abbey zero balance transfer nightmare

someotherstuff

Hello all,

My first post here - I've read all sorts of cool advice over the last few years but never thought to post until now. I do hope this hasn't been covered already - a quick search suggests not.

I've a problem with this new abbey zero card. I successfully applied and got the card and transferred £1800 of debt to it from my other credit card (a Goldfish). Abbey confirmed this happened. So far so good.

However, turns out that this £1800 has not come from my other credit card - no debt has transferred from it. The people at goldfish told me that the abbey people had used the wrong sort codes and account numbers and transferred cash form an inactive account. So i now have my original balance and the new one. This means that i have doubled my debts! I phoned Abbey to remonstrate and was told they'd phone back at the end of the week - obviously they've not bothered. Meanwhile, i'm being charged interest on this £1800 on the old goldfish card and am waiting for the first bill from Abbey, which will ask me to make a minimum payment towards a debt that isn't mine.
I have no idea how to proceed - I just feel completely at the mercy of this incompetence.

Hope someone can share some sage advice.

Many thanks,

some

HamiltonL

someotherstuff wrote: »

Hello all,

Hope someone can share some sage advice.

As an Abbey staff member I can't offer Paxo but I'll see if I can explain what might have happened.

First of all I'm not aware Abbey use sort codes and account numbers for Goldfish cards to do BT's. They just use the card numbers given by the customer for the BT to be done when the account is established. I can only guess Abbey have by mistake got a digit wrong putting the BT in so it has gone to a holding account.

What Abbey should be doing which I assume they will now be is recalling that BT off the Abbey card. Be warned that this may not be sorted until October at worst as it takes a long time to recall a BT (not necessarily due to Abbey, but the details have to be faxed to Goldfish so they can return the funds from the holding account at their end, and they could take a while to respond).

If that BT is the only thing on the account, my advice, crazy as it sounds, is to pay NOTHING on the card, as it is an Abbey error. If you do get a late fee (hopefully it will be sorted before the first due date), that can be refunded and Abbey will arrange your credit file to be airbrushed for that one default. You should then be entitled to the full offer on the card. It could mean calling up in month 7 or even month 8 to have BT interest refunded, but from experience (using account comments/notes as references) that shouldn't be a problem.

If you have other BT's or have made purchases etc, you will be advised to just pay money off those.

Abbey will probably need to verify the interest on the Goldfish statements by obtaining a copy of the statements for the months affected by the BT (August & September?), so you might need to get the local branch to fax them to Abbey HQ. They can see if they can refund those too or compensate.

Regarding the phone calls, yes that is annoying and unfortunate that you were given unsustainable promises from an agent, which is why we would usually advise that although we can request a call back, we can't guarantee it.

Hope the above info helps. Sorry for the problems you have and I hope they get sorted out soon.

realaledrinker

Abbey min payment is only £5 - not that it answers your problem.

someotherstuff

hi guys,

Thanks for your replies. Much appreciated - its nice to know there's people out there like this.

Well, i've phoned them up and have been told its in the process of being sorted.

BUt i've just realised that my goldfish card (the one i've balance transferred from) has a different number on the card to the golfish account number. Is this usual or is it likely to be part of the problem?

Hmm....

I'll let you know how it pans out.

Thanks again,

Some

HamiltonL

That's good news.

By account number do you mean the sixteen digit card number? Often I have people calling up who refer to the card number as the account number? Are you comparing your card with the card number on the statement?

someotherstuff

hi again,

Yeah, comparing my 16 digit card number with my 16 digit account number with goldfish, they are different. When the guy on the phone at abbey asked for my number, i asked if they meant the one on the card. The guy said yes and off we went. Don't know if this was right though. Still haven't heard.

Hmmm.....

Some

trevor_john

Hi I have applied fot the zero card approx 6 weeks ago.I rand a few days ago and was toild agreement should be with me in about 2 weeks. is this usual to be this slow ? My natwest black card was arranged within 2 weeks.

HamiltonL

Not at all. You should have got the agreement within two weeks on average. If you haven't received anything by the end of this latest two weeks it's best to call up again - customer service will have to pass it onto the back office.

someotherstuff wrote: »

hi again,

Yeah, comparing my 16 digit card number with my 16 digit account number with goldfish, they are different. When the guy on the phone at abbey asked for my number, i asked if they meant the one on the card. The guy said yes and off we went. Don't know if this was right though. Still haven't heard.

Hmmm.....

Some

Should be. Do the first six digits of the card number match the account number?

Anon

HamiltonL wrote: »

Not at all. You should have got the agreement within two weeks on average. If you haven't received anything by the end of this latest two weeks it's best to call up again - customer service will have to pass it onto the back office.

I am also six weeks on and still waiting, so not unusual (and reports elsewhere indicate that Abbey are in some cases taking an age to process applications).

Anon

Ivory_Tinkler

The same thing has happened to me and I found out today. I transferred money to my capital one card from my visa card in the middle of August, got an email to confirm and the balance transfer is showing on my capital one statement (online). Today I got a call from my visa card asking me to make a payment as it is overdue. I was flabbergasted and so paid the minimum just to keep everything straight. But I've been hit with a £12 late payment charge and there will be interest to pay. I rang capital one to be told it is due to an IT glitch and it "should" be sorted in 7-10 days. I was furious because the balance is showing on the account and because I think someone from capital one should have got in touch if they knew there was a glitch.

I'm going to ring back tomorrow during office hours to see if I can speak to someone about claiming back all these charges and to find out when the transfer will in fact be made.

So what I thought would be a simple procedure to keep my personal cashflow moving has turned into a bit of a nightmare. And to add insult to injury there is a block on my card until Tuesday morning due to the late payment.

HamiltonL

Anon wrote: »

I am also six weeks on and still waiting, so not unusual (and reports elsewhere indicate that Abbey are in some cases taking an age to process applications).

Anon

I can assure you that although some people have had to wait an unacceptably long time to get their card (or agreements etc), the majority, especially branch applications, have been fine. And as all my previous posts show, I am certainly not some kind of spin doctor. I am sorry for the experience you have had and I hope you get your card very soon.