Big Fat WARNING about credit cards

willniznos

I just wanted to share my story and hopefully save others from making the mistakes I did!

Having spotted a great 0% interest credit card deal with Virgin, I decided to apply and move an existing loan (approx £3000) to the card. I had a watertight plan to pay off the balance by the time the 0% deal ended, and I set up a standing order to make sure that I paid off some money every month.

Here's the rub - because I get paid every 28 days (a weird thing my company does) I set up the standing order to go out every 28 days i.e. on pay-day. This was fine for the first couple of months, but after a while my payments got out of sync, and I ended up paying 'early' i.e. before the credit card statement was officially emailed out.

Unbeleiveabley, I was penalised for this horrendously - firstly by charging £12 for every 'missed payment' (which was actually an EARLY payment, and 10times larger than the minimum payment needed to be) and even worse, by slapping 27% interest on my balance.

3 months passed before I even noticed, and in that short time I racked up charges of over £200. I rang Virgin, fuming, and although they put the interest back down to 1%, they refused to refund my charges.

And it gets worse...determined not to make the same mistake again, I changed my standing order such that it left my bank account monthly, 3 days before the due-date that Virgin had set. This, I thought, would give plenty of time for the payment to get to Virgin. NO! - because Virgin then moved the due date and made it 2 days earlier without informing me. So again, two months passed where they racked up the interest to 27%. Another £150 added to my balance.

At the moment I am scrabbling around friends and family trying to borrow the money to pay off the card. This is demeaning and depressing, but I cannot bear to give Virgin another penny in interest, after being such a diligent customer.

So the moral is...you can't relax for a second with these hawks, because they're out to rip you off. Watch your back...and your statements!

System

Some useful points here and information that people would be wise to take note of.

However I can't agree with your final sentence. They're not hawks. They're not to rip you off. They are a business and they want to make money, which is why they make a deal with you (i.e. giving you a generous interest free period) in the hope they will make some money out of you in the future. You've got to stick to the terms of the deal in order to benefit and you clearly haven't.

It's quite simple: you are billed on X date, the payment is due on X date, pay up when requested and there'll be no problems.

The key point here is to check your statement the moment it arrives, whether that be online or through the post, make a note of the due date and amount and pay in plenty of time.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

Hax

Errrmmmm - the CC company haven't done anything wrong here. They issue statements monthly, if you're paying every four weeks, then yes, your payment is going to creep forward into the previous month's bill. That's YOUR fault. Your EARLY payments were actually received as additional payments towards the previous month's statement. I frequently make multiple payments off a single statement - one to cover the minimum and then another later in the month if I have spare cash.

Also, they issue statements around the same time every month - moving slightly if a weekend gets in the way. Your statement will ALWAYS tell you when your minimum payment is due. It's YOUR responsibility to check those statements to find out this date. So, they DID warn you.

End of the day, you've come here complaining because you haven't read your statements or made your payments on time. You're trying to make out that it's the bank's fault when it clearly isn't.

The moral of the story is that people should read the terms and conditions they are signing up to and then check their statements. If they don't think they're going to remember to make manual payments on time, then they should set up a direct debit.

lisyloo

after being such a diligent customer.

You call yourself dilligent BUT then go on to say

3 months passed before I even noticed

So again, two months passed

So the moral is...you can't relax for a second with these hawks

Well a second is a huge exaggeration. You cannot relax for months on end though without checking your statements which you have done by your own admission. You need to keep on top of things more than this and this is certainly not dilligent.

Watch your back...and your statements!

Yes, you need to be aware of the contracts you sign e.g. making payments at the right time and you do in fact need to read your statements.
You can't just do nothing for months on end and assume it's all ok especially if you haven't read and understood the timescale for making payments.
Sorry but this is a mess of your own making.
Firstly for not understanding when to make payments in the first place and secondly not keeping on top of the information available to you.

Fiddlestick

willniznos wrote: »

Here's the rub - because I get paid every 28 days (a weird thing my company does) I set up the standing order to go out every 28 days i.e. on pay-day. This was fine for the first couple of months, but after a while my payments got out of sync, and I ended up paying 'early' i.e. before the credit card statement was officially emailed out.

It's not when it's emailed or posted that's important, it's the statement date that counts.

Unbeleiveabley, I was penalised for this horrendously - firstly by charging £12 for every 'missed payment' (which was actually an EARLY payment, and 10times larger than the minimum payment needed to be) and even worse, by slapping 27% interest on my balance.

Sounds about right.

You made the payment as expected after the statement was generated and then you made an additional payment within the same payment cycle.

I can understand your frustration, but the issuer did nothing wrong - the statement date and payment dates would have been clearly stated on each monthly statement and it is YOUR responsibility to make the payments.

3 months passed before I even noticed, and in that short time I racked up charges of over £200.

Did you not check the statements?

Did they not say that the payments were late/not received?

And it gets worse...determined not to make the same mistake again, I changed my standing order such that it left my bank account monthly, 3 days before the due-date that Virgin had set. This, I thought, would give plenty of time for the payment to get to Virgin. NO! - because Virgin then moved the due date and made it 2 days earlier without informing me.

I'm sorry, but I simply do not believe that they changed the due date without communicating this to you on your statement.

This would be highly illegal and grounds for a serious complaint to the regulator.

Are you *100% sure* that it wasn't on your statement and you just didn't read it correctly?

So again, two months passed where they racked up the interest to 27%. Another £150 added to my balance.

So the moral is...you can't relax for a second with these hawks, because they're out to rip you off.

I'm sorry, but I really cannot agree that they ripped you off.

It seems that your problems are down to you:

a) Misunderstanding how the payment cycle works
b) Not reading your statements in full every month

I can't see any way to sugar coat this other than to say that it appears to be entirely your fault and entirely preventable.

Watch your back...and your statements!

Quite.

Hax

Fiddlestick wrote: »

Are you *100% sure* that it wasn't on your statement and you just didn't read it[STRIKE] correctly[/STRIKE]?

Just thought that one of your sentences needed correcting

ElkyElky

Ugh, another one of these "Reading statements is beneath me" members.

What would you have done if someone had defrauded your credit card and you wouldn't have known until all of those months passed when you finally thought it was worthy to read your statements?

I would point and laugh at you if you were standing in front of me. Your fault, suck it up.

willniznos

Gee...wasn't expecting such a backlash.

Ok I admit my statement about the CC company being hawks out to rip you off is unfair, and I appreciate that they're a business like any other.

But as for the rest, I wasn't trying to set myself up as perfect - just as human, and I believe that any other person could make the mistakes that I have. And the CC company in this case just viewed me as a date on a statement, when a glance at my payments would show that I was diligently paying off a significant chunk on a regular basis. The way I was penalised seems so disproportionate.

But hey, this is obviously not the place to get sympathy!

I just honestly hope someone reads this and learns from my mistakes.

lisyloo

I believe that any other person could make the mistakes that I have

No.
Some people read the agreements they make.
I admit that I never read all the entire small print, but when the payments have to be made is absolutely fundamental.

would show that I was diligently paying off a significant chunk on a regular basis

Agreed, but not on the schedule that is part of the agreement you signed.
You can't just be "dilligent"and "regular" on a schedule that you make up yourself, you have to comply with the agreement.

But hey, this is obviously not the place to get sympathy!

I'm not sympathetic to missing some very fundamental features.
e.g. when you have to pay.
We are not talking about subtleties or small print here, this is one of the most basis parts of the agreement.

I just honestly hope someone reads this and learns from my mistakes.

Very good sentiments.
I hope someone learns from it too.

BLT_2

willniznos wrote: »

I just wanted to share my story and hopefully save others from making the mistakes I did!

Having spotted a great 0% interest credit card deal with Virgin, I decided to apply and move an existing loan (approx £3000) to the card. I had a watertight plan to pay off the balance by the time the 0% deal ended, and I set up a standing order to make sure that I paid off some money every month.

Here's the rub - because I get paid every 28 days (a weird thing my company does) I set up the standing order to go out every 28 days i.e. on pay-day. This was fine for the first couple of months, but after a while my payments got out of sync, and I ended up paying 'early' i.e. before the credit card statement was officially emailed out.

Unbeleiveabley, I was penalised for this horrendously - firstly by charging £12 for every 'missed payment' (which was actually an EARLY payment, and 10times larger than the minimum payment needed to be) and even worse, by slapping 27% interest on my balance.

3 months passed before I even noticed, and in that short time I racked up charges of over £200. I rang Virgin, fuming, and although they put the interest back down to 1%, they refused to refund my charges.

And it gets worse...determined not to make the same mistake again, I changed my standing order such that it left my bank account monthly, 3 days before the due-date that Virgin had set. This, I thought, would give plenty of time for the payment to get to Virgin. NO! - because Virgin then moved the due date and made it 2 days earlier without informing me. So again, two months passed where they racked up the interest to 27%. Another £150 added to my balance.

At the moment I am scrabbling around friends and family trying to borrow the money to pay off the card. This is demeaning and depressing, but I cannot bear to give Virgin another penny in interest, after being such a diligent customer.

So the moral is...you can't relax for a second with these hawks, because they're out to rip you off. Watch your back...and your statements!

So to sum up, you failed to manage your money correctly and you are now warning us to watch out for the evil Credit Card companies.

Yep, that pretty much sums up the attitude of a large number of users on these boards.

Hax

willniznos wrote: »

Gee...wasn't expecting such a backlash.

The problem is that there is always someone coming on here ranting about how bad the service they have received is and how they have been ripped off and cheated by the banks, etc... In almost all cases, the problem is that the person complaining simply hasn't read their terms and conditions.

Sometimes, it is something "subtle" that they have been caught out by - and they will normally get a more sympathetic response.

But, in this case (as with most others), the problem is that T&Cs and statements haven't been read and you haven't been making payments in accordance with the information on your statement which will have stated every month what the minimum payment is and the date by which it should be paid.

There are thousands (or even millions) of people who operate the credit accounts according to the terms and conditions that they have taken the time to read and understand. You haven't taken that time.

Rather than getting angry with the bank, simply look at the situation, acknowledge that you were wrong by breaching the T&Cs and were lucky to have the interest rate dropped back down (yep - that's right, you were lucky!)

Talk nicely to Virgin once again and explain the situation and see if you can get the 1% rate reinstated once more - you never know, they may be lenient. Also, either change your SO to go out much earlier (to allow for weekends, bank holidays, etc), or setup a direct debit with them.

Sure, borrowing from friends and family is one way out, but they're then subsidising your mistake with their money - and you will be somewhat beholden to them to the point it is paid back. I'd rather just tackle my debts myself.

willniznos wrote: »

I just honestly hope someone reads this and learns from my mistakes.

This is a good sentiment - your post does at least serve as a good discussion ground for highlighting how credit card statements and the payment of them work.