NEXT Directory

bubbleandsqueak_2

I don't know if anyone is aware of this, or can offer advice. I have been a customer of NEXT for about 20 years. I always pay off the balance in full at the end of each month (it's not usually much if anything anyway). At Christmastime I did some shoppping, then the sale, and my statement for January was £250. I paid off £160 intending to pay the remainder this month.

When this month's statement arrived I had been charged interest on my FULL balance, even though I had paid off £160 in plenty of time. In other words they are charging me interest on money I don't owe (at 26.4%apr!).

Is this legal? I think it's stealing. When I queried it with NEXT I was told that unless you clear the full balance you will be charged interest on it. It's a bit like VISA charging you on the full balance without deductions innit?

Any info would really help in this. I know it's only a few quid, but it's the principal and if you consider NEXT has over half a million directory customers you don't have to be a genius to work out how much they are making every month on money that doesn't belong to them. :mad:

shellsuit

When you received this months statement, was the £160 payment showing on it?

If not, then they can charge interest on the full balance. Maybe you hadn't paid it in time before that statement was produced?

If the £160 was showing, then how have you worked it out that they have charged interest on the previous full balance?

Surely the statement should read something like this

Previous balance - 250
Payment - 160
Balance - 90 (And then the interest would be worked out on the £90 still owing?)

shellsuit

Forgot to mention, you said

When I queried it with NEXT I was told that unless you clear the full balance you will be charged interest on it. It's a bit like VISA charging you on the full balance without deductions innit?

They are right in the respect that any balance owing will have interest charged on it.

Catch_A_Fire

Check the T+Cs. Do you get an interest free period on purchases? It is illegal for them to charge you interest on a balance which is not owed, however, they may have charged you interest on the £250 until the point of your payment and then on the remainder after your payment had cleared. Another possibility (if there is an interest free period) is that what you don't pay off in full by the date on the statement has interest applied from the date of the transaction. Speak to Next again and ask them about the above, I think your enquiry may have been misunderstood.

HTH

Anwen_2

I rather thought that most credit accounts worked like this, actually, in fact I'm sure I've read warnings in articles on this site and TMF...
Yep, here you go:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1125416596,61427,#bite

shellsuit

Anwen wrote:

I rather thought that most credit accounts worked like this, actually, in fact I'm sure I've read warnings in articles on this site and TMF...
Yep, here you go:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1125416596,61427,#bite

:eek: Oh my word, I didn't know that! But I do now thanks to you!

Anwen_2

Scary, isn't it???

bubbleandsqueak_2

Thanks for all your feedback. I also managed to check it out with Martin Shankleman (Radio 2) and he confirms that if you don't pay the FULL amount off, then they will charge you interest on that FULL amount before they deduct your payment.

It's in the (very) small print and very common. We are not supposed to notice it as it's usually only a few £'s. So watch out everybody.