Is this unfair?????

GSC1975

Hi there

I currently have a Virgin credit card which I have had for some time. I took on this card as I had a balance transfer of £3,000 I needed to move and Virgin were offering 12 months 0% interest. I aimed to pay it back over the 12 months but due to unforseen circumstances this could not happen and now the card has a whooping 34% interest rate on it. I called Virgin but they said as it is a variable rate card they would not lower it. I am unable to get another credit card to transfer the balance to. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as the interest payment is killing me!!!! Many thanks.

nzseries1

Is it unfair? Many would say yes.
Is it legal? Unfortunately it is - as they say it's a variable rate card and they can set it to what they like.

Call again and ask nicely - you will get a different person on the phone who may be more sympathetic - you never know if you don't try.

nickmack

GSC1975 wrote: »

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated as the interest payment is killing me!!!! Many thanks.

It may not seem fair, but it's the way the system works. One of the main reasons that Credit Card companies are able to offer deals like 0% is that some customers will not repay during the interest free period and incur large interest charges to help the company offset those on 0% deals.

It's unfortunate that for whatever reason you were unable to repay in the 0% period and even more unfortunate you cannot now get another card to move the balance to.

The best I guess you can hope for is to call and hope you can speak to someone else who is willing to reduce the rate.

jen_a_c

I think Virgin are part of MBNA who are notorious for doing this.