Natwest Mastercard - advice needed

Chuzzle

Hi

My DH has a Natwest Mastercard, we paid the balance off last month and he has just got the statement through telling him he owes £32.

We paid the full balance off on 30th June at our branch of Natwest whom we bank with, the due date for our payment was 5th July. On 5th July they took our usual monthly direct debit payment, but did return it the same day!

Looking at my husbands statement we can clearly see where the balance has been paid off, where our direct debit payment has been paid and then returned they have charged us £10 for payment being returned plus £22 something for interest on the previous balance. DH has phoned their customer services and been told that we now have to write to them explaining why we think the money shouldn't be charged.

My question is if we paid the amount that was on the June statement before it was due, in cash over the counter at the bank why have they charged us interest? Secondly can anyone tell me what I should put in the letter I'm really rubbish at writing letters of complaint so any help will be gratefully received.

latecomer

Did you phone the card company to tell them not to take the direct debit? If not then its an automated process and it will try and take whatever funds you were told it would be claiming.

when you say it was returned, was that due to insufficient money in the account?

I can understand why you would be charged the £12 for the payment, but not the interest as the balance was already cleared.

Chuzzle

We didn't phone the card company as we were told at our branch of Natwest that they would do it for us. The money was returned because the balance was clear on the credit card I assume, there were enough funds in the bank at the time so it can't have been due to the lack of funds.

bengal-stripe

Ruthibe73 wrote: »

My question is if we paid the amount that was on the June statement before it was due,.....why have they charged us interest?

There is always ‘residual interest’ left.

Your payment was due on July 5th, so, the previous bill was compiled around June 15th.
What you paid on June 30th was the interest up to the date of invoice, but not until June 30th.

There is still a fortnight of interest to be paid.

methusala_2

If the balance you paid in June included a balance carried forward from May, ie you didnt clear the card in May then there is interest accruing from the start of the June period up to the day you paid in full which can only be shown to you on your July statement. Is this the case ??

Chuzzle

We had only been paying the minimum balance each month:eek:. I naively thought that the statement included all interest up to the due date of your payment.

NickX

Ruthibe73 wrote: »

We had only been paying the minimum balance each month:eek:. I naively thought that the statement included all interest up to the due date of your payment.

No, this is not the case, the Statement Balance is exactly that - the Balance at the date the statement is produced.

Interest will continue accruing from the Statement Date until the actual Payment Date. This is known as "Residual Interest" and is what you have been charged here.

With regards to the Direct Debit, I would have thought that it should have gone through ok and would have at least covered this "Residual Interest". I would advise asking them the precise reason that the DD failed, and depending upon their response I think you may have case for getting this fee revoked.

Chuzzle

THanks for all your responses. It all makes sense now about the interest. When DH asked about the returned payment the girl on the end of the phone couldn't tell him what had happened and suggested we write in.

NickX

Ruthibe73 wrote: »

When DH asked about the returned payment the girl on the end of the phone couldn't tell him what had happened and suggested we write in.

IMO that is isn't really good enough - I would call again and press them for more information on this, if necessary escalate to a supervisor\manager. You shouldn't have to write in to get this information.