Credit card shake-up begins with MBNA payment overhaul News Discussion

rb10

Percy1983 wrote: »

Can anybody confirm that halifax is still 20th November, I will admit that its only a small amount stuck behind a balance transfer costing me 50p a month interest, but if delaying payment another days clears this then i will wait.

Yes, that is correct.

Halifax credit cards now pay off the part of the balance with the highest interest rate first.

thenudeone

i presume that if i spend £250 on the card before jan 31st, my monthly payment will be used to clear BT first before the purchases.

I now realise that my original quote is not fully correct; it only applies to two 0% offers with the same start date.

Below is a quote from www mbna co uk / payments FAQ:

Full details about how the payments will be allocated can be found in your terms and conditions. However, by way of example, if you have two or more promotional offer interest rates on your account at the same rate, e.g 0%, then your payment will go towards paying off the promotional offer with the earliest start date. If the promotional offers both started on the same day, then the promotional offer that will become the highest standard interest rate when the promotional offer ends will be paid off first."

So in your case, since the BT offer was made first, any payment you make in May / June 2011 will pay of that balance first, leaving the purchases to accrue interest. If you wait until a day after the June offer ends, you could get away with paying a few days interest.

It's a lovely little trap for the unwary. I am a qualified accountant but even I have to stop and think how the terms affect my balances. I'm sure mbna knows that most people will not understand, and will just take the 0% on purchases offer at face value and be stung with unexpected interest.

Remember that the offer only applies to individual purchases of over £250 each, not to several purchases totalling over £250.

bluedove

[FONT=&quot]I don’t think I will be charged any interest, simply because when I took the card in February, the offer was for 0% on BT until June 2011 statement date.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Now I ve been offered 0% on purchases as below, hence so long as I spend £250.01 and above before January 31 2011 it will be 0% until 8th November 2011[/FONT].

[FONT=&quot]0.0% until 8 November 2011 on any new card purchases from £250.01 completed before 31 January 2011[/FONT]
No fee will apply

Retail Purchases
0.0% until 9 August 2011 on any new card purchases up to £250.00 completed before 31 January 2011
No fee will apply

[FONT=&quot]Your standard monthly rates
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Description[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Interest Rate
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Details of when the rate applies[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Rate charged[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Balance Transfers[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 1.4352%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Cash Transactions[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 2.0751%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Card Purchases[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 1.2916%[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]

thenudeone

bluedove wrote: »

[FONT=&quot] in February, the offer was for 0% on BT until June 2011 statement date.[/FONT]

Sorry, I got the dates from your original post mixed up.

If you intend to make some purchases under £250 and some over £250, I would check which would be cleared first, and get it confirmed in a message. AFAIK their terms do not specify what will happen in this situation.