Capital One Balance Transfer Question

lee__48

Hi All,

I recently received a letter from Capital One saying the following:

Dear ...

You previously transferred a balance from your Capital One card; maybe you found a
lower rate elsewhere for balance transfer. There are lots of competitive rates around at
the moment so we don't blame you for shopping around.

We would, of course, like you to come back to us. So instead of having a low
introductory rate that increases after a few short months we are giving you the
opportunity to benefit from a great new rate.

5.94% p.a. variable on balance transfers - why wait?

You have the opportunity to receive a great rate for balance transfers of 5.94% p.a.
This is one of the lowest standard rates available in the UK, so why wait to
take advantage of this?

Transfer a balance by 22 November 2005 and you really could save with Capital
One

Simply move a balance from your other cards or even your partner's cards to Capital
One by 22 November 2005 to be considered for this rate. You could pay off higher
rate credit and store card balances much quicker by using this low rate and you could
save money at the same time. You could benefit from this new rate after
your December 2005 statement.

With this rate you will no longer have to look around for short term deals every 6
months. That's less hassle for you!

The letter goes on to say how I can perform this balance transfer, with the enclosed cheque or over the phone.

Now, I'm going to ask a purposely quite-open question: How do you interpret this deal?

I will expand more if I receive some replies.
Thanks in advance,

Lee

YorkshireBoy

lee__48 wrote:

How do you interpret this deal?

It reads, at least by inference, like either a LOB offer, or a long-term offer.

However, it mentions neither "life of balance", nor the duration of the offer. And worse, it quotes a "variable rate".

The_Boss

Hopefully Lloyds TSB will do this for me too!! Though Capital One didnt offer me anything when I closed my account with them.

Milarky

If I recall Capital One offered me 7.9% on balance transfers [but not purchases] on an old card. The reference to 'variable' suggests it is a low 'standard' rate on all transactions, which could go up over time, does it not?

5.9 is ok but if they offered you a life of balance rate with a fee of 2% [say] you could press them to go down to 4.9 or even 3.9.

It is up to you but definitely no harm in asking them more about this..

aliasojo

lee__48 wrote:

Now, I'm going to ask a purposely quite-open question: How do you interpret this deal?

Not entirely sure what kind of info you're looking for, but we received exactly the same letter.

We took it to mean that if we transferred a balance by the given date, then we would be considered for this lower rate, but there would be no guarantee that we would get it.

As we were in between 0% offers at the time, we transferred a balance and we got a letter shortly after telling us that this and future transfers would indeed be at this rate.

(We had something very similar from them a good few years back and if I remember correctly, the rate stayed the same for around a year then gradually increased. That's not to say this rate will stay the same for this long though.)

We had an outstanding balance with them for around 5 weeks then transferred to our Egg card (anniversary 0%).

If you could be a little more specific as to what you'd like to know, maybe we could help more?

lee__48

Thanks for your replies. I assumed that I would receive 5.94% p.a. from the date of the transfer and this may vary with interest rates etc. However, on my December statement I have paid £60 interest, which is more like my standard rate. The statement states that next months estimated interest is £30.

When I look again at the letter it says:

You could benefit from this new rate after your December 2005 statement.

So, the deal is actually standard rate until my December statement, then the special rate after that.

Please tell me that it's not just me, but they didn't really make that clear did they? Is there anything I can do about this?

Thanks again,
Lee

aliasojo

Aaarrrghhhh! I wrote a reply post and lost it due to the 'technical database error'.

Basis of the post was that it was clear to me, sorry. I know that's not what you wanted to hear.

Can only suggest you politely complain to Cap 1 and tell them this wasn't made clear to you and would they consider a goodwill reduction in the interest charged. Don't hold your breath though, they're not known for being overly good in that department.

Moglex

It's one of those things that's crystal clear when you know what you're looking for.

It's quite clear to me that the letter was written with the specific intent of making people believe that they will get the 5.94% rate full stop. The only indication that you won't is the inculsion of the word 'after' rather than 'from' in the sentence "You could benefit from this new rate after your December 2005 statement".

If one wanted to be super pedantic, one could well say that since you wouldn't make the first payment until after your December statement, the quoted rate should apply on the December statement, so that you could benefit 'after' you received it and had to make the payment.

Of course, the letter is such a masterpiece of ambiguity that they could well retort that any month they now chose is 'after' December.

I doubt you've got a legal case, but it's very sleazy business practice.

aliasojo

I don't agree with you at all Moglex. In fact I laughed when I saw your bit about 'when you know what you're looking for'.

I'm no cc expert, Lord knows I've asked for help on here enough times in the past myself as I've been unsure about things. So I don't think I fall into the category you mention above.

I just don't see where you could assume you would get that rate 'full stop' as you put it?

Moglex wrote:

The only indication that you won't is the inculsion of the word 'after' rather than 'from' in the sentence "You could benefit from this new rate after your December 2005 statement".

Since you mentioned being pedantic the only words in the letter that suggest you may not get this rate is the word 'considered' or the word 'could' NOT the word 'after'.

Any transactions made up until the December statement date would be at the old rate and any transactions made after then would be at the new rate if you got it, that was what was apparent to OH & myself.

I suppose we could argue about how clear or otherwise this is, until the cows come home, but it just serves to prove the point again......always make sure you read and clearly understand the T&C's before doing anything.

If there is any reason for uncertainty, phone the company concerned and ask. Better to be sure than be lumbered with the unexpected.

Moglex

aliasojo wrote:

I don't agree with you at all Moglex. In fact I laughed when I saw your bit about 'when you know what you're looking for'.

I'm no cc expert, Lord knows I've asked for help on here enough times in the past myself as I've been unsure about things. So I don't think I fall into the category you mention above.

I just don't see where you could assume you would get that rate 'full stop' as you put it?

Yes, I wasn't being as clear as I could have been there. It wasn't the 5.94% rate that I was saying looked certain, it was the fact that whatever rate they offered would take effect immediately on transfer.

Since you mentioned being pedantic the only words in the letter that suggest you may not get this rate is the word 'considered' or the word 'could' NOT the word 'after'.

Again, I'd agree with you as far as the rate goes, but definitely not the increased rate for the first month.

Any transactions made up until the December statement date would be at the old rate and any transactions made after then would be at the new rate if you got it

Yes, that's what happened.

, that was what was apparent to OH & myself.

I've no idea who OH is, and I'm impressed at how quickly you spotted that with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight

People are less likely to spot that because it's a rather odd way of doing things.

I suppose we could argue about how clear or otherwise this is, until the cows come home, but it just serves to prove the point again......always make sure you read and clearly understand the T&C's before doing anything.

It's sadly true that you do need to scan everything with an electron microscope when you deal with sleazeballs such as this. The entire offer was couched in extremely ambiguous terms and anyone savvy would certainly check it out, but the way it's written is intended to lead people to believe one thing when another is true, but also in such a way that they can hold their hands up 'all innocent like' and protest that it was all quite clear in the offer.

Again, sadly, this is all considered perfectly acceptable business practice nowadays.

aliasojo

Moglex wrote:

I've no idea who OH is, and I'm impressed at how quickly you spotted that with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight

:rotfl: I would be surprised if you did ...OH = Other Half, i.e my partner.

20-20 Hindsight???? We got the same letter ages ago. I posted what our understanding of the offer was. Not sure where the hindsight bit comes in?

Other points taken on board though.