Now Santander want to charge a dormancy fee on my Debenhams store card

bouncydog1

I've got a Debenhams store card which I haven't used in a while. I just tried to log on to find that my account has been closed because it hasn't been used!

vixen1500

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

I've got a Debenhams store card which I haven't used in a while. I just tried to log on to find that my account has been closed because it hasn't been used!

where is it that you have to log into? Justing wondering if I can do the same with my outfit cards - thou one had a £1 credit on it so bought some mens socks yesterday with 20% off so I wont have to worry about being charged on that one at least
:beer:

WhiteHorse

RadoJo wrote: »

... if a card is not used every six months, the cost of administering it presumably makes it financially non viable for them to continue to offer the card to those users.

I can see them saying this, but wait ... what does it cost to 'administer'?

If they send paper statements, then there's that, but is there anything else that might cost them money?

The_White_Horse

WhiteHorse wrote: »

I can see them saying this, but wait ... what does it cost to 'administer'?

If they send paper statements, then there's that, but is there anything else that might cost them money?

nice namerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

WhiteHorse

The_White_Horse wrote: »

nice namerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Thank you, Sailor.

ERICS_MUM

Banks have to keep a certain percentage of credit card limits on their account with the Bank of England as liquidity, even if the cards aren't used/very often. Banks offset this cost from the interest/merchants fees they receive when cards are used.

Card "accounts" take up space on a bank's computer system which is quite expensive to develop and maintain.

These points are common to all banks.

What isn't common to all banks is how efficient they are in managing their liquidity, accounting costs and general infrastructure costs so that credit limits don't cost them so much. Far easier just to charge a fee !

StumpyPumpy

There is an article about this in the telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/8194968/Store-card-holders-to-face-charges-if-they-dont-spend.html

Roger1

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

There is an article about this in the telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/borrowing/8194968/Store-card-holders-to-face-charges-if-they-dont-spend.html

Thanks for this. From that article:

A Santander spokesman said that despite the change to its conditions, it had no current plans to charge dormant customers. "We reserve the right to charge a fee," she said ...

... Santander said that it would contact shoppers before charging a fee. "We would write to customers to notify them and offer them the option to use the card to avoid the charge."

'... it had no current plans ...' Of course not, what else would they say in answer to a question? :eek: Weasel words, as current plans can change at the drop of a hat.

As for writing, that sounds good, though personally I won't be relying on Santander customer service.

crayola

Anyone know yet whether this refers only to the storecard of to the credit card as well?

Incidentally, when I applied in store for my Debenhams card, I was told I'd be getting a storecard. But then I received a Mastercard in the post a few days later - I was quite pleased by this as that's obviously far more useful than the storecard and I wanted a new CC, but it was pretty misleading information! I'm not sure if my application was upgraded later in the process without me knowing about it or if the sales rep on the shop floor was simply an idiot. Anyone else had this?

POPPYOSCAR

crayola wrote: »

Anyone know yet whether this refers only to the storecard of to the credit card as well?

Incidentally, when I applied in store for my Debenhams card, I was told I'd be getting a storecard. But then I received a Mastercard in the post a few days later - I was quite pleased by this as that's obviously far more useful than the storecard and I wanted a new CC, but it was pretty misleading information! I'm not sure if my application was upgraded later in the process without me knowing about it or if the sales rep on the shop floor was simply an idiot. Anyone else had this?

I had a storecard originally and it was automatically upgraded into a mastercard so I think that is all they do now anyway.

I received the new t&cs conditions a couple of weeks ago and it does say that they may charge a fee if card not used.