Natwest 12 month 0% - interest on transfer fee!!

redridinghood_2 · 7 November 2007 at 6:07PM

Apologies if this has been covered anywhere else, I have searched but can't find anything related.

My husband and I both took out Natwest cards in August via a link on this site saying that there was no balance transfer fee.

When the cards came through we had been charged 2% to transfer. I queried this but was told that that was the offer...They had mucked up the transfer also but that's another story!

This month we have just received our statements and they state that we have to pay interest as of next month. I rang to query this as this is a 0% card and was told that we have to pay interest on the balance transfer fee. Now, we have been card tarts for some years and have NEVER encountered this before.

A Manager is calling me tomorrow but I wanted to know if anyone else has dealt with this and what was the outcome?

Thanks.

dipsy · 7 November 2007 at 6:16PM

I had this with a BT with MBNA years ago, now I always specifically ask the question.......

the outcome was, I had to pay interest :-(

Moggles_2 · 7 November 2007 at 6:58PM

My husband and I both took out Natwest cards in August via a link on this site saying that there was no balance transfer fee.
When the cards came through we had been charged 2% to transfer. I queried this, but was told that that was the offer.

Have you checked your Ts & Cs? Irrespective of what's stated on the website, it's the credit agreement you signed which counts

This month we have just received our statements and they state that we have to pay interest as of next month. I rang to query this as this is a 0% card and was told that we have to pay interest on the balance transfer fee.

Whilst the majority of lenders now charge balance transfer fees - a trend started by MBNA - just three, AFAIK, currently charge interest on BT fees.
Bank of Ireland, LloydsTSB and Royal Bank of Scotland treat these handling charges as purchase transactions which are paid off last, so the BT fee is left sitting on successive monthly statements attracting interest.

Capital One, Citi, Co-op, HBOS and MBNA have never charged interest on BT fees.
Egg and Barclaycard have now dropped the practice.

In the case of the RBS family of cards (which includes NatWest) you can pay the handling fee in addition to your first monthly payment and avoid interest.

taless · 7 November 2007 at 7:25PM

Moggles wrote: »

Have you checked your Ts & Cs? Bank of Ireland, LloydsTSB and Royal Bank of Scotland treat these handling charges as purchase transactions which are paid off last, so the BT fee is left sitting on successive monthly statements attracting interest.....In the case of the RBS family of cards (which includes NatWest) you can pay the handling fee in addition to your first monthly payment and avoid interest.

Does paying the handling fee in addition to the first monthly payment pays off the handling fee? I thought it won't, as you would have to clear all your BT first before any of your payments goes into the handling fees?

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

YorkshireBoy · 7 November 2007 at 7:34PM

redridinghood wrote: »

My husband and I both took out Natwest cards in August via a link on this site saying that there was no balance transfer fee.

The NatWest cards haven't had fee-free BT's for a very long time. In fact, going back in time they had capped (2%, max £50) fees for a while before moving to the current 2.5% uncapped fee.

There are two possibilities here...

1. The Ulster Bank card is fee-free, and is part of the RBS/NatWest group, so maybe you misread whatever you read on here?, or

2. The NatWest card becomes fee-free after 3/6 months, ie a BT fee is payable only during the first 3/6 months, and maybe that is what you read on the site (probably in a post rather than Martin's e-mail/article).

Moggles_2 · 7 November 2007 at 9:11PM

Originally Posted by taless
Does paying the handling fee, in addition to the first monthly payment, pay off the handling fee?

Of the three lenders who currently charge interest on BT fees (see #3), this only works with cards run by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which includes NatWest.

redridinghood_2 · 7 November 2007 at 11:28PM

Moggles wrote: »

In the case of the RBS family of cards (which includes NatWest) you can pay the handling fee in addition to your first monthly payment and avoid interest.

I actually did pay the handling fee in addition to my first monthly payment. I had to do this, as they had done the balance transfer incorrectly and that made me go over my credit limit (they allowed me to transfer the full amount of my credit limit and then put the fee on top, taking me over my limit - I did query it at the time but was told it was ok, then got hit with charges and a whole heap of bother to sort it out...)

So, when Mr Manager calls tomorrow I shall tell him that I paid the fee in addition to the first payment and see what he says.

Moggles_2 · 8 November 2007 at 2:01PM

I actually did pay the handling fee in addition to my first monthly payment. I had to do this, as they had done the balance transfer incorrectly and that made me go over my credit limit (they allowed me to transfer the full amount of my credit limit and then put the fee on top, taking me over my limit - I did query it at the time but was told it was ok, then got hit with charges and a whole heap of bother to sort it out...)

A pretty careless slip-up on someone's part. For as long as I can remember, this lender has restricted balance transfers to 95% of the credit limit.

Let us know how you get on.

MattyNeth · 8 November 2007 at 2:10PM

This is an interesting thread, as my wife opened up this same card in July with 2% balance transfer fee then 0% for 12months. She transferred over £800, so £16 balance transfer fee, and each month the statement states no interest is payable. However, this month it states that if the minimum is not paid then interest of £8.32 will be added. Now I understand that a small amount of interest could be due, but this is over 50% interest in just 4 months on the £16 fee ("purchase"?!!!

Moggles_2 · 8 November 2007 at 6:51PM

Originally Posted by MattyNeth
This is an interesting thread, as my wife opened up this same card in July with 2% balance transfer fee then 0% for 12 months. She transferred over £800, so £16 balance transfer fee, and each month the statement states no interest is payable.

This deal offers 0% on purchases for 3 months from account opening.

This month it states that if the minimum is not paid, then interest of £8.32 will be added.

Are you sure about the wording? If she didn't make at least the minimum payment, she would be in breach of the Ts & Cs.

My understanding is that the balance transfer fee attracts interest at the rate applied to purchases (currently 13.9% APR) from the date charged until paid off.

If you pay the handling fee straight away in addition to the minimum payment, no interest is payable over the 12 month promotion. If your wife only made the minimum payment each month, she'll pay interest on the fee.

redridinghood_2 · 9 November 2007 at 7:37PM

UPDATE:

I didn't receive a call as promised yesterday and nor today...grrrrr

I have just called them and was told that there have been many people calling in with regard to the same query about interest today. They told me that this is a problem with their system and that I would not charged interest on my account as long as I make the minimum payments and do not go over my credit limit or make purchases.

So, is this person correct or was the woman I spoke to 2 days ago correct? We will see next month when the statement comes in.

Every time I speak to someone at Natwest they tell me conflicting things. My husband and I are currently trying to sort out a botched up loan from them that incorrectly advised us on - what is happening with them??!!

Natwest 12 month 0% - interest on transfer fee!!

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