Virgin Credit Card - Direct Debit change

trippes

Hi

I have a virgin credit card. I have a balance of about £8000 on it which is on a 0% deal over 12 months. I set up a direct debit to pay £200 off this each month.

Virgin sent me a letter stating that they were now just going to take the minimum payment as part of a 'policy change'. Minimum payment is £10 per month.

I called to object to this - surely a credit card company, which places a statement on its literature stating that "just paying the minimum payment will make the debt take longer to clear" wouldnt actively reduce my payment from £200 to £10 per month.

I was assured that my direct debit would remain in place. This month - yup - they just took £10. its up to me to set up a standing order if i want to increase the amount i pay off.

I will do this - but how many people wouldnt ?

Sly and underhand methinks - of course, this is just a personal opinion :-)

si

YorkshireBoy

trippes wrote: »

Sly and underhand methinks

Rather than grumble about, what is, a responsible approach (because they're fed up with people saying "you didn't take enough because I'd spent some extra this month"), why not do something "sly and underhand" back?

Let them have their £10 and you put the other £190 in a savings account each month and make some interest on it.

Win/win?

clio

just make an extra payment like i do each month DD @ £25 then another £125 before statement due day..

DestroyingAngel_2

Virgin have stopped doing fixed DDs because too many people are spending on their card without thinking about the minimum payments, then forgetting to "top up" their minimum payments hence incurring late charges and interest. For example, if you have a fixed DD for £200 and you go on a spending spree and your minimum payment goes up to £225 and you forget to pay the extra £25, then you will be charged a late fee and interest.

Think of the DD as a tool to ensure your minimum payment is received on time each month. You can always make additional repayments using a number of other methods such as paying by cheque, through your bank, internet/telephone banking, online banking, or setting up a standing order with your own bank.

mizdent

trippes wrote: »

Sly and underhand methinks - of course, this is just a personal opinion :-)

i'm with you on this. if virgin are sick of people forgetting to adjust their direct debits to cover their minimums due, a little bit of business intelligence (querying their own data) could help them reduce the occurences. i transferred a balance over to virgin/mbna on the same rate a few months ago. i have not (and have no plans to) use this account/card for anything other than paying off existing debt, i.e. i will not spend anything on it and my minimum will not increase through any action of my own. virgin/mbna won't know for sure that i'm not likely to in future, but i'm probably less likely to default than someone whose minimum is already close to their direct debit amount or who spends at a level which will eventually lead there.

like trippes i see this as an underhand way to increase the potential amount i still owe them at the end of the 12 month 0% period, i guess in the hope that i'll be too lazy to shift the debt and they'll earn some interest from me.

this is my first virgin/mbna credit card and so far i'm not impressed. in the first month, after confirming my successful application they took so long to send the details and deliver my card that my first payment of the minimum amount wasn't authorised by the due date - yes, really. they not only fined me for this but removed my 0% rate to boot.

after several small lifetimes on the phone, i eventually persuaded them that this was THEIR fault and they reinstated the 0% rate. they then refused to re-credit the fine or cancel the 2nd month's interest but i stuck to my guns and managed to get them to escalate the issue to someone with the authority to do exactly that.

all in all a less than satisfactory experience and this recent unsolicited change to my payments has really annoyed me.

i do like yorkshireboy's suggestion and may well do this.

YorkshireBoy

mizdent wrote: »

i do like yorkshireboy's suggestion and may well do this.

Here are a couple more...

Read your DDI paperwork. It'll say until your statement says the DD will be collected you must pay by other means. This is due to the direct debit guarantee, which says they must notify you of both the amount to be collected and the date it is to be collected at least 10 days in advance. The ONLY way they do this is via your statement.

To maximise your chances of being able to make the first payment by DD you should set your statement date to 'yesterday', ie if calling to activate* the card today 2/11/08 then ask for a 1st of the month statement date. This will give them a full month to set the DD up with your bank before they produce the statement (and give you up to two months before the first payment is due).


* You may find this activation call checklist useful...

http://www.stoozing.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1194457781/5#5

penelopepitstop_2

clio wrote: »

just make an extra payment like i do each month DD @ £25 then another £125 before statement due day..

Hi..yes this happened to me too on a 0% for 15m. Also Alliance and Leicester are doing it too. It'd be much less hassle to cancel the debit and set up your own standing order for the amount u want! I know that as the min payment gets ridiculously small I'll forget 2add my part or something (work shifts and long hrs). Sounds like more of a money making scheme to me :-( putting the customer to all this bother, hoping that some ppl will not bother and be paying for the rest of their life!!