Arrived home an hour ago to open my snailmail.
Bill from CC company, MBNA. Now, I pay my cards in full within a couple of days of getting the bill, so I haven't really bothered looking at the interest charged 'cos I'm never liable for any.
This bill was well under £200 and I'd paid on-line...no late payment or anything.
But !.........I'd obviously made a typo and I'd underpaid by £2.00.
The cheeky blighters had charged me £5.45 interest ! This months purchases were less than a fiver.
I rang and got a nice girl whose voice I could actually understand and she explained it to me but said she'd refund it on the next statement but there'd be a tiny amount of interest on that when it arrived. Lordy, pound of flesh or what ? Good job it's a freefone no.
I would imagine a lot of folk just roll over and pay it, being a small amount. These things must add up to a nice little earner for the banks !
In my case, the interest charged was just under 3 times the amount outstanding....what on earth would they want if it was £100 outstanding ?
Sem-rant concluded.
Ted
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If you read the small print, you'll find that you're liable to pay all the interest on the amount on the bill if you do not pay off in full....sneaky, but it will be there - they also apply payments to the lowest interest parts first (eg purchases before cash advances) so get more that way! They should refund the interest next month, but there might be another month before you convince them to get it down to zero!
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i also have an mbna card,paid it today actually a day later than normal as i forgot,anyway last year i realised i wouldnt get my cheque to them in time so rang and explained and the nice girl said i could pay by debit card which i did but still got charged something like £10 late payment charge,i wasnt happy either
wifes just taken delivery of her first credit card in 20 years we dont like them but these days unfortunately there are occasions when they are a must anyway they have given her an apr of 22% dammed cheek.......
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I don't like them either, Bellyboy, but needs must nowadays. I always use my debit card if I can but if my current acc. balance is getting too low then I'll use a CC just to spread the cashflow out a bit before the next money comes in.
I'll have to watch my typing more carefully !
Richard, thanks for that info.......seems to me if they're charging interest on an amount you've already paid them, then this is close to criminal !
They'll always have a get-out, though.
They probably thought they'd punish me for the fact they don't make a penny off my account normally. Shan't use that one for a while....that'll learn 'em !
Ted
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I've been charged £12 for late payment on my MBNA statement
The payment was a day or two late, so I'm not inclined to moan about it.
I've also been charged £1 interest, which I suspect is the lowest amount - anything under £1 is rounded up.
I don't use the card a lot, but all the transactions I have made have been handled correctly, which makes me even less inclined to complain about a charge which, according to their rules, I have incurred.
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Ted I think you're being very unfair. You didn't pay the bill in full. They're not a charity. Interest, if the bill is not paid in full, runs from the day the expenditure was incurred - not the payment due date. (This is why credit cards are not a great way to borrow money...)
So you did owe them the money. But instead they have agreed to waive the charge - as you're a regular customer who doesn't usually make silly mistakes.
It would make me MORE inclined to use them as they've treated you very fairly IMO.
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Yes. you get into a spiral where you haven't paid off the full amount and then when you pay the bill there is still interest due on the few days that the amount was outstanding while the bill went out and you pay, so next time round you owe a few pennies. A pain but that's how it works.
I pay on line using my debit card. Can't be late then, well not in the post anyway.
Mrs Tooslow has an MBNA card. I have to say, service has been good.
JH
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We only use credit card for online purchases (debit card far too risky) and it's paid in full automatically via my bank when due, fed up to the back teeth paying through the nose without incurring interest charges any more, especially underhand little add ons like Ted's bill.
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Credit card companies have all kinds of despicable, underhand practices that are only now coming to light.
What amazes me is that in these days of ultra-low interest rates, the card companies have quietly jacked-up their rates to 19-20+% APR. That is robbery! Yet people pay without thinking so they get away with it...
In the boom times, weren't there store cards out there that offered credit but were quietly charging 30-odd% APR to unwary shoppers who didn't pay up in full?
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Breath-taking interest ! - RichardW
