0% Credit Cards Are Evil

Any

CannyJock wrote: »

0% credit cards are evil?

Not according to my research.

It's generally accepted that to keep women happy takes time and money

Therefore: Women = Time x Money

Those of us in business appreciate that time is money.

Since: Time = Money

Therefore: Women = Money x Money

It's also true to say for many that money is the root of all evil

Since: Money = sqrt (Evil)

Therefore: Women = sqrt(Evil) x sqrt(Evil)
Therefore: Women = sqrt(Evil)2
Therefore: Women = Evil

:eek:

How dare you!!!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

cjw

Wyndham wrote: »

The 0% is surely a red herring here? The problem was that the bill wasn't paid on time. So it doesn't matter what the interest rate was, there would still have been a charge of interest due to the late payment?

Sorry, but you are totally wrong like the rest of you that have said the same thing. The payment was paid on the 1st, as it had to reach them by the 4th, but it wasn't showing up on their computer system when he phoned them on the 4th. But as I have said before he had to make the payment through his online bank account because of what came to light afterwards about the £3000 limit. The company admitted that his money would be in their holding account and hasn't been credited and therefore credited his credit card to cover the fee. So it wasn't due to a late payment on his part, thank you.

Any wrote: »

By branding it they can therefore change their T&C to suit themselves.. As long as they comply with the law. That is why I would be cautious and first read the T&C and not just rely on "what I think is the normal practice".

Because what the OP is describing is not normal credit card practice.

Not that it would matter, because the OP admits he or his father are not bothering with reading any T&C or know nothing about credit cards and are not willing to learn.

Sorry, but you shouldn't come to the conclusion that it down to not reading the T&C's with people. In fact, my father did read the T&C for this card like he does for anything else he signs for. There is a part in the T&C acknowleging the 0%, but there is NOTHING about the offer end date being different from the normal statement payment due date. Therefore, why would my father have cause to phone the company to ask about the end date, when there is nothing to indicate something about different dates apply? It isn't a case of not bothering or not willing to learn, its a case of the words weren't there to act on!!

I am not on here to have a barny, but I do think a lot of people are overlooking what was said and just blaming us for not reading the T&C's. Come on people, give us some nouce please.

For the title - Well, you complain:mad:, but it got your attention;) and isn't that what its about? :j I hope the title hits other people eyes and enlighting them to the problem if they didn't know.:beer:

UPDATE! Credit card company have just said that the 0% interest free end date should have been on his monthly statement, which it wasn't. They haven't said what was happening with the interest charge as it is the underwritters that decides. What do you have to say about this now? What's that saying, "Innocent before being proven guilty" comes to mine. Will keep you updated.

Anyway, cheers

Typhoon2000

I dont quite understand most of that, may be the bold text making it hard to read. As I said if the full payment was received and credited to his account by the due date then is no interest to pay. If it was credited after the due date (ie late) then there will be interest to pay. This is how all credit card with an intrest free period work.

CannyJock

There is a part in the T&C acknowleging the 0%, but there is NOTHING about the offer end date being different from the normal statement payment due date. Therefore, why would my father have cause to phone the company to ask about the end date, when there is nothing to indicate something about different dates apply? [/QUOTE]

Hear what you're saying, but equally, there's nothing there saying that the 0% period ran until the payment due date?

I can't think of any 0% promotions that run until the payment due date. Normally they're from either the account opening date (which can be frustrating when there are delays in you getting the card as you're effectively losing time) or from card activation.

MBNA have always ran promotions to the statement date, which you can actually use to your advantage by changing the statement date to "yesterday" when you activate the card.

Standard advise is always when you activate the card, ask the CS people to confirm the exact date that the 0% promotion ends. Personally, I then phone back a few months later just to make sure I get the same answer to avoid any miscommunication.

Hopefully you've learned a couple of tricks over this that you can use for next time.

lisyloo

but there is NOTHING about the offer end date being different from the normal statement payment due date.

Yes there is and I've already pointed you to it.
It's says 3 months from ACCOUNT OPENING.
Where does it say that coincides with your statement?
Any idea that they are the same, is a jump in logic on your/his part. It's called an assumption.

why would my father have cause to phone the company to ask about the end date, when there is nothing to indicate something about different dates apply

It's there in black and white.
It's says "account opening".
It he didn't know when that was then he has to ASK.

It isn't a case of not bothering or not willing to learn, its a case of the words weren't there to act on!!

I've already posted the words and the link for you. It says 3 months from account opening and there is no mention of statement date.
How many more times??

What do you have to say about this now?

Well glad you are making progress.
But I still believe it's up to you to ask if you can't find the information.
Companies make mistakes all the time whether deliberately or erroneously.
It saves a lot of hassle if you ask rather than guess.

If you got flight tickets for a holiday without a time on them, wouldnt' you phone up, even if it wasn't your fault?

lisyloo

One thing still isn't clear to me though.
If the payment was made that month i.e. on that statement and he paid it off on time, then why doesn't it qualify as interest free under the normal interest free days section.
I don't mean the 0%, I mean the normal bit where if you pay transcations off in full and on times, they are interest free.
I did check the website and I believe they offer this in addition to the 0%.
Have you asked them why it doesn't qualify as interest free for that reason?

dtaylor84

As far as I can tell everyone is arguing about the wrong thing.

The payment was received late (for whatever reason) - as evidenced by the £12 charge.

This charge was waived by the credit card company (probably as a goodwill gesture).

But because the payment was treated as being late, their system also automatically charged interest on the statement balance. This interest chargewas not refunded at the same time as the £12 charge, and so still has to be paid.

The 3 month 0% on purchases is irrelevant. Had the payment been on time there would have been no interest charge even if he the 0% offer didn't exist. What is relevant is the standard "up to 56 days interest free on purchases" offered if you pay your statement in full every month by the due date. As the payment was not received by the due date, the system calculated back-dated interest from the date the purchase was applied to the account to the date the payment was applied to the account.

As he convinced them to waive the £12 charge, he may be able to convince them to also waive the interest charge. Or may not.

lisyloo

So you are agreeing with what I said in post #27?

I think they have been given the red heering by the customer services people.

ste_coxy

from my understand with an interest free card, the provider is entitled to charge interest on the full balance if any payments are missed or late. is this not what has happened here?

lisyloo

Right, what has happened is that the Dad left it to the very last day to pay (not a good idea IMO).
Found there was a problem (max limit which wasn't notified).
Thomas Cook agreed to refund the late payment charge on account of the limit not being notified.
However interest is automatically added by a computer.
The payment was after the 0% period had ended (and the OPs dad failed to check the date when that ended) but it still should have been interest free if it was cleared in the same month on account of the fact that you get interest free days if cleared in the same month.

So whilst they agreed to waive the late payment charge.
This agreement did not extend to interest either explicitly or implicity.

The OP says his Dad understands it all but it does not appear that way to me.

Customer serviecs have confused things by saying the 0% period ran out, when the purchase has interest free status (if paid on time) ANWAY.
So interest has been charged because payment was LATE and not because of the end of the 0% period.

Sounds to me like the confusion is because they think Thomas cook agreed that the payment wasn't late.
When in fact they only agreed to refund the charge and there was no discucssion about interest at that time.