Preempting credit card charges

lordharris

Greetings money fellows

For the last three years I have had an Amazon credit card. Recently, the link with Amazon was dropped and it just became a plain old Halifax credit card.

Now, I've always used the online service to pay off my balance and when my June statement came through I paid off the full outstanding amount.... or so I thought.

When my statement came through for July I was puzzled to find my balance at £1.69, which is apparently interest. Cash advance I assume, because it is charged at 27.95% PA. The last time I got a cash advance on that card was in mid May when I was in America. (yes I know you should avoid cash advances, especially when abroad but I was drunk and in a strip club.)

Anyway, when I went to pay this I discovered that the online service had been shut down as part of the move to Halifax. Now I admit I cocked up here because I couldn't be bothered sorting it out there and then and so promptly forgot about it until just gone the due date (27th July).

I applied for a Halifax online account and after jumping through the usual hoops I finally got my sign in sorted and paid off the outstanding balance this morning which was now £2 something due to interest and PPI payment. No big deal though eh?

This morning I also recieved my August statement and noticed that it says the charge for late payments is £12.

This charge has not yet been applied to my account but I was just wondering how strong my position would be if I refused to pay it? I had a quick skim through the OFT literature and it appears to say that anything up to £12 is fair game as a late payment fee. However, it is my opinion that charging someone £12 for failing to pay off £1.69 on time is a complete joke.

Other mitigating circumstances:

I wasn't expecting to have any outstanding balance because I paid it off in full the previous month but they charged me interest for a cash advance taken out in May!

The removal of the normal online service made it an additional hassle to actually make the payment this month.

It's not big a deal really. What's £12 in the big scheme of things? That said, I'd rather not pay anything I don't have to...

Thanks!

P

natweststaffmember

The interest on a cash advance is payable but the £12 is intriguing since it would normally be charged if you went over your limit or didn't pay at all. Is that what you are saying? You didn't bother paying the interest?(this might be one of those few times when I hate to say reclaim the charges).

lordharris

No no, I have paid the interest now but it's about a week overdue and I have something on my statement saying 'YOU HAVE FAILED TO MAKE A MINIMUM PAYMENT'

lordharris

Actually I may have misunderstood you there... What I am saying that I logged on to my account mid-june and it said outstanding balance is 'x' amount so I made a payment of 'x' amount. Then when my July statement arrived it had this interest payment which threw me a bit.

bengal-stripe

Phone them up, ask them nicely to refund the charges: “I’m a bit scatterbrained and all that change-over did confuse me.” They might refund you. Do not come over high-and-mighty, after all, in your own admission, you “couldn’t be bothered”:

lordharris wrote: »

Now I admit I cocked up here because I couldn't be bothered sorting it out there and then and so promptly forgot about it until just gone the due date (27th July).

If they refuse to refund, pay the charge, close the account and claim it back. (Irony of ironies, if you can be bothered to do that.) Do not refuse to pay as it will get worse over the coming months: several months of missed payment will blow your credit-rating to smithereens.

After all, it was you who missed the payment….....and a missed payment is a missed payment, and the charge is the same, whether you missed £ 1.69 or £ 1690.

lordharris

Thanks for the advice.

bengal-stripe wrote: »

If they refuse to refund, pay the charge, close the account and claim it back. (Irony of ironies, if you can be bothered to do that.) Do not refuse to pay as it will get worse over the coming months: several months of missed payment will blow your credit-rating to smithereens.

I guess that's the crux of the matter really. Based on what I have told you, do I even have a right to claim it back? Does this qualify as an 'unfair charge'? Obviously I think it does, but what I think usually has very little bearing on reality.

After all, it was you who missed the payment….....and a missed payment is a missed payment, and the charge is the same, whether you missed £ 1.69 or £ 1690.

Well isn't this what all that business with the OFT and claiming back unfair charges is all about? Personally, I think charging someone £12 for a late payment of £1690 is not entirely unreasonable. But charging £12 for a late payment of £1.69, which I am effectively already being charged for due to added interest, is patently unfair.

bengal-stripe

lordharris wrote: »

Personally, I think charging someone £12 for a late payment of £1690 is not entirely unreasonable. But charging £12 for a late payment of £1.69, which I am effectively already being charged for due to added interest, is patently unfair.

It’s the nature of any flat charge, that it will hit the “little user” disproportionately hard, but is advantageous to the “big user”.
Flat charges are not necessarily unfair.

You can claim that charge of £ 12.00 back, but only a court can decide whether or not it is unfair (the OFT will not intervene in credit card charges that do not exceed £ 12.00). First talk to your CC nicely, they might refund. If not, pay it at any rate, the damage will only increase and then, once the balance is zero, do close the account.

After that, you can decide if you want to issue court proceedings against the CC. Most likely it will not come to court,
as the CC will cave in earlier, but it is possible that you will have to turn up in court.

It is your decision. whether 12 quid is worth that all that palaver, (I would hold up my hands and say: “Is a fair cop!”)