing the previous balance to show?</p>
<p>Also, I had a check sent from DD’s 529 account to cover tuition on 12-29-08 and it is not showing as a payment on the CARS bill. (…and Payment History is not available…and hasn’t been the three times I’ve checked in the past week) Is posting of paper checks typically this slow?</p>
<p>It starts with the whole year in August, with the split of fees, 1/2 August 15th and 1/2 January 15th; and room & board fees due all in August, but split up over the 10 month period. Which is why everything looks due back in August, but you’re current in your payments. Think of it like a credit card balance that is not incurring interest.</p>
<p>Paper checks take longer to clear – which is why I gave them my checking account info and when it’s time to pay, I get an immediate confirmation. I can then check to see it posted online on my bank account, even though it remains on Cars several days as not having been paid.</p>
<p>Okay. That’s pretty much what I thought. (But…what a very strange way of doing things…barely comprehensible, to me…requires way too much effort to decipher! ) First semester I paid all fees by having a check sent to me from the 529 (I took a guess at what the entire bill would be before anything was posted) and then doing an electronic transfer, but the second semester wasn’t billed until 12/23 and I wasn’t as on-top-of-it as I was 1st semester and was worried that, with Christmas travel and general busy-ness, I would fail to pay by 1/15, so I had the 529 send the check directly to Cal. Won’t do that again.</p>