Abbey Keep Charging Interest

NickX

GRAHAM2109 wrote: »

Next statement was for £144.58 (minimum £5 by 01-06) I paid in full in cash on 29.05 I got charged £4.92 interest

Next one was for £770.02 (minimum by 28.06) Also paid in cash in full on 29.05 I was charged £10.79 interest

You have said that you paid BOTH these statements on 29.05. Is that definitely right ? It seems strange to pay 2 statements on the same day.

exel1966

GRAHAM2109 wrote: »

Thanks for replies.
I am still arguing with Abbey. Each time i get a different reason why i am being charged the interest.

My very first Statement had no problems. I even got £2.67 cash back for my purchases.
I had to pay £107.02 (minimum £5 by 30.04) I paid in full in cash on 23.04

Next statement was for £144.58 (minimum £5 by 01-06) I paid in full in cash on 29.05 I got charged £4.92 interest

Next one was for £770.02 (minimum by 28.06) Also paid in cash in full on 29.05 I was charged £10.79 interest

Last one was for £52.91 (minimum by 30.07) Paid in full in cash on 14.07
I was only charged 7p this time

I have not used card since 26th June so don't know why i was even charged anything. When will it end.

The 7p was due by 31.08 I paid this yesterday.

I don't know what went wrong since forst statement as that was fine.

If you've made payments to a gambling site it will be treated as a cash withdrawl and therefore you'll get charged interest from the moment it's withdrawn and you'll continue to pay interest until you have a zero balance for two consective months, otherwise you'll get charged interest on interest (residual interest). There is no way out of that unless you use a card which doesn't charge for cash withdrawls if fully repaid by the due date.

Itemise here your transactions on your first statement. That way it should be easy to spot the problem.

Secondly, (but a long shot) it could be your second payment on 29th may is a problem one. You may well have paid in cash 3 days prior to settlement date, but do Abbey take cash as an instantaneous payment? Not all do and it will still take up to 5 days to process. If this is the case, then you left the payment too late. I've never paid an Abbey card in cash over the counter so Am not sure about this ?

No surprise your not getting a straight answer from Abbey as to the why. Regular CSA's are not trained to understand in detail how interest is accrued and by how much. They'll just be aware of the basics, you'll need to speak to a specific deprtment to query the amounts and how it has been attained.

NickX

Excel1966, I agree that GRAHAM2109 needs to have cleared his full statement balance on two consecutive months to completely clear the interest, but looking at this detail he appears to have done this and been charged interest on the third occasion.

Something has gone wrong with the payment dates, it could be as you suggest that one fell late and then incurred additional interest (although I would have expected a late fee in this instance), but I am confused by having 2 statements both settled on 29.05.

Hmmm

GRAHAM2109

Sorry. it was a typing error
It should have read..

Next one was for £770.02 (minimum by 30.06) Also paid in cash in full on 28.06 I was charged £10.79 interest

NickX

OK Thanks. Getting there I think.

You stopped using the card on 26th June. OK.

Your May statement was for £144.58 and you paid in full on 29th May.

Did you make ANY gambling transactions between your MAY statement date and stopping using the card on 26th June ?

sdooley

My very first Statement had no problems. I even got £2.67 cash back for my purchases.
I had to pay £107.02 (minimum £5 by 30.04) I paid in full in cash on 23.04

okay - your first statement would never show interest anyway

Next statement was for £144.58 (minimum £5 by 01-06) I paid in full in cash on 29.05 I got charged £4.92 interest

This was the one with the gambling transaction - so there was interest shown on this statement. You also probably also didn't pay in time - only one working day before the payment was due - odd for it to be due on a Sunday (and in the following month) though.

Next one was for £770.02 (minimum by 30.06[28.06]) Also paid in cash in full on 28.06 [29.05] I was charged £10.79 interest

Because the last payment wasn't paid in time you pay interest on this bill. This payment probably was credited in time (paid on Saturday morning in branch processed in time for Monday?)(check the terms).

Last one was for £52.91 (minimum by 30.07) Paid in full in cash on 14.07
I was only charged 7p this time

This 7p is the 'residual interest' basically just the little bit of left-over interest from last month.

Was there a difference between the May and June cash payments? Was one in a post office? Or after hours in the drop-in machines in the branch?

The safest way to ensure your card is cleared each month is to set up a direct debit to clear the balance.

NickX

Personally I don't think this is to do with late payments. If this was the case, there would have been a late payment charge of £12 which has not been reported.

My theory is that there was a further Gambling Transaction after the May Statement Date.

Interest was then charged on this which forms part of the £10.79 interest charge on the June statement. A small proportion of this would be residual interest following the £4.92 charged in May.

Then because part of the £10.79 was interest on a fresh gambling transaction, the following month (July) there is still some residual interest which makes up the 7p.

exel1966

Personally I don't think the OP is being fully up front about where/when he has spent his money and this thread is dragging out a lot longer than it need.

If only he'd put a summary of the transactions for all to see, I'm sure the problem will easily be seen and then we'll all see that residual interest is whats showing up each month.

HamiltonL

Abbet staff wont even let me speak to manager when i request it

Not sure of the reason. It could be they are all busy (rare as there's always cover on the floor i.e. if there's meetings), could be as the managers/supervisors would state the same procedure as to what the agent said. Who knows. One thing for sure, Abbey staff are trained to do all they can naturally to assist the customer. No CSA's are able to refuse the customer outright to speak to a manager/supervisor though. If he totally refused to get a supervisor involved - as you say - then his line manager will be quickly onto him/her.

exel1966 wrote: »

No surprise your not getting a straight answer from Abbey as to the why. Regular CSA's are not trained to understand in detail how interest is accrued and by how much. They'll just be aware of the basics, you'll need to speak to a specific deprtment to query the amounts and how it has been attained.

I believe they are trained to check the way interest is calculated. There is even a mechanism to find out how much interest would be added onto the following statement, which CSA's use. We certainly don't have a problem explaining it to customers at our part of the office. I'm sure it's the same elsewhere. Maybe there's the occasion bad apple though, who knows?

Now you've paid off that 7p, Graham, no more interest will be added. I think you paid too close to the previous due date, hence the reason for the 7p interest.

GRAHAM2109

Sorry - A friend turned up. I do appreciate the help.
I had a few bets in May. This is what occured the quasi cash fees. I have mislaid my statements now.
I still paid those fees in full before the deadline and paid in cash in my Abbey Branch (not in a postoffice)
I want to also know how they can justify the quasi cash fee. A friend of mine did exactly the same bets using an HSBC credit card and was charged no extra