Virgin Credit Card Change in Minimum Payment Calculation

Singlemum_2

Hi all

Can anyone help me please?

I've had a letter from Virgin credit cards to say they are changing the way they calculate minimum payments on their credit card.

My minimum payments will nearly double!

I don't use the card and am trying to pay off the balance.

I rang them up today to say I wished to close the account and pay off the balance under the current calculation arrangements (thinking this was a form of rake jacking). They said no.

Has anyone else had this letter? Is there anything I can do?

Please help if you can.

Thanks

sp4rky_2

I received the same letter today and it looks like my payments will go up by £95.

I will phone them on Monday and tell them I will close the account as you have done. I hope it works because the extra £95 is more than I can afford.

I hope you get your card sorted.

Singlemum_2

sp4rky wrote: »

I received the same letter today and it looks like my payments will go up by £95.

I will phone them on Monday and tell them I will close the account as you have done. I hope it works because the extra £95 is more than I can afford.

I hope you get your card sorted.

Thanks

Please post how you get on with your call to them. I believe this is just a form of rate jacking. I won't be able to afford the extra payments either and I'm worried sick.

[Deleted User]

mbna who provide the virgin card(among others)have changed how they calculate monthly repayments,closing the account will not alter this as its not the same as rate jacking,the good news is that under the new rules you will pay off the balance sooner and save on interest

chattychappy

woodbine wrote: »

,the good news is that under the new rules you will pay off the balance sooner and save on interest

People have the option to pay off more now. So the new rules don't really help. In fact if it causes people to miss payments or pay off MBNA/Virgin in preference to higher rate debt, it could cost them more.

The OP is not alone, lots of discussion here:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3077964
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3072002
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3073642
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3067956
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3062638
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3044966
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3052700

sheslookinhot

I've just been accepted for a new 0% CC with barclaycard so the Virgin card goes exactly as the 0% expires.

Didn't realise the minimum payment was doubling, thought it was still 1% of balance.

chattychappy

sheslookinhot wrote: »

Didn't realise the minimum payment was doubling, thought it was still 1% of balance.

Most of the cards I have are greater than 1%. 2.25%/3% seems typical (can't remember if it's just that or that + charges).

Zero is the only card I have which is 1% + charges, with MBNA going that way soon. Ie MBNA will still be the card I have with the lowest minimum even after the change.

SnowTiger

Singlemum wrote: »

I've had a letter from Virgin credit cards to say they are changing the way they calculate minimum payments on their credit card.

My minimum payments will nearly double!

I don't use the card and am trying to pay off the balance.

It wouldn't surprise me if you weren't paying off the balance, well not enough to make much difference.

If you look back at your statements you'll probably find you were paying little more than interest.

I don't think there's much you can do about the change. It's going to push a lot of people over the edge financially.

BadBear

I had applied for two credit cards at the around same time last year with balance transfer offers (First direct (credit limit 6700, 15 months) and Virgin CC (credit limit 6300, 16 months)

First direct CC minumum payment was 3% of the outstanding balance, while Virgin credit card minimum payment was 25 pounds a months.

I had made a balance transfer of 6300 from First direct to another CC, made a balance transfer of 5900 from Virgin cc.

This is my current situtaion after 13 months or so.

I have balance of 4600 with First direct paying 3% outstanding balance and my balance transfer offer will come to end next month.

So, when the interest starts to add up, my balance with First direct would be around 4250.

With virgin, my the Balance transfer offer ended last year during November, my outstanding balance was around 5500 when the interest started to kick off at (1.452 % per month).

Without giving me any notice, they reduced the credit limit from 6300 to to 6100, luckly i never used the card for any shopping or subscriptions during that period, so i had not problem with their credit limit decrease.
(again, they try to trap you here, so that you go above you credit limit and they can charge you)

one of my collegue had the same problem, they ahd decreased the credit limit and he was not aware, he came to know only when his card got rejected in one of the stores, few days latter he recieved a letter stating that his interest was going upto 34% because he went over drawn.

I had no problem with the first month interest of aroud 72 pounds, the next month i recieved a letter saying my interest is going upto 29%, which means the interest on the outstanding balance would be above 110 pounds.

I called them and opted-out for interest hike, they were not happy about it but suspended my card in 1 weeks time.
(they did not do this immediately, may be they thought i could use the card and they would be lucky to revert to 29 %, another trap !!!!)


so, i am still paying only 1.452 % per month, they have set up a direct debit with varing low payments every month (interest + rougly 5 pounds a month), e.g:- last month i payed 76 pounds with the interest 73 pounds nearly interest.
What i see here is, if i make this minimum payement, i will have outstanding balance even after 100 years.

What i see is their banking ethics is tricky and bad, they should have proper minimum payments strcuture in the first place, they play many types of tricks to trap you and make you pay them for ever.

Regards

Jezebela

Dear All

I too have just received my Virgin statement and my payment has gone up by £100. I, like almost everyone else on this forum, cannot afford this payment. I called them yesterday in the hope that I could negotiate an additional payment of £50 rather than the £100 but I was told this was only possible if I applied for Debt Management. This of course would seriously damage my credit rating and, in effect, (as I understand it) is like a Trust Deed in Scotland. I think Virgin (or rather MBNA who administer the credit card) will be forcing a lot of people into administration by doing this and, in my view, should rethink their policies. My call was escalated to a manager who said I could make a formal complaint. Virgin will now write to me and I can escalate the complaint (which I will). I am also going to complain to the Ombudsman. Whilst I understand their reason for doing this, I think they have to be prepared to negotiate. I also think they should have considered their irresponsible form of lending before doling out credit cards to all and sundry. Not entirely happy although, for me, it's becoming more a matter of principle.

dazla

Jezebela wrote: »

Dear All

I too have just received my Virgin statement and my payment has gone up by £100. I, like almost everyone else on this forum, cannot afford this payment. I called them yesterday in the hope that I could negotiate an additional payment of £50 rather than the £100 but I was told this was only possible if I applied for Debt Management. This of course would seriously damage my credit rating and, in effect, (as I understand it) is like a Trust Deed in Scotland. I think Virgin (or rather MBNA who administer the credit card) will be forcing a lot of people into administration by doing this and, in my view, should rethink their policies. My call was escalated to a manager who said I could make a formal complaint. Virgin will now write to me and I can escalate the complaint (which I will). I am also going to complain to the Ombudsman. Whilst I understand their reason for doing this, I think they have to be prepared to negotiate. I also think they should have considered their irresponsible form of lending before doling out credit cards to all and sundry. Not entirely happy although, for me, it's becoming more a matter of principle.

I have an mbna & virgin card, so phone mbna who mange both cards yesterday. I can;t afford the increased minimum payments , it will push me over the edge financially, I wasn't using the card anymore, just trying to pay off the balance. They said they could reduce the payment back to the previous min repayment level but only if i go onto their debt management programme. It would take me 5 yrs to pay off the debt and I would have an arrangement to pay indicator on my credir file for 11 yrs . So I am going to enter a dmp with cccs or payplan as i have other credit card debts also