minimum payment going up on virgin card??

gfunk_2

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

This is a really bizarre one, I think.
Presumably, OP, you're not spending on the card?

Is your balance going down each month?
Is the interest being charged going down each month?

Have you had a special offer run out recently?

On the "interest + £5" rule, it should be £39. So the question is why was it only £34 last month?

Hi,
I'm not spending on this card no.
Blance is going down each month yes.
Interest charged is going up! June interest was £27.37. July interest was £27.69. Aug interest was £34.92.

I have been paying min payment (direct debit) and payed an extra £32 off in June (via debit card), then an extra £35 in Aug.

Not aware of a special offer run out recently, although the situation would seem to suggest that is the case would it not?

JimmyTheWig

gfunk wrote: »

Blance is going down each month yes.

Well at least that's something.

Interest charged is going up!

Which explains why the minimum payment is going up.

Not aware of a special offer run out recently, although the situation would seem to suggest that is the case would it not?

That would explain it.
But I think that the more likely explanation is that they have put your interest rate up.
In post #6 you quoted your interest rates. I presume that they were from your August statement. Have you got your July (or prior) statements? What interest rate do they say?

Were you told of any interest rate rise? If so, when?
I believe there is a scheme where you can "reject" an interest rate rise, but I don't know the details.

gfunk_2

JimmyTW, thanks for that. I'll have to check through my older statements.

Off topic ish...:

Whilst looking at my bank statement today, i noticed my overdraft charge was £2.17 for the month, i had gone £800 pound overdrawn. My overdraft is for £4,000. Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay the £1658 off my virgin card and plunge the overdraft deeper? This may sound crazy i guess, but... i am blessed with a bonus end of September from work that gives me an extra £1000 after tax on top of my wages. Just throwing it out there...

Curt.

Mickyp wrote: »

Mine keeps going up too! Got a balance of £2700 (0%) and it has gone from £25 a month steadily up to £30!

And to think, with Amex it now starts at double of what yours originally was!

Is it me, or are minimum payments now just generically increasing as a total % of your balance or a minimum amount?

Remember the days when it used to be just 1% or £5?

Though all that being said, with Amex at least its clear and not a confusing mess like it is with Virgin. (Is there anything Virgin can get right? Trains don't run on time, net never works, phones have crap signal etc etc).

Percy1983

As for the overdraft idea, I did this with one card and saved money, but there is more of a risk of an overdraft being called back at any time so there is more of a risk.

gfunk_2

Percy1983 wrote: »

As for the overdraft idea, I did this with one card and saved money, but there is more of a risk of an overdraft being called back at any time so there is more of a risk.

Thanks :beer:

Anyone else any thoughts on this? (Overdraft idea)

Just to add in, my flat is up for sale so if it sells, IF, all these debts will be wiped out with money spare to think about either me and the wife buying our rented flat or saving deposit for a 3 bed.

Eyeballs99

Typical Virgin,

They are by far the worst credit card company I’ve ever had to deal with.

On the plus side of increasing our minimum payments it will help clear the debt quicker. I have a Barclays card and I was shocked that my min payment was £130 on a 4k debt but over the term of my interest free deal I’ll be paying off over 2k of this debt, Hard to get my finances sorted around that payment but once done I was happy to pay the extra.

Feels good to be paying off some debt.

I think having a debt on an overdraft is fair better option than having a credit card that isn’t 0% interest

JimmyTheWig

gfunk wrote: »

Whilst looking at my bank statement today, i noticed my overdraft charge was £2.17 for the month, i had gone £800 pound overdrawn. My overdraft is for £4,000. Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay the £1658 off my virgin card and plunge the overdraft deeper?

It depends.

Firstly, before anyone suggests shuffling credit around, the first thing I always check is that they have got measures in place to stop the debt building up again.
For example, if you clear your credit card with your overdraft, might you be tempted to start spending on your card again? If so, you could soon end up with the overdraft and the credit card balance!

Secondly, from the figures you give you wuold be much better off using your overdraft.
But I doubt that you were £800 overdrawn for the whole month. I suspect that you were in credit when your salary went into your account and then you slowly built up the £800 overdraft. In which case you are not looking at having paid £2.17 to borrow £800 for a month. You have paid £2.17 to borrow £800 for a few days and a smaller amount for a few weeks.
We need to know the interest rate that you pay (either monthly or APR) on your overdraft to see if this makes it worthwhile or not.

Thirdly, some people find having a debt on an overdraft makes budgetting harder. It is not so easy to look at your bank balance and see how much money you have left to spend. But we can cross that bridge if we come to it.

gfunk_2

Fresh budget plan is all worked out to start this coming payday (end of sept) which will leave £133 spare at the end of the month after all bills/petrol/groceries/loan payment etc and weekly pocket money is deducted.

Good point ref the overdraft rate, can't lay my hands on a statment right now as at work though.

With the 3rd point i am confident i will stick to my new budget but i see what you are saying with regards to it being more difficult to find out where you are financially,but, as i say, i know what i have to do and can spend so am happy being overdrawn won't upset my budget plans.

I HAVE to get this (my debt) sorted as we have a another baby due March so if thats not an incentive enough for me i don't know what will be!

sean344

I've got a similar issue, owe £2824 on an MBNA card, the minimum payment fluctuates between £63 and £75 normally but its £86 this month, the interest I paid last month when the minimum payment was £70.20 was £65.20. I have not spent on the card for about 2 year and have not have any introductory offers for about 4 years, can anyone explain why this is happening