Unfair Credit Card Charge!

markdavies87

I have a student credit card from Natwest (Mastercard). Limit is £500.

I used the card maybe 3-4 times and total was £52.97

I had my bill and paid the full amount off on July 16th so the oustanding balance was £00.00.

However, on July 28th, They tried taking a Direct Debit from the card of £5. Obviously, as there was no outstanding balance, it was unable to process. They then, two days later, charged me £5 to my card for "unpaid DD". Also on the same date (July 30th), I was charged a "return payment fee" of £10 for the same transaction.


On Thursday I went into the bank to ask about the £5 as I had had a letter in the post stating I had a £5 charge. The woman said that a DD was set up on the account when opened (must have been the small print as i didn't notice this). The woman said I had not been charged and that she would cancel the DD so i agreed.

Do i really have to pay this £15 fee for having paid my credit card bill to early?! I find this absolutley ridicolous!

Surely there is a way I can get out of this?

Help please! Thanks

dzug1

I don't quite understand what you are on about.

You can't take a direct debit FROM a credit card.

Are you talking about a direct debit from your BANK account to pay the credit card bill? And that that bounced because there were no funds in your bank account?

To get out of it (if you can) you are going to need to understand and describe what happened a whole lot better.

KiKi

1) He paid the card off in full
2) In the meantime, a DD was initiated for the min payment
3) By the time the DD minimum payment was requested from his bank account, his full payment had gone through
4) The DD was returned to his bank, presumably because it would have put his credit card into a positive balance

That's how I understand it (I thought his explanation was very good!).

However, as I don't know the answer to his question (how does he get the charge refunded for a returned DD which was due to the overlap of full payment and the DD being requested) I didn't respond.

But I hope my explanation helps.
KiKi

markdavies87

Yes Kiki, that is what i meant. Sorry if my explaination wasn't too good.

I think the Direct Debit must have been set up from the start, or maybe was triggered to start from when i first used the credit card.

Basically, My credit card was on £00.00 so i owed nothing, however a DD charge was attempted (for some reason) and because I owed nothing it could not go through. My bank acconut with Natwest certainly had credit (approx. £300 available and has been around that mark for the past two weeks).


Any help is much appreciated. I will certainly be on the phone Monday morning to them!

izools

markdavies87 wrote: »

Yes Kiki, that is what i meant. Sorry if my explaination wasn't too good.

I think the Direct Debit must have been set up from the start, or maybe was triggered to start from when i first used the credit card.

Basically, My credit card was on £00.00 so i owed nothing, however a DD charge was attempted (for some reason) and because I owed nothing it could not go through. My bank acconut with Natwest certainly had credit (approx. £300 available and has been around that mark for the past two weeks).


Any help is much appreciated. I will certainly be on the phone Monday morning to them!

No charges would be incurred for the scenario you are explaining. Your credit card account would simply be £5 in credit, or the credit card company would refund the direct debit soon after it was taken.

You wouldn't be down a penny.

markdavies87

Thinking about it, I just remembered a small conversation I had with the woman in the bank when i went in because the account number that the said credit card is registered to is my current account which is not my student account. Therefore, there is no money in that account so i guess the direct debit would have "bounced" and this therefore explains the charge.

However, registering for a 'student credit card', surely they SHOULD have registered this direct debit to my student account not my "current" account which I do not use? Is there anyway I can get this charge removed?

Thanks

markdavies87

Does anyone know if this fair and whether or not I have a fair chance of getting the charge reversed?

zppp

markdavies87 wrote: »

However, registering for a 'student credit card', surely they SHOULD have registered this direct debit to my student account not my "current" account which I do not use? Is there anyway I can get this charge removed?

Thanks

They will register wherever you want it.

markdavies87

They did not ask which A/C I wanted it registered to - and as far as I can remember I didn't state I wanted it to my current A/C and not my student A/C?

izools

markdavies87 wrote: »

They did not ask which A/C I wanted it registered to - and as far as I can remember I didn't state I wanted it to my current A/C and not my student A/C?

You will have signed a direct debit mandate either with a pen or electronically. It was your responsibility to check which account was mentioned on the mandate.

If you don't use your other current account, perhaps close it?

dzug1

markdavies87 wrote: »

Does anyone know if this fair and whether or not I have a fair chance of getting the charge reversed?

'Fair' is a very subjective concept - but I'd say yes it was more than fair. Others would disagree.


I'd say you do have a fair chance of getting the charges back if you can put a good logical case - in writing - to the bank's complaints department. Your main argument is that they should have cottoned on when you were were opening the student account that you wanted the DD on it. But it's not a cast iron argument - you should have asked/noticed.

And you will need to explain it properly and not 'just remember' vital points at a later stage;)