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Credit card woe
foxrocks
Posts: 34 Forumite
in Credit cards
I've got myself into a bit of a pickle, potentially, and hopefully I can get some decent advice on what to do next.
A few months ago I got My First Credit Card, which was a Halifax card with 15 months 0% on purchases. Not long after, I got a call from them to say I had missed a repayment (my first one!). It turned out that they hadn't received my bank details and Direct Debit instruction so there was nothing set up to make repayments. Naturally I told them it must have got lost in the mail, apologised, and instantly made the payment with my debit card. I then set up the direct debit over the phone in about 2 minutes.
A few days later I got a letter in the post saying that, as a result of the late payment, they had reduced the card limit from £2300 to £1750. I was a bit miffed about it since it was obviously an administrative 'teething problem' and no indication of my genuine ability or inability to meet my card repayments, and their telephone representative had accepted it as such, but I didn't particularly need the full limit so I wasn't that fussed. Case closed, or so I thought.
However in my latest bill, I noticed some charges despite having not used the card so I gave them a call to see what was up. I was told my the advisor that the '0% for 15 months' promo had been cancelled because of the missed repayment. Obviously I told her that I thought that was a bit OTT to say the least but she gave it the 'credit crunch' spiel, and when I asked her why they hadn't mentioned the cancellation in their letter, she basically said "read the small print - we're not obliged to. Seeya!" (albeit not quite as briefly or impolite as that. But nearly!).
Now clearly I messed up bigtime by trusting this to Royal Mail and not calling them to ensure the DD had been set up, and while I think Halifax's response is heavy-handed and way OTT, I appreciate that things are different now with lending and the purse strings are being tightened all over. Anyway, I wasn't about to start paying interest every month and short of cancelling my holiday I'm not in a position to pay off the balance immediately, so I figured I'd look into getting a balance transfer. So today I called up Lloyds, who I have banked with for over ten years and with whom I also have a personal loan that I have never missed a repayment on over 4 years. I figured that since they know me a bit better than any other lender they'd be a good bet, but as it turns out I was wrong on that count - they turned my request for a credit card down flat. I must admit I was pretty surprised by that and I can only assume that a) the restrictions on lending must be more severe than I imagined, or b) that single late repayment with Halifax has undone all my good work in the past with my loan repayments and stuff bought on finance.
So now I'm not really sure what to do. Do I apply to someone else and hope for the best? Is there a down side to that? I know repeated failure in applications can negatively impact you, but would I lose anything by trying one or two other companies? If it just looks like no one is going to lend me any more money (which seems odd to me given my previously good record, stable job etc) then is there any way to transfer my balance to my girlfriend's card? It's a long shot and definitely a last ditch option but it's really starting to look like this one stupid Direct Debit !!!! up is going to lead to me either having to cancel my holiday or throw hundreds of pounds away in interest, and I have to say after getting turned away by Lloyds to bluntly, I'm getting pretty worried now. Any advise appreciated.
A few months ago I got My First Credit Card, which was a Halifax card with 15 months 0% on purchases. Not long after, I got a call from them to say I had missed a repayment (my first one!). It turned out that they hadn't received my bank details and Direct Debit instruction so there was nothing set up to make repayments. Naturally I told them it must have got lost in the mail, apologised, and instantly made the payment with my debit card. I then set up the direct debit over the phone in about 2 minutes.
A few days later I got a letter in the post saying that, as a result of the late payment, they had reduced the card limit from £2300 to £1750. I was a bit miffed about it since it was obviously an administrative 'teething problem' and no indication of my genuine ability or inability to meet my card repayments, and their telephone representative had accepted it as such, but I didn't particularly need the full limit so I wasn't that fussed. Case closed, or so I thought.
However in my latest bill, I noticed some charges despite having not used the card so I gave them a call to see what was up. I was told my the advisor that the '0% for 15 months' promo had been cancelled because of the missed repayment. Obviously I told her that I thought that was a bit OTT to say the least but she gave it the 'credit crunch' spiel, and when I asked her why they hadn't mentioned the cancellation in their letter, she basically said "read the small print - we're not obliged to. Seeya!" (albeit not quite as briefly or impolite as that. But nearly!).
Now clearly I messed up bigtime by trusting this to Royal Mail and not calling them to ensure the DD had been set up, and while I think Halifax's response is heavy-handed and way OTT, I appreciate that things are different now with lending and the purse strings are being tightened all over. Anyway, I wasn't about to start paying interest every month and short of cancelling my holiday I'm not in a position to pay off the balance immediately, so I figured I'd look into getting a balance transfer. So today I called up Lloyds, who I have banked with for over ten years and with whom I also have a personal loan that I have never missed a repayment on over 4 years. I figured that since they know me a bit better than any other lender they'd be a good bet, but as it turns out I was wrong on that count - they turned my request for a credit card down flat. I must admit I was pretty surprised by that and I can only assume that a) the restrictions on lending must be more severe than I imagined, or b) that single late repayment with Halifax has undone all my good work in the past with my loan repayments and stuff bought on finance.
So now I'm not really sure what to do. Do I apply to someone else and hope for the best? Is there a down side to that? I know repeated failure in applications can negatively impact you, but would I lose anything by trying one or two other companies? If it just looks like no one is going to lend me any more money (which seems odd to me given my previously good record, stable job etc) then is there any way to transfer my balance to my girlfriend's card? It's a long shot and definitely a last ditch option but it's really starting to look like this one stupid Direct Debit !!!! up is going to lead to me either having to cancel my holiday or throw hundreds of pounds away in interest, and I have to say after getting turned away by Lloyds to bluntly, I'm getting pretty worried now. Any advise appreciated.
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Comments
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That's pretty disgraceful to be honest. As you say you may have made a bit of a mistake, but it seems like Halifax are treating you a little unfairly.
I've had good experiences with them, such as when I got charged for going into the red with no overdraft set up, they did refund the £70 charge immediately as soon as i phoned up.
Is it just the credit card you have with halifax, or other things, e.g. bank account, ISA, etc...Amo L'Italia0 -
It might be worth asking to be put through to the cancellation dept...when they ask why you want to close the card, tell them and they may say "oh, well we'll put it back to 0% if you want" - I had a very similar thing in the past, but with a balance transfer offer. In the end, they even offered to wave the BT fee to make me stay, but I still told them where to shove it
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I would phone them up.
1. Explain that the problem was with the post, that it is your first credit card and hadn't thought to check they had the DD details, that it is your "first offence", and ask them nicely to re-instate your 0% deal.
2. If that fails tell them that if they don't reinstate your 0% deal that you will be transferring the balance elsewhere and closing your account.
3. If that fails, then thank you very much, good bye.
I would say don't apply for further credit at this point in time.
You can transfer balances to other people's credit cards.
It becomes your girlfriend's debt, so she'll have to agree to it.0 -
Idiophreak wrote: »
...In the end, they even offered to wave the BT fee to make me stay, but I still told them where to shove it
You should have bitten off their hand. Balance transfer with no fee = free money (stoozing).0 -
epsilondraconis wrote: »You should have bitten off their hand. Balance transfer with no fee = free money (stoozing).
Had already arranged to do the BT elsewhere by that point...Plus, they were being really unhelpful about it - and if a bank *starts off* being unhelpful, in my experience, it's normally a good idea to cut and run asap.0 -
They must have really p'ed you off, to turn down an offer like that!Idiophreak wrote: »I had a very similar thing in the past, but with a balance transfer offer. In the end, they even offered to wave the BT fee to make me stay, but I still told them where to shove it0 -
It's just the credit card.redrabbit29 wrote: »That's pretty disgraceful to be honest. As you say you may have made a bit of a mistake, but it seems like Halifax are treating you a little unfairly.
I've had good experiences with them, such as when I got charged for going into the red with no overdraft set up, they did refund the £70 charge immediately as soon as i phoned up.
Is it just the credit card you have with halifax, or other things, e.g. bank account, ISA, etc...
With Lloyds I have a graduate account, which aside from going over the limit a few times as a student (which I'm sure must be pretty common), I generally operate well within my 1k overdraft limit. I also have a personal loan that I took out last year for (I think) £2.5k, again with Lloyds. I used it to pay off an older personal loan at a much worse APR, and as I said I've never missed a loan repayment in 4 years. Student Loan aside, I have no other debt.0 -
Gosh that is harsh, i would call them and do the same as Jimmythewig said. Explain what happened, maybe ask to speak to a supervisor/manager as they often have more clout. Try and get your 0% reinstated or as low an apr as possible. It wasn't your fault yet they are treating you really badly.Love a charity shop bargain0
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