cancelled min dd & paid in full on time but charged

missm29

i cancelled the minimum direct debit payment on our virgin credit card and paid the balance in full but have been charged by virgin £25 for unpaid dd and £12 return payment default......the money is showing that it arrived 10 days before it was due when i log in online so how can they possible make these charges? or does it state somewhere in the terms and conditions that we must pay by direct debit?

Not easy for us to phone because my partner gets confused/frustrated on the phone, doesn't help if its an indiana call centre either.

safc118

when you canceled the direct debit did you cancel it at the bank or at virgin

If you canceled at the bank then when virgin tried to take the money out they were unable to and they may have a automatic flag to say that the DD was unsuccessful and charge your account accordingly

If you've paid off in full and your not keen on calling them up then you could email them or write a letter to them. The quickest way to solve it would be to call them up tho so it may be worth grinning and bearing it

You are correct there is nothing saying that you have to pay by DD but if you've setup DD payments then they will probably assume that will be the only way your paying;) hence when they didn't receive the payment they added the charges

lil_lisa

Sorry I can't answer your exact question but I used to have a virgin CC and it wasn't a foreign call centre.

I had a few issues with them but they were generally pretty good with sorting it out over the phone. I had a charge for late payment when I couldn't get to the bank because I'd just had my daughter (got there 4 days before due date, paid in cash but even cash takes 5 days to clear with them!), called them and got it refunded. Also, the month after it had been paid off in full the DD was still taken out putting my card £25 in credit (card had been paid off 3 weeks before DD due out). I called them and they returned the money and when I asked them why that would have happened I got the reply "Dunno, it just does some times... Weird..." - Seriously, that's exactly what he said!

Anyways, what i'm trying to say is if you give them a call then there's a good chance you can get the charges dropped if they can see it's a genuine mistake. I'd approach nicely though rather than all guns blazing!

missm29

thanks yes i cancelled it at the bank, didn't think virgin would try to still take a dd when they can see nothing is owed and the balance is £0.

safc118

missm29 wrote: »

thanks yes i cancelled it at the bank, didn't think virgin would try to still take a dd when they can see nothing is owed and the balance is £0.

When you cancel DD at the bank the company doesn't know that its been canceled until they try and take the amount out on the specific date. Maybe they tried to take the minimum payment off the initial statement balance as i say because i believe people who pay by DD wont usually pay anything extra.

In your case you doing the right thing penalized you but if you contact them Im quite sure they will remove the charges as lil_lisa says they are a fair company :beer:

twist-and-shout

Your DD would take out the min payment regardless of any over payments you make as per Virgin t&c's. If you had wanted the DD cancelled you should have called Virgin before you called the bank. You can try calling them but with returned payment fees they are less likely as a statment would have been printed showing they were taking the next payment by DD.
In relation to the fees they would not have charged you £25 as a fee, the reason you see the £25 charge is because that amount would have been credited by Virgin on you payment due date then as the payment returned the charge gets added back onto the account. The only charge would have been £12.

I know it's a pain espically when you have paid in full. Hope this helps

missm29

I've just phoned them, surprised they spoke to me because i'm just an additional card holder....they are un willing to cancel the £12 charge because i didn't tell them i cancelled the direct debit with our bank, even though the balance had been paid off 10 days earlier. the £25 unpaid dd charge balances out the £25 dd they think they received. Feel like closing the account, how cheeky of them.

mjm3346

Virgin and DD's

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1844723

CannyJock

There were a few posts recently where people were being advised to cancel the DD and being told "it was their right" to cancel it and the card companies had "no right" to try and take money from their account if the balance was clear.

Tried to point out that exactly what has happened to OP could be the consequence. Sorry it's happened, but hopefully a useful lesson for others.

CannyJock

missm29 wrote: »

I've just phoned them, surprised they spoke to me because i'm just an additional card holder....they are un willing to cancel the £12 charge because i didn't tell them i cancelled the direct debit with our bank, even though the balance had been paid off 10 days earlier. the £25 unpaid dd charge balances out the £25 dd they think they received. Feel like closing the account, how cheeky of them.

Not cheek, just how it works. Better to accept it, chalk it up to experience, send a letter asking for a refund of the charge (basically as a goodwill gesture), and hold onto the card for future 0% offers so you can make a bit of money from them further down the line.

unidentified

Sorry to drag up this post again (although it's not that old), but was wondering about something relating to this:


I have already made a payment to my card this month - it covers the minimum amount they required (and more).


If I cancel my Direct Debit to the company (Virgin Credit Card) and they still attempt to take the payment, which will obviously fail (because I will have cancelled the DD), is this then reported on Credit Report as a "Missed Payment"?
[ie. even though I already met the monthly payment via other means]


Before it's mentioned, I have also informed Virgin that I wish to cancel the DD, but am worried that there may not be enough time for them to do so, as there's only 4 working days left before DD is due to be taken.


The other issue being though, if Virgin attempt to take the payment and fail, will Virgin still continue to insist on taking the payment that they were unable to collect by DD and if so when does this amount usually have to repaid by (and can it be repaid by other means e.g. Debit card)?

Or is it likely they would waive the amount that was to be repaid this month by DD as I had already repaid it previously by other means?