Barclaycard Interest Rates ?....Illegal ?

[Deleted User]

Droffats wrote: »

Not sure how the minimum payment is calculated, sorry, it doesn`t say on the statement.

Does it say on the back of the statement (on either page?) Should do, somewhere, although I don't know Barclaycard statements specifically.

Doesn't seem right that your interest is £362 and min payment is £368. The min payment should be something like 1% plus interest and fees, although there can be different calculations.

Is the £362 figure definitely just interest - what is it labelled as? And is that interest incurred (ie appearing as a transaction) or estimated for next month? If incurred, what is your estimated interest for next month?

Droffats

Yes, I realise that, but how can my "Standard Balance" be well over 50% higher than my credit limit ?....Surely, they must be operating some form of "compound interest" system, which, so I am told, would be illegal unless they stated this in their Agreement ?
Also, my "Balance" has been down as low as just £78 as recently as March 2010, which must mean that all previous purchases were virtually paid off ?

Droffats

Hmm...I sort of see what you are getting at, redpete, but, as I have put in another reply, my account was down to just £78 in March of last year, so, there can only have been one "purchase" that was not paid off in full at that stage, surely, so all this extra interest has been incurrred since then ?......it just doesn`t add up.

izools

.... Did you pay off your last statement in full? And what about the one before that?

Droffats

Hi degenerate. All Barclaycard tell me is that the interest in on my "Standard Balance", but they cannot explain how this is calcularted. They just send me leaflets, which I have read, but these do not explain either.
The purchases that I use the card for are sometimes quite large because I am self-employed and have to often "buy in" materials, etc.
I never make "interim" payments, but I always make my payments before the "due" date.

Droffats

Hi izools, the account has pretty much always had a bit of a "balance" on it, but it was down to £78 in March of last year.

izools

So it's never been paid in full?

That's fine then clearly Barclaycard have overcharged you. They did this with me a couple of times but whilst on the phone to them I explained how to work out interest and received half the charged interest back into my Barclaycard account straight away.

Just that if you had paid it in full one month then not the next; you'd (rightfully) receive two months worth of interest.

Give them a call and ask the agent to work out what he/she thinks it should be there and then on the phone. Good luck!

Droffats

Hi jamesd, yes, that would appear to be the case, but as my account was down to £78 in March of last year I assumed that all my larger purchases MUST have been settled in full. The only other answer, I guess, is that they say that each and every "purchase" still had a couple of quid outstanding ?...but that would be VERY cheeky of them, and "unethical" to say the least !

chattychappy

Droffats wrote: »

Gambling ?....how on Earth did you work THAT one out ?
Sorry to disappoint you, "opinions4u", but I am self-employed and have to use the card to purchase materials for my work...sometimes this can involve fairly high sums of money.
I have never "gambled" in my life and, to be honest, I find your suggestion rather offensive.

Why offensive? He said he was "hazarding a guess" - just trying to provide a possible explanation for something that thus far has everyone stumped. Obviously it doesn't apply given what you've subsequently said.

Do you sometimes clear the balance in full, but other times don't? The figures would have to be extreme, but it could explain why you sometimes get more than a month's worth of interest in a single month.

The FOS has a remit for individual complaints. The OFT for "policy" type issues. Eg if you think an interest rate is unfair, that's really a matter for the OFT. But if you've been charged interest wrongly, then it's an FOS issue. Courts are your other option - suing for interest already paid would at least force disclosure from Barclarycard of their position. But I think you would want to be a little more sure of your ground.

izools

Droffats wrote: »

Hi jamesd, yes, that would appear to be the case, but as my account was down to £78 in March of last year I assumed that all my larger purchases MUST have been settled in full. The only other answer, I guess, is that they say that each and every "purchase" still had a couple of quid outstanding ?...but that would be VERY cheeky of them, and "unethical" to say the least !

Credit card companies don't charge interest / allocate payments to individual purchases made on the card, simply the overall balance outstanding related to each kind of transaction (Purchase, balance transfer, cash withdrawal, etc).

As your lowest balance was #78.00 you have never "Paid off" your Purchase balance.

That's just how it works