Virgin credit card minimum payment - £25!!!

no_more_cards_for_me

laurence wrote: »

However I do pay it off in full every month.

That my friend is the secret, credit cards are just that - a method of delaying payment. "Borrowing" on a credit is a mugs game if you can't pay it back. 0% or LOB cards do have their uses but for most people then DD with monthly settlement is much more straightforward and less likely to lead to a life of debt.

littlewren

I said 'when things are tight.' And I actually do try to budget. I'm no different to anybody else who takes out a credit card but cannot pay off the amount in full each month. And I take Martin Lewis's advice in being a credit card tart. I am careful with my finances too.

As far as Virgin trying to get customers to watch what they are spending on the card, tell me the sense in this:

I owe under £70, my minimum payment is £25.
My daughter has just transferred a balance of £2,000 over and her monthly payment will be.... £25.

no_more_cards_for_me

littlewren wrote: »

I'm no different to anybody else who takes out a credit card but cannot pay off the amount in full each month.

As far as Virgin trying to get customers to watch what they are spending on the card, tell me the sense in this:

I owe under £70, my minimum payment is £25.
My daughter has just transferred a balance of £2,000 over and her monthly payment will be.... £25.

Credit cards are a very poor solution for long term borrowing. If you can't afford to settle the balance each month then your already increasing your level of debt and incurring additional interest by living beyond your means.

The majority of people should use a credit card as a method of deferred payment - not leave a balance on the card each month. Soon £20 left over each month multiplies to £35, £50, £100 etc and the person is in debt. A monthly direct debit for the full amount would be a better solution - otherwise what happens when you get to the end of a 0% deal and see the interest rate shoot up. If you can't find the £70 now to settle the balance then this has already started - hence my comment about budgeting.

We have already identified in the T&C's that £25 is the minimum payment for virgin cards - the total balance on the car is irrelevant.

If your following Martin's advice on cards then surely the first thing to do is read the T&C's.

littlewren

....surely you could say that the minimum payment of £25 for both myself and my daughter, even though here balance is over £2,000 is not encouraging anyone to watch how they spend on their credit cards, because it now means that I could spend nearly £2k and still just have to make the £25 minimum payment!

no_more_cards_for_me

As we have said £25 is the mimimum payment. If we assume that the interest rate is 18.8 % (typical rate for Virgin card) then it would take 14 years and 7 months to pay off the £2k. And cost £2,943 in interest. That is truely a stupid way to borrow money.

Bad enough borrowing long term on a card but long term and minimum payments is a terrible combination.

no_more_cards_for_me

I'll leave ILW to respond for themselves but if your read the rest of their posts then you will see they are far from a bully.

The posts in response to your question have been generally helpful, you neglected to read the T&C's of the virgin card, its a £25 mimimum payment. How anybody can get a card and not read the basics of how it works is beyond me but clearly its in black and white.

You don't seem to pay too much attention to the help and suggestions being offered, its very easy to get into uncontrollable debt. You say things are tight and that you can't afford to settle the balance on the card each month. This is a route to disaster as it becomes easier and easier to borrow on the card and not pay it back. Credit cards are not a form of long term borrowing. The more people reaslise this, the less problems they are likely to have with dealing with debt. If you can't settle the card each month you are in debt.

You made a mistake, fine its a £25 mimimum payment. Just don't make the same mistake that others (including myself) have made and let the debt get away from you. My advise would be to budget and avoid living beyond your means. If you want to use a credit card then fine, but settle the balance in full each month, don't leave a little on it as you will be paying interest. You do realise that if you don't settle the balance then you get charged interest on the entire balance for the month ?

chattychappy

no_more_cards_for_me wrote: »

As with 99% of people, if the OP has set up a DD then problem would of gone away.

Not really. If you misunderstood about what you have to pay back, you might not have been expecting the DD to have been taken.

If you saw from a statement that the minimum would be taken by DD, then you'd also spot that you'd have to make that minimum payment if you didn't sign up for a DD.

Don't think it has anything to do with DDs.

Rupert_Bear

I have debt for £4000 through stoozing and only pay MBNA £25.00 per month.

GEEGEE8

I went bankrupt a couple of years ago, mostly due to credit card debts that got out of hand..
My opinion now is, if I can't afford to pay my card off by the next statement date, then I won't use it..
I would take the advice as it was meant.. and that is to relay to you the fact that you did not read the T&C and too easily got yourself into a situation you did not expect..
I'd pay the card off, and if it's important to you then get a different card with a different minimum repayment amount.

littlewren

no_more_cards_for_me wrote: »

I'll leave ILW to respond for themselves but if your read the rest of their posts then you will see they are far from a bully.

The posts in response to your question have been generally helpful, you neglected to read the T&C's of the virgin card, its a £25 mimimum payment. How anybody can get a card and not read the basics of how it works is beyond me but clearly its in black and white.

You don't seem to pay too much attention to the help and suggestions being offered, its very easy to get into uncontrollable debt. You say things are tight and that you can't afford to settle the balance on the card each month. This is a route to disaster as it becomes easier and easier to borrow on the card and not pay it back. Credit cards are not a form of long term borrowing. The more people reaslise this, the less problems they are likely to have with dealing with debt. If you can't settle the card each month you are in debt.

You made a mistake, fine its a £25 mimimum payment. Just don't make the same mistake that others (including myself) have made and let the debt get away from you. My advise would be to budget and avoid living beyond your means. If you want to use a credit card then fine, but settle the balance in full each month, don't leave a little on it as you will be paying interest. You do realise that if you don't settle the balance then you get charged interest on the entire balance for the month ?

My problem with the replies form certain people on here is that a lot of it is not constructive. Fine, I should have read the T & C's but like a lot of people when faced with these long documents - including fozmcfc who admits that he didn't either - I thought I would go through it thoroughly at a later date, thinking that the minimum payment terms would be more or less the same as with other credit cards.


There really is no need for comments such as 'It's no good moaning about it, it is pretty clear in the T and Cs. If you cannot be bothered to read them I do not see how you can say its anybodies problem but your own' as posted by ILW. I stand by my comment that it's a form of intimidation.

Anyway, that's my last comment on this, I'm about to go to a more friendly part of the site.