2 Statements within one month?

lightfoot256

Hi,

I have a credit card that I set up to take payment on the 5th of every month - or at least that's what I thought; Without noticing I "got used" to them taking the money early on the 1st of every month - Checking back through my statements it had originally started on the 5th and every 2 or 3 months (not consistent) it was moving forward by a day and for the last couple of months had been the 1st of every month.

I get paid on the last day of every month and had made a payment to this credit card on the 1st also assuming that the next statement would also be on the 1st - however, checking my online banking on the 26th of June (friday) my bank had already authorised the money to go through for the 29th (Monday) ** but I didn't get paid until the 1st July (Wednesday). Unfortunately when I found out on friday the bank had closed and after frantically ringing my bank to try and transfer some money into the account they re-assured me that banks are accually closed during the weekends and none of my transactions would go through - I'd have to visit the bank first thing on monday and hope my debit would go through before their credit.

Needless to say I was there from 8am waiting for the bank to open and quickly deposited the money.

I rung to complain that as far as I was aware I paid "monthly" and that was "calendar" monthly so how can they force me to make 2 payments in one month - apparently the operators response was:

"we can change the payment date whenever we like without notice to yourselves and somtimes that means you get charged twice in a month".

This is absolutely absurd - is it not? I've never experienced this before so I wanted to air it here to see what rights I have to complain and push my card payment back to how it was.

Needless to say I can't afford to close the card or I would have done this already.

Cheers,
Chris

** If any direct debits are due for a monday, my bank takes the money from me on the friday at 3:30pm and won't let me spent it - they might as well have taken the money on that day instead but the money isn't in my account and it isn't in the payees account so god knows where it is.

sharpy2010

The credit card company operates a monthly "billing cycle", which is in fact a number of days, not always the same as the number of days in the month, so in theory (and in practise, as you've found out) you can be billed twice in one month. Its unfortunate, but its correct, I'm afraid.

As for the money not being in yours or the payee account, in the situation you described at the bottom of your post, the money IS still in your account until the Monday morning, it simply has a "hold" placed against it, so that you are unable to spend it.

Hope that explains it a little for you.

Cheers

willstewart

I've found in the past that if I make say 2 payments before the next statement is issued (say the minimum amount the day after the statement arrives and then an extra £200 three weeks later), both payments are classed as being made for the previous statement.
Got caught out once last year with this. Assumed once I had made at least the minimum payment, anything after that would cover the following month.

Never pay be DD myself as I tend to find that thesde always come out before I get paid.
I generally have to keep money from my previous payday as well as I've also found out that if my bill is due by the Monday and I get paid and make a payment on the previous Thurs, it's 100% guaranteed it won't go through until the Tuesday so that they can charge me.

lightfoot256

So I rung them up again and got a really nice guy to explain the whole freaking complicated process :-p.

Firstly, statements are "printed" and they can _only_ be "printed" on a weekday because the printers (as in the people) don't work on weekends - thus a statement can only be generated on a week day. The statement then sets a payment due date of 25 days after the billing date - the payment date can be any day but if it falls on a weekend or holiday the money has to be collected early to ensure the payment is made on that date.

The printed day is thus set in working days from start of month and mine was the 4th working day of each month, which meant it floated between the 4th and 6th depending on how close to the weekend the month started - I noticed that when the month started on a Friday it actually worked out at the 7th day.

I changed the billing date to happen on the 7th working day of each month - which for example in august makes it the 11th of August and then 25 days ensures it happens around the first and second week of each month but never before the beginning of the month.

Now that I know what system they're using I can work everything out properly - I just wish they'd explain crap like this in their statement - instead you just assume it works like everyone else. Ah well, live and learn and become bitter I guess :-p

Cheers,
Chris