Is it legal for AMEX to ...

nrpegg

Hi my daughter has an AMEX card and on several occasions she has missed payment dates by the odd day or two.

As a consequence they have increased the interest rate that she is paying back - apparently something in the t's & c's.

She owes about £1700.

Is this common or legal practice ??

Any responses would be appreciated.

Cheers

M_Thomson

nrpegg wrote: »

Hi my daughter has an AMEX card and on several occasions she has missed payment dates by the odd day or two.

As a consequence they have increased the interest rate that she is paying back - apparently something in the t's & c's.

She owes about £1700.

Is this common or legal practice ??

Any responses would be appreciated.


Cheers

Yes, they can do that. There was an insert sent with all Amex cards a year or 2 ago saying they can.

YorkshireBoy

Perfectly legal, and very common. Whether she's late by a day or 3 weeks is largely irrelevant...she's an increased risk to them and they've re-priced her credit facility accordingly.

Is she natually forgetful or is she short of money? If the former, a direct debit for the minimum would be beneficial. If the latter, maybe Amex have assessed the increased risk accurately?

nrpegg

Thanks for the responses.
She's not short of money, but forgets - really annoys me !!!
But the amount of interest has doubled in recent months - I'll suggest a direct debit to her

Cheers

ldn-100

If I remember rightly from the leaflet they sent, as long as the account is kept up to date from now on, the interest rate will be put back at the next review. I think it is divided into three bands, so assuming she is now in the middle band, if the poor account conduct continues they can increase the rate further or bring it back down, depending on behaviour.

exel1966

nrpegg wrote: »

She's not short of money, but forgets - really annoys me !!!

Maybe explain to her that it may not seem very important at this moment in time, but when she starts to think about getting her own place and buying things on finance it could potentially have a huge impact.
A rare late payment has a negliable effect, but a regular late payer is considered to be too/very risky for some lenders and she may have difficulty in the future.
Probably not what she wants to here, but even if a little sinks in, it will be worth it in the long run.