MINIMUM PAYMENTS....strange events

£££HELP£££

Hi, I recently transfered a balance to the Leeds on a long term low rate.. as recomended by martin in his best b transfers blurb..
its stands at £2600 odd and the minimum payment £53
well being good ! , I made three £10 online payments from my bank account during the month,
to get the balance down a bit..or so I thought ..
as when the direct debit was taken..
instead of £53 they took just £23 !
so I have not payed extra... just the minimum !
how can I get this sorted.. and what a trick to play..
I feel they are atemping to trap me in debt ! :mad:

£££HELP£££

is this what always happens?.. it hasnt on my other cards!

TFD_2

This is the case with my Cahoot Visa and Barclaycards. And others I'm sure.

Hardly a trick! Just pay the extra £30! Problem solved.

!!!!!!, the banks do enough !!!! they need blaming for, this isn't one of those things.

djm1972

I think this happens if the payments you made all took place between your statement date and the date the direct debit was requested, and is industry standard practice as far as I know.

If payments received after the statement date but before the direct debit didn't affect the direct debit it could put the account into credit.

If you make extra payments after the direct debit has been take out but before your statement date they will then be taken straight off the balance and the next statement will show the balance has having reduced by any payments made in the interim.

£££HELP£££

I see.
thanks for your reply... so if I wish to pay extra off each month I must time it to after direct debit.. but before next statement... ok :beer:

YorkshireBoy

£££HELP£££ wrote: »

so if I wish to pay extra off each month I must time it to after direct debit.. but before next statement... ok

No. You allow for it now that you know what happens, and just pay extra as soon as you can. The sooner you pay the less interest you'll incur.

Just one note of caution...you must make payments totalling at least the minimum stated between the statement date and the payment due date.

djm1972

£££HELP£££ wrote: »

I see.
thanks for your reply... so if I wish to pay extra off each month I must time it to after direct debit.. but before next statement... ok :beer:

Yep!

Alternatively, if you know you're not going to be spending on this card again; and you can afford it, you could set-up a fixed amount direct debit that is at least as much as the current minimum payment.

Assuming that your monthly situation is relatively stable this will clear your debt quicker than just paying the minimum payment; and with a fixed direct debit any extra payments you make when you can afford it will come off the balance there and then and not affect the direct debit amount.

I can't speak for certain what logic is applied when a fixed direct debit is greater than the balance but I'd imagine they would just take the balance rather than the fixed amount - but don't quote me on that...!

djm1972

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

No. You allow for it now that you know what happens, and just pay extra as soon as you can. The sooner you pay the less interest you'll incur.

Just one note of caution...you must make payments totalling at least the minimum stated between the statement date and the payment due date.

That's a valid point in so much as reducing interest; but the OP wants to pay more than the minimum payment direct debit each month when they can afford it.

The problem is that any payments made between statement date and direct debit date that are less than the minimum payment amount won't achieve this because they are just reducing the direct debit by the same amount - so they have to be timed correctly.

Sneezy

Pay the extra off either the day the DD is due or the day before - you could always place the excess cash in another account until the DD has gone out.

bingy_burge

all this is you have agreeded to pay the MINIMUM by DD so they are only taking enough to cover the minimum payment because they have to assume that you just like paying in bits and bobs because I bet there are some people who would scream bloody murder if they paid malf there minimym payment by debit card early and then the robbing cc people took the full minimum payment.

So they assume thats all you want them to take.