An industry dedicated to screwing its customers

I recently screwed up and paid a credit card bill late. I forgot to make the payment until after the 5 pm EDT cut-off, and got hit with a $39 late fee.The funny thing is this: I actually made this payment two days before the actual due date. But it was still considered late.Why? The due date fell on a Sunday. However, payments made after 5 pm on Friday are not processed until the following Monday