Rip-off Christmas time late defaults Sums

opinions4u

since November has this become a problem with two different
Companies.

How do I know who is causing the problem ?
Post Office or Credit Companies.

Think it through.

1) It's affecting more than one of your credit cards.
2) Card companies would get walloped for a massive fine if they deliberately delayed crediting cheques to an account.
3) The weather deterirorated towards the end of November and the amount of post going in to the postal system increased significantly in December.

I'm not trying to lead you here, but I think you can work it out .

Tixy

Gord_of_Thunder wrote: »

How do I know who is causing the problem ?
Post Office or Credit Companies.

It won't be the credit card companies - once they get the cheque they bank it, once its cleared its credited to your card account.
But the post office are not causing the problem either - they had many warnings around that due to the extreme weather letters were taking much longer to deliver and then were getting slowed down in the usual christmas rush.

The only way you could blame post office is if you sent your payment guaranteed delivery (on a day it wasn't suspended) and they didn't deliver on time.
Only way you could blame the credit card company is if you had sent the letter as signed for or guaranteed and could prove the date it arrived with them and could prove that they had then taken an unreasonable amount of time to bank the cheque (taking into account bank holidays) or to allocate the payment to the account.

As you didn't do these things it is neither of thems fault.

ILW

7roland8 wrote: »

Well I like paying the cards by cheque too - everything else is by direct debit but don't see why we can't use this method if we want?

Re - Royal Mail - am stuck in so ordered stamps online on 4th - they said to allow 7-10 days for delivery (which is barmy)_ but still not arrived after 10days -a nd wehn I rang they said computers down so ring back Monday! (Have now fired off an email.)

You can use this method if you want, but it has been shown to be unreliable and could end up costing you. Entirely your choice though if you wish to risk it.

michaelvintner

Gord_of_Thunder wrote: »

I paid by cheque and post over the last ten years and have had relatively no problems

I think the key word here is POST. Eveyone must have noticed how bad the post has been getting in the past couple of years.

I would not relie on the postal service for anything important. Set up a Debit Debit or pay by cheque at your bank.

It is not the banks fault that the postal service has been going down the toilet for the last couple of years.

We used to get two deliverys a day, now it is a miracle if you get two deliveries a week.

Tixy

7roland8 wrote: »

Well I like paying the cards by cheque too - everything else is by direct debit but don't see why we can't use this method if we want?

You can use this method if you want.
But you either need to allow additional time for the weather and the christmas rush and the bank holidays for your payments to be allocated to your account, or need to accept that you may incur charges and interest.

Wasteofspace

Gord_of_Thunder wrote: »

Has anyone else had this happen to them and does anyone know if the Financial Ombudsman takes up cases such as this.....
I like paying my credit cards via a cheque

As everyone else has said.... what!?

Paying a credit card by cheque is like handing your credit rating to a baby and then dangling said baby in front of a hungry alligator.

Here's a list of ways paying by cheque could go wrong...
1. Miswritten and void.
2. Chequebook canceled.
3. Misaddressed.
4. Destoryed by water or aforementioned smoking yob.
5. Delayed in post due to weather or postal strike.
6. Lost in post.
7. Delayed processing by card company.
8. Cheque bounces.
9. Cheque takes longer to clear than expected.

I'm sure there are many more but you get the picture. Once heard of a guy who had paid late for 9 months and didn't realise because his cheques never arrived on time.

In short, stop paying by cheque!

dzug1

michaelvintner wrote: »

We used to get two deliverys a day, now it is a miracle if you get two deliveries a week.

Really?? Apart from one or two days in the snow I've had a delivery every working day for yonx

izools

dzug1 wrote: »

Really?? Apart from one or two days in the snow I've had a delivery every working day for yonx

And I guess what you two have proven right there is how far apart the quality of service by Royal Mail differs from one area to another.

To those that like to pay your CC by cheque...

Would you like to receive your salary / DLA / Tax Credits / Child Benefit / Income Support / Job seekers / ESA via cheque, too? Knowing how much longer it will take and knowing how big the risk is of mail delays / mail getting lost?

Thought not.

Gord_of_Thunder

Since all I seem to be getting is snide comments on a method that I have found to work in the past 10 years and only recently (twice) had problems with and that most answers have not helped.

I will ask a question to those who use Online services.
If you use online credit card sites can you use debit cards to do the payment ?

the_insider

Cheques are being phased out anyway so you will need to find an alternative method sooner or later.
And I should imagine that the webiste will take card details, I don't pay online so can't say 100% but I should think so. Why don't you have a look?