Question about Bank of America Home Mortgage Payment

Like most, I pay my bills on-line, using a service through my bank, called CheckFree. I schedule my payments and don't think too much about them.

I scheduled a payment for 12/16/2009 (Monday) for my home mortgage payment. I have always paid on the last date before it is absolutely due. I checked my bank account on 12/16/2009 and realized that my payment to BofA had not been posted to my checking account, nor was it pending. I called BofA on 12/16/2009 to find out if they had received my payment and they had not. I was told by 2 different representatives that their system was down and nothing was posting to their customer's accounts (was instructed after the 1st call to call back and check to see if the system was up). Long story short, the system didn't come back up until the 17th and that's when my payment posted. I was assured by the 1st and 2nd representative that I would not receive a late payment charge (and of course, I did not write down their names ... was in the car, no excuse, should have known better).

Low and behold, I take a look at my on-line mortgage statement for this month and I noticed I have been charged $72.57 for a late penalty that has been carried forward for the past 2 months (didn't look at my previous 2 statements).

I'm not worried about it affecting my credit score, simply because I am not too concerned with credit and also because I wasn't 30 days late.

However, I'd rather not have to pay the $72.57 late fee, simply out of principal. I tried calling this evening and they are closed, so I ask ... have any of you experienced a similar situation as mine? And what did you do?

Part of the blame can be placed on me, since I pay the last day possible, but shouldn't some blame reside with my mortgage company as well, since they weren't able to accept payments?