Credit card horror stories

I have never had any sort of real problem with any credit card company-however I have heard stories of the credit card companies holding payments. What I mean by holding payments is this: Say you get your bill on the 15th of the month and the entire bill comes to, lets say, 130 dollars. The balance is due on the 1st of the month. So you mail your check on the 16th of the month-plenty of time for the check to reach it's destination on or by the 1st. Lets say the credit card company gets your check on the 20th, and they decide to not cash the check until after the 1st of the month, and therefore they assess you a finance charge. What is to keep them from doing this? It is blatantly dishonest, I know, but I have heard of this happening to others. What is the proper recourse?