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Studio Service charges

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WeeBabyDoll
WeeBabyDoll Posts: 48 Forumite
10 Posts
My mother in law has an account with Studio. She allowed me and my partner to order some stuff for our house from it (hoover, washing machine and suite) and she also had ordered stuff for christmas from it. Anyway, the total amount owed was about £1800, with us owing about a grand. The last few months the minimum repayments have been just over £100 (which were paid) but when I went to check how much we still owed the balance had hardly gone down. I checked the statements and seen last month we had a service charge of £54!!! There are more service charges on the previous statements...
I don't know what to do. I hate being in this much debt. Is there any way to claim these service charges back?? I'm totally terrified and finding it hard to sleep with worry over how much we owe.

Comments

  • CLAPTON
    CLAPTON Posts: 41,865 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I assume the service charge is basically interest?

    What APR are you paying; Studio have several ways to pay but one option is a staggering 44.9% APR interest

    Catalogue are very very very expensive way to buy things if you use their easy credit.

    Depending upon your financial circumstances you have several options

    - get a cheaper loan and pay the account in full
    - use a credit credit card (with a lower APR ) to pay off the account
    - overpay as much as possible each month so the balance reduces more quickly

    and in any event STOP using the catalogue

    and in the future always save up and only spend what you have saved.
  • KingElvis
    KingElvis Posts: 4,100 Forumite
    44.9% very resonable, I'll have three
    "We want the finest wines available to humanity, we want them here, and we want them now!"
  • NeverEnough
    NeverEnough Posts: 986 Forumite
    Weebabydoll, Studios "service charges" are actually interest on the amount you owe....and no, you cannot claim them back. Studio is charging you an extremely high rate of interest for the credit facility they gave you - their goods are generally very pricey and they make their money by people like yourself, who just make "minimum" repayments every month, just like credit card minimum payments - will take you forever to get out of debt unless you make a real effort to pay off the amount owing a lot quicker than £100 a month - sell some surplus stuff on ebay or look at how to up your income on the boards........good luck and get it paid as quickly as you can, or the "service charges" will just eat into your payments endlessly.
  • WeeBabyDoll
    WeeBabyDoll Posts: 48 Forumite
    10 Posts
    CLAPTON wrote: »
    I assume the service charge is basically interest?

    What APR are you paying; Studio have several ways to pay but one option is a staggering 44.9% APR interest

    Catalogue are very very very expensive way to buy things if you use their easy credit.

    Depending upon your financial circumstances you have several options

    - get a cheaper loan and pay the account in full
    - use a credit credit card (with a lower APR ) to pay off the account
    - overpay as much as possible each month so the balance reduces more quickly

    and in any event STOP using the catalogue

    and in the future always save up and only spend what you have saved.

    I have no idea what the APR is, it's my mother in laws account. And for some reason I can't get credit and neither can my partner....we are also on benefits. Even if I do over-pay they will just take off nearly half in service charges!! I am actually terrified now...
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    Service charge is their wording for interest. Its covered in the T&C of the account. If MiL sets up a direct debit to pay the interest rate is much lower.
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • Tixy
    Tixy Posts: 31,455 Forumite
    I have no idea what the APR is, it's my mother in laws account. And for some reason I can't get credit and neither can my partner....we are also on benefits. Even if I do over-pay they will just take off nearly half in service charges!! I am actually terrified now...

    The service charge (interest) is linked to the balance not the amount you pay. Therefore if you double your payments then won't double the interest, you'll actually pay less over time.

    The interest rate will be the 44.9% Clapton mentioned, which is very high, but its what MIL signed up to.
    A smile enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give
    or "It costs nowt to be nice"
  • Fiddlestick
    Fiddlestick Posts: 2,339 Forumite
    Even if I do over-pay they will just take off nearly half in service charges!! I am actually terrified now...

    The more you overpay, the quicker the principal will be paid off.

    As more and more of the principal is paid off, you will pay less and less in interest charges.

    It's in your best interest (no pun intended) to pay off as much as you can, as soon as you can.
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