Blasted virgin credit card changing payment date.

vet8

I have a Virgin credit card, I only took it out for the interest free transfer period and they keep giving me other 0% transfer deals so I am happy with that, but what really gets up my nose is they keep changing the payment date. :eek:

When I first took out this card I had to pay by the 16th of the month, this has moved forward sometimes by 4 days at a time and I now have to pay by the 3rd of the month. At this rate the payment due date will be before my pay day in a few months time.

I have looked carefully at all the other credit cards I have now and have had in the past, (yes I carefuly keep all my bills for 6 years) and also my husband's cards. That comes to about 12 in all and every single one of them has the payment date on the same day each month, never moving at all. There seems no logic to the Virgin scheme, the date changes whether it is a short month or a long one, it never moves backwards, always forwards and even the length of time between payment due dates changes from 27 to 31 days. It seems totally illogical.

The only reason I can think up is that they are hoping to catch out people by creeping the date forward and hit their card holders who pay late by mistake. Very sneaky if you ask me.

latecomer

Phone them up and complain about it. Say that your extremely upset by the constant changing of payment date and that they have now moved it so far that its prior to you getting paid. Ask them to put it back and stop messing about with it.

If they dont then as your 0% rate gets near to ending apply for another card and close the Virgin one stating the problem with dates as the reason for going elsewhere.

clio

Ive had that done on this months statement i got moved foward and by the time i got bill i had no more than 9 working days till it was needing to be paid. very sneeky / sly and crafty if you ask me.

Moggles_2

vet8 wrote: »

I have a Virgin credit card.... what really gets up my nose is they keep changing the payment date.... The date changes whether it is a short month or a long one, it never moves backwards, always forwards ...The only reason I can think up is that they are hoping to catch out people by creeping the date forward and hit their card holders who pay late by mistake. Very sneaky if you ask me.

This wheeze has been mentioned before, but cannot be stressed too often.

Particular care is needed with all cards run by MBNA (e.g. Alliance & Leicester, MBNA itself, Sony, Virgin). One of MBNA's favourite tricks is to bring the payment due date forward 5-6 days. Notice of this change will be embedded somewhere in the small-print leaflet which accompanied your previous statement.

It's happened to me on three occasions now (Different cards, btw, but all underwritten by MBNA) and, judging from the complaints to this forum, hundreds of customers are caught out.

Let's face it, for every MSE that complains to MBNA and gets a refund, there will be many more who simply pay up. So, whether or not this is the intention, it's a nice little earner :rolleyes:

Keeping_Motivated

If you pay by Direct Debit they can't change the date can they? And you don't risk a charge as they take it.

That is an absolute scandal that they can keep changing the dates with prior notice. Do they even have a valid reason?

clio

Well i pay mine by DD so if there are any problems they can expect a rather broad geordie accent sniping at them down the phone if they some how don't take it.

latecomer

Our sainsburys visa takes the direct debit payment on a different day most months but its always in the first week, normally the 4th-7th. That said its the 9th next month? If they tried to change it so that it fell into the previous month I'd definitely kick up a fuss.

Gilly_Sutton

Hello all,
I've just got off the phone to Barclaycard - they brought my due date forward by 10 days. I got the impression that it wasn't personal - i.e. that others may have befallen the same fate. Suggest that any Barclaycard holders have a good look at their statement.

robT

Hi
I have managed to miss a recent payment on my Virgin / MBNA credit card but I suppose its partly my own fault as I wa spaying using a standing order that i setup myself from my bank rather that the suggested route of setting up a direct debit with Virgin directly. The payment wa smissed by 4 days due to the fluctuating payment dates that Virgin / MBNA seem to want to use to screw customers like myself over. I did even ask the guy setting up my initial balance transfer the date i should make payments on and he didn't mention the fact that the payment date might change.
I got lumbered with the defaulting sum of £12 as well as the card rate reverting to the standard rate, so lost out quite a bit there. I initially rang up to complain and try sort the problem out and all I got was one of the male advisors being very arsey with me, stating they wouldnt do anything and then transferring me to the rates department which he said m,ight be able to help and which happened to be shut on the day I rang, so i was pretty p***ed off after spending time waiting in a que just to get nothing and to be virtually hung up on. I waited a few days and then I rang again today. This time I got a fairly friendly irish lady who although said it wasn't their fault that I missed the payment, did at least re-instate my initial 0% balance transfer offer for the rest of the agreed period, so at least thats something.
I guess my advice is just keep on ringing up to complain and see what advisor you get, and how far they are willing to help you. I never had any problems missing payments with other card companies though. Its a bit underhand chaging the payment date, its got to be something they do on purpose to catch people out. I definitley wont be using Virgin or MBNA credit services in the future if I can help it.
Hope other people have more luck with this issue than me.
Rob

robT

Oh and whilst I was on the phone to Virgin I made sure I setup a seperate direct debit wioth them for the minimum card amount so to make sure that this problem doesnt happen again.