Capital One cash advance fee for "betting" transaction

LondonPotter

Dear All,

I have a Capital One cashback credit card and I am quite diligent about not incurring any fees. Do not use the credit card at an ATM, do not use credit card cheques, pay off balance every month etc.

So it was much to my surprise that this month I incurred a £3.00 Cash Advance Fee. After a call to Captial One I discovered that this fee was incurred when I paid £6.00 to join a newspaper fantasy football league. This transaction comes under betting and is therefore treated as cash in the eyes of Capital One.

This "feature" is embedded in the terms and conditions (which everyone reads I'm sure).

I realise now that the transaction I performed was "betting", however at the time it does not cross my mind that I was about to perform a betting transaction.

My question is in the future how do I know if the transaction I am about to perform is a "betting" transaction? Obviously if I am in a bookies I know the answer but what about competition entries, are they betting transactions? If I am talking to a person while performing the purchase I can ask but what about Internet transactions?

The Capital One customer service representive did not have an answer to these questions. Nor did he have the ability to block such transactions in the future which would ensure I did not get charged.

All I would like is the ability to know when a betting transaction is being performed so then I know I am being charged and have will have the choice of stopping the transaction. No such warning was given when I performed the purchase and no transaction type was displayed.

YorkshireBoy

LondonPotter wrote: »

My question is in the future how do I know if the transaction I am about to perform is a "betting" transaction?

Capital One define such transactions as follows...

22. Definitions. 'cash withdrawal' means a withdrawal of cash made by you or any cardholder and also means any transaction made where you or any cardholder...carry out a transaction where payment is made to an establishment that is identifiable as carrying on gambling and the purpose of the transaction is payment for gambling activity...

If you bear this in mind when making a transaction you should be able to catch 99% of them. The odd one might slip through, but if you can demonstrate in all 'reasonableness' that you couldn't have foreseen it, then a formal complaint might bring about a reversal of any fees/interest.

NickX

Be aware that the purchase of some gift vouchers are also classed as Cash Advances.

This is very underhand in my opinion.

LondonPotter

Thanks for the replies.

I have received a refund from Capital One. I'll be more careful in the future about the type of transactions performed on the card.

leicsmarkyr

What happens is MasterCard and Visa assign a four digit number to each retailer to determine its group. These are generic to all card providers. For example 6011 is ATMs.

The card providers will use this four digit code to determine the gambling retailers. Unfortunately the card providers have no influence on what is determined as a gambling retailer.

DestroyingAngel_2

Why not keep it simple and use your cc only for groceries and obvious shopping activities? Use your debit card for competitions etc.

DonnySaver

The same has just happened to me. I joined the Daily Telegraph Fantasy Football competition and used my BT Visa Credit Card (underwritten by MBNA) to pay the £6 joining fee. I've just checked my statement and seen that an extra £3 has been put on my statement for a 'Gambling Transaction Cash Advance'. A 50% charge for using my credit card is extortion and had I known I would have used my switch card instead.

I don't know who to complain to first - The Telegraph for not making it clear that this would happen or BT Credit Card services.

Anyone any advice - how can they get away with it ?

YorkshireBoy

DonnySaver wrote: »

I don't know who to complain to first - The Telegraph for not making it clear that this would happen or BT Credit Card services.

How could The Telegraph know what it says in your MBNA card T&C's? There are, in fact, some credit cards that don't charge a fee for cash withdrawals/gambling transactions.

Anyone any advice...

See post #4.

how can they get away with it ?

It's a condition of using your card. If you make a gambling transaction you will be charged a cash advance fee + interest at a higher rate. It's your choice then as to whether to use your card or not.

ldn-100

As a warning to others, I once paid for a friend's football pools over the phone with a credit card. I knew about gambling transactions going through as cash advance, but for some reason did not think it would apply. There was also a row a while ago about Nochex transactions going through as cash advance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/6500581.stm

DonnySaver

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

How could The Telegraph know what it says in your MBNA card T&C's? There are, in fact, some credit cards that don't charge a fee for cash withdrawals/gambling transactions.See post #4.It's a condition of using your card. If you make a gambling transaction you will be charged a cash advance fee + interest at a higher rate. It's your choice then as to whether to use your card or not.

Thanks YorkshireBoy but my point is that at the time of payment I didn't really occur to me that what I was doing was a 'Gambling Transaction' - more of a joining fee. It's not clear, and that's my gripe.

YorkshireBoy

DonnySaver wrote: »

It's not clear, and that's my gripe.

I've not 'joined up' so don't know what it says during that process. However, it seems pretty "clear" from the FAQ what may happen...

Are there any charges for paying by Credit Card?

Possibly, as some card issuers now charge for payments classified as gambling - please check with your card issuer, or use a debit card.

Note to users: Because Fantasy Football is now legally classified as a form of gambling some credit card providers will treat the purchase of Fantasy Football teams as a cash advance.

Unfortunately, as this is a charge imposed by your credit card issuer, we are unable to refund any cost that you may incur.

If you are concerned about incurring cash advance charges, please check your credit card terms of usage with your credit card issuer, before making a payment.

http://fantasyfootball.telegraph.co.uk/CleverTV/en/telegraph/tff/10/clientfaqs.do