Virgin Credit cards warning

hailsham

I made a balance transfer to my Virgin Credit card several months ago as it offered a zero interest rate for 12 months.

I made regular payments to it each month before the due day using the "fast pay" system by online access to my bank account.

Due to oversight I did not make the last payment until on the due date. This went through and appeared on my Bank statement as having cleared the same day.

A received my latest statement from Virgin just before Christmas and it showed a Late payment Fee and interest. I couldn't understand this as I had made the payment on the due date. So I did a little digging and found the following on the Virgin website and in small print on the back of the Statement: Payment received after 4.00pm or weekends/bank holidays are credited to you account the next business day.

I then phoned my bank and asked what time I had made the payment. They said 5.30pm.

So Virgin had received the money on the due date, but did not credit it to my account until the due date.

Everybody else I make online payments to, credit the money to the account on the day they receive the money, irrespective of the time.

No doubt this is perfectly legal, but it's underhand.

I have now lost my interest free transfer!!!!!

bengal-stripe

hailsham wrote: »

Everybody else I make online payments to, credit the money to the account on the day they receive the money, irrespective of the time.

All banks use the concept of 'business day', which ends (depending on the bank) between 3:30 - 4:30 pm.

A payment made after the cut-off point, might appear on your statement on the same day, but for interest and other calculations is booked on the next business day.

fozmcfc

You could try ringing them, asking them if they would consider re-instating it, quite a few people around here have posted they have been succesful. They might wipe the fee and re-instate the 0% or at least give you a low rate for the remainer of the 12 months.

TBH, you can't blame Virgin, you paid late, you obviously haven't got a DD setup and they do warn you on the website and the statement. In addition when making an additional payment on the website, it is always stated about when payments are likely to reach the account.

hailsham

bengal-stripe wrote: »

All banks use the concept of 'business day', which ends (depending on the bank) between 3:30 - 4:30 pm.

A payment made after the cut-off point, might appear on your statement on the same day, but for interest and other calculations is booked on the next business day.

I have just checked: Barclaycard have a cut time of 6pm if paid from a Barclays Bank account and 4pm for other banks; Natwest credit card says 2 hours, irrespective of which bank you use and does not mention a cut-off time.

I will give them a ring after the Bank Holiday and see if it can be reinstated.

sarahjayne1977

Give them a ring..few months back my payment was due but ended up in hospital due to having daughter early..i got late payment and they took balance off 0% i phoned them and said that i been in hospital and to be honest paying credit card had slipped my mind payment was days late not few hours..
they were nothing we can do i just said fine i get a diffrent card and transfer funds onto it and never use you again!! 5 mins later i had late payment taken off and balance put back onto 0% and set direct debit up at same time so it never happen again.

moral is phone them you get nothing unless you try in this world..whats the worse that can happen ?? you have late fee to pay and you lost 0% but seen you have already you have nothing to lose.

Debt_Free_Dreamer

Write to Virgin.

I have successfully had the 0% reinstated on my card any my OH card by writing. And managed to get some of the interest and late fees back. I always find writing more successful in these circumstances.

bouncydog1

Another thing to beware of, is that if you have an offshore bank account, some of the cut-off times are earlier.