Not informed of Credit Card Interest Rate Change - What are my rights?

MrKris

Hi

Any advice greatly appreciated on this one.

I recently transferred my debt to one of the interest free balance transfer credit cards. Problem is I forgot to set up the direct debit and ended up missing 1 payment. As soon as they told me, I paid the minimum payment no problem and that was that, or so I thought. The next month my statement has a whopping interest charge on it against the balance transferred. When I queried this they confirmed that, because I missed a payment I defaulted on the interest free offer and am subject to the normal rate.

My question is:

I thought the banking code required that any changes to interest rate had to be notified to the customer in advance. In this case I had no clue that my rate had been changed. Had I known I would have done some jiggery-pokery with my finances and made sure the balance was paid off before I was exposed to the horrendous interest rate for even 1 month.

Am I entitled to claim back the interest accrued? Any advice greatly welcomed.

Many Thanks

YorkshireBoy

MrKris wrote: »

I thought the banking code required that any changes to interest rate had to be notified to the customer in advance.

Not sure what the Banking Code says, but this wasn't an "interest rate change" as such...it was a "removal of an introductory special promotional rate, revert to standard APR" issue.

Maybe a call to customer loyalty will get the rate reinstated (and the late payment £12 fee refunded...and the CRA late payment marker removed)?

If they won't play ball, I'm afraid you haven't a leg to stand on.

normanmark

You've broken the terms & conditions by not paying the bill on time. You've had the interest rate changed because of them taking you off the promotional period.

You're not entitled to reclaim the interest as they've not done anything wrong, like YorkshireBoy says a quick call to their customer loyalty dept will be your best bet. If you're very lucky they might even refund the interest, however don't be surprised if they dont.

Good luck.

Rolandtheroadie

Unfortunately the interest would have been added as soon as you missed the payment.