Marbles order of payments changed

markperky

Hi All,

Normally whern you pay off credit cards the lowest interest part is paid off first, and the highest last. However, I have just received a notice from Marbles that has now changed the order!

Quote from the letter: "instead of paying off transactions on your statement starting with the lowest rate first, any payments you make will go towards transactions with the highest interest rate first, continuing down to the lowest rate."

Well, at first I thought this was too good to be true. Then I put my cynical hat on..

Are they doing this for everyone, or is it on a customer by customer basis? Could I, for example, think that it was safe now to balance transfer onto my card then use it to purchase as well? I think not. If they can change the terms this radically they could change them back again at some point in the future, potentially with my card then having significant purchases on it as well. If they do this on a customer by customer basis many people might get caught by that trap. They could, of course, have just latched onto the fact that people balance transfer then don't use the card...

So I think the advice to be safe still has to be as previously, if you balance transfer first clear your card of all purchases down to zero balance, transfer the new balance, then hide your card in a drawer and not use it at all for purchases until the balance itself is cleared.

CLAPTON

no
they are the normal crooks
but the law/rules have changed so ALL credit cards must obey the new rules by year end

markperky

CLAPTON wrote: »

no
they are the normal crooks
but the law/rules have changed so ALL credit cards must obey the new rules by year end

Wow, I didn't realize the rules had changed and all credit card companies have to use this new order. That's quite a significant change! In that case we can rest knowing the order won't be put back. Thanks for pointing that out

SnowTiger

CLAPTON wrote: »

no
they are the normal crooks
but the law/rules have changed so ALL credit cards must obey the new rules by year end

Which is, perhaps, one of the reasons some customers have seen an increase in the amount of interest they pay.

It's all swings and roundabouts.

[Deleted User]

Not to mention the likely introduction of annual fees.

CLAPTON

SnowTiger wrote: »

Which is, perhaps, one of the reasons some customers have seen an increase in the amount of interest they pay.

It's all swings and roundabouts.

indeed so, but in the end it's a view as to what fairness means and how reasonable the T&Cs are.

a high APR is generally very visable
while a lot of small print about the order of payments is arguably less so.

frankly, in general and always allowing for special circumstances, borrowing long terms on CC is pure stupidity; then then there are a lot of stupid people but they do, in some respects deserve some protection from a lot of very very clever and highly paid crooks.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

markperky wrote: »

Hi All,

Normally whern you pay off credit cards the lowest interest part is paid off first, and the highest last. However, I have just received a notice from Marbles that has now changed the order!

Quote from the letter: "instead of paying off transactions on your statement starting with the lowest rate first, any payments you make will go towards transactions with the highest interest rate first, continuing down to the lowest rate."

Well, at first I thought this was too good to be true. Then I put my cynical hat on..

Are they doing this for everyone, or is it on a customer by customer basis? Could I, for example, think that it was safe now to balance transfer onto my card then use it to purchase as well? I think not. If they can change the terms this radically they could change them back again at some point in the future, potentially with my card then having significant purchases on it as well. If they do this on a customer by customer basis many people might get caught by that trap. They could, of course, have just latched onto the fact that people balance transfer then don't use the card...

So I think the advice to be safe still has to be as previously, if you balance transfer first clear your card of all purchases down to zero balance, transfer the new balance, then hide your card in a drawer and not use it at all for purchases until the balance itself is cleared.

Indeed, as others have said, this is to be the norm soon in the industry. Some card lenders have already made the switch, other will be following shortly. I believe they have until the end of the year to complete this.
My comment is simply: What a huge indictment of the credit card industry that a customer like yourself automatically assumes that they are up to no good. If I hadn't been aware of the change in regulations, I would have been thinking the same way too. That type of thinking isn't paranoia either; it's a direct result of card companies, over the years, doing their damndest to use customers as cash cows and trying to conceal this by using excessively complex T & Cs.
I'm sure some of the financial fascists that permeate these forums will attack me for saying this but it is the way I see it.