removal of 57 day free period

stedisa

Hi there,

Help please... My DH realised just recently that his credit card company, BoS, have 'removed' interest free period. He originally got the card back in 01 and the balance was paid off in full in 04, then 06 and since quite small balance (but decreasing) existed. Then earlier this year we paid for our windows on credit card (as I was on maternity leave at the time) and as soon as I started working (within weeks) we paid the card off in full. Balance has been paid off in full every month since. HOWEVER, BoS has continued to charge DH interest even though balances have been paid off in full. So, we went through his paperwork (as I was ranting on about 'each CC company must have interest free period) only to find out that some four years ago (in June 04) the card simply went from having 57 day period to 'none'.

We rang BoS this evening and they claim that because my husband's account is low interest (if you call 20% low interest) then there is no interest free period. Manager I spoke to claimed account never had interest free period (but it did as have the statements)... My DH keeps all paperwork but we can't find anything where it was made clear to him that interest free period was 'removed'...

They owe us at least £100 for interest since this spring / summer and God knows how much more when old statements are reviewed.

BoS advised us to write to their customer services who 'would write back to us explaining why account is low interest' - though initially they suggested they would 'investigate'...

We won't use the card any longer and the current balance will be paid off but we want our money back. Advice please. Many thanks.

cifpower

stedisa wrote: »

So, we went through his paperwork (as I was ranting on about 'each CC company must have interest free period) only to find out that some four years ago (in June 04) the card simply went from having 57 day period to 'none'.

My DH keeps all paperwork but we can't find anything where it was made clear to him that interest free period was 'removed'...

These two statements seem contradictory

clio

spam above #3 - been reported.

normanmark

I think you're getting confused. All cards have a 57 day interest free period. Its the first day after your last 'due date' to when your next statements 'due date is'. It's not a promotional offer. It basically means that if you pay your card off in full & on time every month, you won't pay interest. If you don't do either of those then you'll be charged interest.

stedisa

cifpower wrote: »

These two statements seem contradictory

Hi there,

Thank you for replying. What I was actually trying to say is that no letter ever arrived specifying something along these lines: Dear Mr X, some time ago you opened a credit card account with us. At that time we gave you a 'standard credit card' which means you had 57 days to pay your ballance or interest will be charged. We are now writing to inform you that in effect we will charge you interest whether or not you pay the amount in full. The interest will be charged from the day you make a purchase (which is similar to cash advance charges). yours lovingly BoS

Letter like this never arrived...

This information was in effect burried in one of his statements, literally from one month to another column called 'interest free period' went from up to 57 days to 'none' (go figure?)

Oh BTW, yes I have had a go at DH for not reading his statements better and not understanding better, but we are where we are.

stedisa

normanmark wrote: »

I think you're getting confused. All cards have a 57 day interest free period. Its the first day after your last 'due date' to when your next statements 'due date is'. It's not a promotional offer. It basically means that if you pay your card off in full & on time every month, you won't pay interest. If you don't do either of those then you'll be charged interest.

Thanks for your reply. This is EXACTLY what I said to DH and repeated about thousand times until we rang BoS who claimed that DH is on 'low interest' card which NEVER has 57 day interest free period. Basically according to BoS they charge interest on these cards from the moment of purchase. Surely this can not be right. More to the point they claim that DH card never had 57 days interest free period (which it clearly did as we have copies of statements). They are pretty much refusing to deal with the matter so we're looking on advice on who can help us either in consumer groups or another route?