Don't pay late payment charges - I don't!

Epiphone

Caveat: I've only read two pages of this thread so if things changed after forgive me.

It seems most people here seem to think the world owes them something. If you're late with a payment then you're going to get a charge. All rather simple and in the T's & C's you sign up to.

Fair enough the charges are high but that's a discussion for another time.

If you're in the wrong pay up and make sure you don't make the same mistake next time. Lying and saying you haven't received letters etc when you have puts the price up for all of us.

JoseChungsDoomsday

dchurch24 wrote:

What if your employer goes bust, or just doesn't pay you on time, or not the right amount, or if for some family emergency you cannot go to work, or something major breaks in your house like central heating for eg and it needs replacing and you simply haven't the money - should you be penalised for any of these things?

then that is up to the companies customer services dept. if you're not happy with the service they proviude move onto another company.

dchurch24

I firmly believe that no company or person is above the law. I also firmly believe that a person signing an agreement means they should follow the terms set out in it.

Even if the terms are illegal?

virgin_moneysaver

sylwright wrote:

I have just had an argument with Nat West Credit Cards as I had a large purchase in the previous month and paid the full amount online from my bank on the 9th November, the payment date was 10th November but they say the payment didn't reach them until the 11th November so they charged me almost £40 in interest. When I phoned to query this their attitude was one of "tough".

The same thing had happened to me 2 months ago when I missed the payment date by 1 day and the man I spoke to that day said, "I've looked back through your account and notice you almost always pay the full amount so these charges are discretionary and I will refund the charge". This time I asked to speak to a manager who was very rude and patronising who told me because I had the charges refunded to me once, they wouldn't do it again as they only do it once every year.

I was not very happy, I accept that my payment reached them one day late, but in fact it was taken from my Nat West bank account 2 days earlier so they obviously had it anyway.

I have complained to NatWest Bank who were equally unsupportive telling me that they are just obeying the rules.

I have told them that I intend to cancel the card which I couldn't do over the phone as it is in my husbands name and I am an additional cardholder.

I am about to write a letter to cancel the card because of this and wonder if anyone can suggest anything I could do or say.

Thanks

as the payments are made via the BACS system it takes 3 working days - it's not like transfering funds between a current & savings account held at the same branch - your statement arrives 3 weeks before the payments due & its states on the front page to allow 3 working days for the payment to arrive - it's hardly rocket science!

JoseChungsDoomsday

dchurch24 wrote:

Even if the terms are illegal?

if you consider them to be illegal then dont sign them. again, very simple and straight forward.

dchurch24

..and again...how would I get my wages paid?

JCL

Always worth a call to get charges removed but bottom line is if you're given a date to make a payment by then take responsibility for yourself and pay it by that date.

M_Thomson

DChurch24,
Reasons such as loss of job, loss of family member or ill health are reasons that banks should consider reversing charges. Reasons such as I made the payment late through now fault of my own or that the website was closed or not getting a statement are not valid reasons to reverse charges.

Robert_Sterling

JoseChungsDoomsday wrote:

I firmly believe that no company or person is above the law.

You and DChurch are as one on that then.

The credit card companies appear to disregard the law of contract and impose penalties rather than make charges.

dchurch24

I do agree that you should make payment on time - it's only fair, the bank/cc company have lent you that money and you have agreed to pay it back at or before a certain time.

However, the reasons I have given in the above post are not taken into account at all by these institutions.

I do also think that it's a tough dilema for these companies, if you cannot legally punish someone for not paying on time then what incentive is there to do so?

I don't know what the answer is...but then I didn't want to be a lender or a bank - they chose that path and it's really their problem. No-one said it was easy running a country that way.

I know that penalising and thus forcing those that can ill afford it further into debt is not the answer and as consumers and members of a 'civilised' society should stand together against this sort of behaviour.

What I am doing is saying (and proving) that these charges are not legal, indirectly and directly (case law supports punitive charges vs. liquidated damages, and the 1999 Consumer Credit Act supports the Unfair Terms argument).