IKEA store card

.smithy.

I have receieved a letter this morning from IKANO Financial Services advising: With effect from 1st August 2010, the concessionary APR for all purchases made on your card since 1st April 2008 will be increased to 27.5% APR variable and interest on all new purchases made on your card after 1st August 2010 will also be charged at this rate.

I very rarely use the card, and whilst there is a small balance on it i cannot pay it all off at once but nor do I want to have to pay more interest.

Can I advise them that I disagree with this change and will not accept and also advise that I will continue to make the minimum payment until the balance is cleared?

Help appreciated......:j

[Deleted User]

Yes. Though you will no longer be able to use the card.

.smithy.

Yes that's as i thought. i don't use the card anyway so that makes no difference.

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

.smithy. wrote: »

Can I advise them that I disagree with this change and will not accept and also advise that I will continue to make the minimum payment until the balance is cleared?

With Credit Cards there should be something in the letter telling you that you are entitled to do this. I don't know if it applies to Store Cards too.

in2deep_2

Hi i had the same letter today...how can they back date APR by two years..????

CannyJock

in2deep wrote: »

Hi i had the same letter today...how can they back date APR by two years..????

They can't. They revise the APR going forward on existing balances. You have the option to clear the balance in full before the rate increase if you want to avoid any penalty as a result of the increase in interest, or to close the card, freeze the interest rate and forego the option to use the card in the future. Or why not look at transferring any existing balance onto a 0% balance transfer card and then clear the balance in full each month going forward while repaying the 0% balance card as quickly as possible?

ohnoitsthebone

There are no incentives or benefits now to having an IKEA card, unlike, say, an Argos card, where you can defer interest for up to 6 months. I will now be ditching my IKEA card, and if (and thats a VERY BIG if) I ever shop in IKEA again I will use cash or credit card!

pmhtuk

I got the same letter. Currently have £300 outstanding on the account and have therefore sent off the letter today asking them to hold the debt where it is. I'm paying £50 a month onto the account at the moment, so if they do say no, at least it'll be gone by Xmas!

noah271007

Update:

Just spoke to the customer services today protesting at 8% increase APR to 27.5%. I have decent credit history. They have confirmed that i cannot make a request to freeze the APR and close account once balance is paid in full. Apparently this does not apply to store cards unlike credit cards.

So have closed the account today as they have made no effort whatsoever to persuade me to keep using the card. No incentives anyway on offer for a long long time. Good riddance!

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

With Credit Cards there should be something in the letter telling you that you are entitled to do this. I don't know if it applies to Store Cards too.

noah271007 wrote: »

They have confirmed that i cannot make a request to freeze the APR and close account once balance is paid in full. Apparently this does not apply to store cards unlike credit cards.

Thanks for the update!

pmhtuk

I'm a bit confused with this, can they actually 'back charge' on a balance?

It seems odd that they can hike up the APR on previous purchases over the past 2 years... ?