Egg Card - Beware Sharp Practice

ga3996

Last November 2005 I took up the 'account anniversary offer' of 5 months interest free credit and transfered £14,250 on to my Egg Card.

Each month I paid off the minimum amount and on my Statement dated 27 March the outstanding balance was £13,146.96. As I knew the five months was due to finish I paid of the full amount (£13,146.96) by the due payment date (10 April).

I was therefore suprised that on my statement of 27 April I had incurred a Merchandise Interest charge of £42.89.

In my conversation with Egg customer services they indicated that the interest free period ended on 31 March and hence the charge relates to the interest on the outstanding amount between 1 April and 10 April. Given that the Egg payment cycle appears to run from statement to statement it seems to me that there is a degree of 'sharp practice' going on here. I do not recall seeing any indication from Egg to say that the interest free period actually ends on 31 March and it is a natural assumption to think that it runs from statement date.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? I am complining to Egg but have so far not got very far - any advice would be welcome.

rbulph

The description of the offer that I got in an e-mail from egg a few weeks ago was clear:

"As a special anniversary 'thank you' you'll get 0% interest fixed until 1 September 2006 on any balances you transfer throughout April 2006. From 2 September 2006 you'll pay our standard rate, currently 15.9% pa variable. And that's not just on credit and store card balances either – you can transfer balances from loans and overdrafts too."

1st September is the cut-off date. Nothing to do with statement dates or due dates under them.

Voyager2002

I had a similar experience to that described in the original post, except I made sure that my full balance was paid off by the day before the "anniversary offer" ended. However, over the same period I was using the card for purchases and assumed that I would enjoy the usual interest-free period for these. Anyway, I was charged "merchandise interest" which referred to the purchases rather than the balance transfer. I complained a few times and received nonsensical replies, then I politely asked for the matter to be 'escalated' to a team leader. Soon afterwards the team leader apologised and the interest was re-credited to my account. I suggest you do something similar, and good luck.

freebird65

Same thing happened to me after I'd asked if there would be any interest to pay if I paid the whole amount by the due date and was told no. I complained several times and asked for the matter to be escalated to a team leader, but just got a very rude reply from said person saying I should have known the facts beforehand therefore please stop bothering them.

That'll be me going elsewhere!